Tortugas trip april or september?

[simbrooks]

Ok, back from Rick at Ultimate Getaway:
Full charter (20 people): 3 day - 9,880 or 494pp; 4 day - 13148 or 658pp
Half charter (10 people): 5130 or 513pp only 3 day charters
Individual: 610pp (3 day trips only)

They offer nitrox fills (for an additional)

I have seen this trip offered by others for 599 through a variety of shops - nice mark up of 105 per customer Personally i think we could get a few, but no more than a half charter without real assistance. I will see if they require a deposit - we can contribute to that before the trip, then paying the rest at the time of departure. Do those prices sound fair?

 

[lowedaph]

Perhaps a naive question, but I'll ask anyway: why not make your own SB private charter? Using Key West as a base, rent a boat for the weekend, dry trip to Tortugas, party and crash at night in KW.

 

[mike_s]

I am planning to do a liveaboard trip out of Ft. Myers with the Ultimate Getaway May 18-22nd. I'm booking through a dive shop in North Alabama.

You must be booking through Dive Sports shop. Chances are I might see you there. I was thinking about doing a return trip with them.


As for the person who said about booking through the dive shop or direct with the Ultimate Getaway, I've talked to some people who've booked direct before and the captain will "cancel" the trip at the last minute if he doesn't have the minium number of people going on the trip. The people I talked to said they booked it through the shops because of this. And this is from people who live there and could dive it anytime. Of course you run the same risk with any dive shop canceling it, but that's less likely because of the loss of deposit required for their reservation. There are also some other advantages, like our dive shop will truck your dive gear down so you don't have to check it as luggage if you are flying. They also pick us up at the airport. Makes life eaiser. I guess it does cost a hair more, but I'd rather go on a trip with them and actually be able to dive instead of wasting airfare to get there only to find out the trip is canceled. A spoiled vacation is no fun.

Someone else asked:

How is the Playmate?

I've never been on the Playmate, but I read some very negative reviews on the Playmate and diver saftey on some message boards a few years ago. It was enough not to make me want to dive with them. They also depart out of Key West, which is an extra 6 or 8 hours driving past Ft. Myers almost. As far as I know, these are the only two live-aboard operations that do dive trips to the Tortugas.

 

[JustJoe]

I'm in Simon. Let me know how it goes.

Joe

 

[H2Andy]

i could do a three-day trip only. let me know how it pans out

 

[simbrooks]

Perhaps a naive question, but I'll ask anyway: why not make your own SB private charter? Using Key West as a base, rent a boat for the weekend, dry trip to Tortugas, party and crash at night in KW.

Dont think its naive at all. The Tortugas are a little off Key West (60?), there is a boat out of there that does the trip - Playmate, but they are more expensive, smaller and i havent heard great reviews so far unlike Ult Getaway. As for chartering our own boat, we would have to cart a large number of tanks over there with us (ie no compressor on board for refills), we dont really know where the sites are as well as the operators who run the trips all the time and of course when it comes to chartering it can be hit or miss regarding money or else one person is lumped with a large bill and trying to work out payments - we mostly try to avoid this where we can with our trips (prefer paying singly, or putting in a pot rather than money up front).

I've talked to some people who've booked direct before and the captain will "cancel" the trip at the last minute if he doesn't have the minium number of people going on the trip. The people I talked to said they booked it through the shops because of this. And this is from people who live there and could dive it anytime. Of course you run the same risk with any dive shop canceling it, but that's less likely because of the loss of deposit required for their reservation.

That is one thing our Conchs are good about, almost all of them come through for a trip - i would imagine with a large price like this the people would be more dedicated after a deposit to hold their spot on the boat. So far we havent been let down. Now when it comes to the capt cancelling at the last minute, one advantage is that most people live within the state who would think of going on this - so its only a drive and for most (except Andy and other Jax folks) its not the longest drive - we always have backups for crashing and diving if we are already in the area as well. Its one of those social/community things that we seem to do well in FL.

So far it looks like the interested parties might be:
Me
Darrel/Vickie
Eric
Joe
Andy
Colin
Over half way to a half charter - of course date would be an issue, but not impossible to sort out i am sure, would only be one day off for most (friday) and a bit of driving My place is open for those passing through if they need a place to crash on sunday night (3.5 hours back to mine, rather than 6+ to Jax).

 

[scubasusan]

I'm potentially interested. What are the dates you're considering at this point?

 

[baitedstorm]

any more updates Simon?

 

[simbrooks]

Nothing more since last i heard. If we added in scubasusan that would be 8 which is getting there. Who else might be interested? Of the range of dates, which would we collectively be able to go for?

 

[H2Andy]

i can do all three dates, and probably will be able to squeeze a four-day trip, who knows