Has anyone had to pay extra to rent weights in addition to a dive tank fee?

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In the quarries and springs that I have gone to in Georgia, Tennessee, Florida, and Alabama, weights were charged for separately from the tank. The cost was generally minimal -- $5 including a weight belt. I remember one quarry charging a dollar a pound.
 
I've never dived the mine and probably never will because I've read more complaints about the place than just about any other dive destination on the planet, including but not limited to exorbitant fees for diving related things that are typically included. I'm not at all surprised by your post and no I've never heard of any other place charging extra for weights when tanks are being rented.
After reading those reviews I’ve taken that off my bucket list. I can see new divers being herded around, and I can understand why they have those rules. I just don’t think I’d enjoy it. I’d rather head over to the missile silos in eastern Washington.
 
Has anyone had to pay a extra fee to rent weights when already paying for a tank? I find this very unusual. In all my travels I have never encountered this before.

Yes, it depends on the locale. In warm water destinations where many people fly in, tanks and weights are usually included in the cost of a dive. In a locale where most of the divers are somewhat local or within driving distance such as Bonne Terre or here in the Great Lakes, tanks as well as weights are often not included in the cost of a dive.

We drove the 14 hours from Toronto to Bonne Terre with all our own gear and only needed re-filling from them. Back in 2003, though, their dive and rental prices were comparable to the going cheaper dive prices of the time. I noticed within a few years that their prices were rising a lot. Is there any other dive shop in the area you can rent from instead? That area looked pretty sparse back then, but it might be worth checking.
 
There are some popular dives on Grand Cayman that have onsite dive ops and most of them (like Turtle Reef/Sun Divers) charge a single price for a tank and weights - and it is pretty economical - around $15 for a tank and weights.

But a couple of the shore dive sites near George Town, popular with the cruise ship passengers, will charge separately for the tank and the weight belt rental, and per pound for the weights. See the example below from the Eden Rock Dive Center. It's still a pretty good price for a dive, but higher than the other shore dives on GC.

Equipment Rental
 
Around $15 for tanks and weights is the point. Shore dive sites like boats opts are stripped down to make it work. GoPro recently had their weight locker emptied. KathyV can you comment on how much it will cost to replace their loss? Or even better when everything was stolen or tossed from our mooring in West Bay how you decide what economical is? To whom and under what basis. We are not geared to cruise traffic but I don’t like seeing good businesses thrown under the bus. How often have you been here on a cruise? I have personally seen the shop gal at Eden Rock tell guests that they won’t rent based on conditions. Why would you the s really good op under the bus? How often do you actually shore or boat dive in GC?
 
In the quarries and springs that I have gone to in Georgia, Tennessee, Florida, and Alabama, weights were charged for separately from the tank. The cost was generally minimal -- $5 including a weight belt. I remember one quarry charging a dollar a pound.

This has been my experience also. Local Texas lake diving at a cost of $.15-.$.25 per pound. I’m never thrilled about it but the cost is minimal and I’d rather pay than buy and schlep my own.

Never dove BT for all of the same reasons given in this thread. Same goes for the Vahalla (sp?) silo and Santa Rosa NM blue hole but I may give Vah. a try before too terribly much longer. The lakes are taking too long to warm up this year :)
 
Normal in Australia that you pay for weights in addition to tanks at most places apart from GBR or resorts.
 
I dont want to go off topic too much, but looking at the pictures of Bonne Terre, can anyone who has been tell me how much if this is open water, and how much (if any) is overhead diving? The pictures of the massive hall, as well as the cert requirements spell open water, but then there are quite a few pics of divers in tunnels, so that had me wondering. I guess no issue if its a short dead-end tunnel, but if its anything like the other mines I know then that has me wondering ...
 
I dont want to go off topic too much, but looking at the pictures of Bonne Terre, can anyone who has been tell me how much if this is open water, and how much (if any) is overhead diving? The pictures of the massive hall, as well as the cert requirements spell open water, but then there are quite a few pics of divers in tunnels, so that had me wondering. I guess no issue if its a short dead-end tunnel, but if its anything like the other mines I know then that has me wondering ...

In the first 5 dives they take you on, it is at least 95% o/w. The dives/routes are numbered and not necessarily chronological. For example, mine were not #1 through #5, so there could be differences.

When they do each briefing, they let you know whether there are any overheads, and give you the option of going through or around. When you come to a short tunnel, they signal to go around or go through and they wait and watch.

However, there are all kinds of off-shoots from the main line. You can see the openings as you go along and some divers will examine them closer. When we went, there was a full cave diver guiding in the front and a full cave safety diver behind the last divers with our LDS leaders interspersed. It is very possible for someone to go the wrong way or get lost, which has happened and people have died.

Having said that, I had only been diving a year and a half when I went in 2003. I was pretty comfortable but I didn't know what I didn't know. My original pair of heavy, slightly loose fins were causing shin pain. There were times I was trailing behind the group, including my buddy, but the safety diver was always patiently behind me. It seemed well run at the time. And yes, I changed my fins right after that trip. :)
 
At least at some places in Hawai'i the tank and weights are separate charges so I'll bring a couple of weights in my checked bag and buy a couple of used weights when I get there if I'm planning on doing a lot of shore diving. I've even considered using USPS's Flat Rate Priority Mail to ship them to my destination and back home again if it comes to that. Every dive boat I've ever been on included the tank and weights.
 

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