Hatul
Contributor
I like the $5/tank rule, and the fact that's it's an absolute number and not a percentage. That way if they charge more they won't see more in tips. And as mentioned in exceptional case it can be increased to $10.
Tipping Etiquette
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By any standards, you tip was way above what most divers do, and I'd say about right. In our Scuba Snobs' books we suggest 5 to 10 dollars per tank depending upon level of service. I will mention "daily" tipping " ad the boat crew can change daily and sharing doesn't always happen as it's supposed to. If the two of you dove with me on 6 dives over three days, I'd consider you tip handsome indeed.
DivemasterDennis
DivemasterDennis
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I think your tipping was a bit on the high side but like it was said previously, the tipping gods will give you good karma at some point. The best tip I ever got was when a young lady that had been having problems and finally made it through class gave me a hug and said thanks, I couldn't have done it without you. I liked that better than a $50 bill.
I just the other day tipped 20 Euros for two shore dives in the Netherlands. It was 20% of the price of the dives, but I wanted to be sure to tip well since my DM had to put up with my horrid diving skill. These were dives 5 and 6, for me, and I need a lot more practice...
billt4sf
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Has anyone noticed that everyone on ScubaBoard tips generously, but ordinary divers do not tip that much?
Everyone who posts on ScubaBoard about how they tip reports being generous. I have no idea what happens in the real world for dive masters.
I can guess based on my experience. In some rare cases, boats put out tip jars, and you can see that there is a fair amount of tipping going on. Without that, I typically wait until the end of the dive, and I then hand my tip to the DM as I am getting off the boat--or about that time, at least. Being somewhat curious about it, I have tended to watch out of the corner of my eye when others leave, and I do see a respectable number of people doing the same thing. I assume there are others I don't see. I am sure it varies greatly in different parts of the world, but it would not surprise me to learn that a pretty good percentage of divers actually do tip.
Ok, I'm gonna hijack this thread to pose a related tipping question concerning concierge equipment service. My girls and I were in Cozumel at the Occidental Grand in May. None of us wanted to schlep gear back and forth to the room each day and wifey did not want all that wet stuff in the room, so I inquired about storage at the dive shop. They had a storage area, but no locks for any of the lockers, so we were offered the concierge option which consisted of the dive shop schlepping our gear to and from the secure storage elsewhere in the shop and to and from the boat each day, as well as rinsing and drying the gear each day. This continued for six days so they would have dealt with my kit twice a day for those six days. I cleaned my wetsuit each day since no one deserves dealing with that bit of business. I tipped $75 for that service and the girls tipped similarly. I tipped $5 per tank for all my dives. I think I tipped a reasonable amount for handling my kit all week, but wonder what others on this board might have done, since most of the threads have centered around tipping for actual dives.
Perhaps. On a recent dive trip in Key Largo, my wife and I added generously to the tip jar because the DM and crew helped us out with some problems, but we noticed very little in the jar besides what we put in. On each 2-tank trip we had between 4 and 8 divers on the boat.
I was pleased that the dive op did not give us the "please tip" spiel as part of the briefing or at least kept it so brief and discrete that I didn't notice it. I know this has been covered in other threads, but I find being requested to tip distasteful. I do see the other side of the coin, though--absolutely.
I want to also address a 'myth' that all instructors are well-paid. Some work for room and board and some even in the USA work for gear credits. Especially for non- North American guests, I have heard dive debriefs that end with something along the lines of "If you do wish to thank the team for a great week of diving with an envelope kindly make sure you mark the names of the people who it is intended for on the front. Thank you for diving with us". I routinely see instructors going the extra-mile and then some. A recent example was configuring a newly arrived guest new gear purchases for side-mount from scratch or going out of their way to assist a certified buddy team and prevent an uncontrolled ascent. As an instructor diving every day never completely desaturated that's an increased risk. A tip is never expected but always appreciated. The holiday book you just finished reading makes a great thank you.
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