scubafanatic
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I am not involved in any way whatsoever with the operation or management of the Fling. I am still on friendly terms with the owners. I can tell you that the folks that hired them tried to hire me also, and it was put like this: "The contract will be for 30 days, but I expect it to go as long as 6 months". I have no idea what conversation took place between the owners of the Fling and the contractor.
When I used to charter to the GOMF, it was a relatively informal affair, based on a handshake or a non-binding agreement.
Boy, that REALLY sounds like FLING's 2010 season is gonna be toast, if they've been offered probably 6 months of guaranteed work/income to work the 'spill'...unless FLING does something wierd, like do 'spill' work in June....work the FG during the peak July-Aug timeframe, then go back once again to working the 'spill' for another couple months.
I can appreciate the financial stresses FLING and other liveaboards face, and the 'bird in hand is worth two in the bush' concept, that being said, I'm scared FLING is going to flip-flop it's business model...instead of mainly being a dedicated dive boat that 'works' occasional 'emergencies' (oil spills/hurricane cleanup) it will become a boat that focuses on assorted govt contracts (oil spills/hurrican cleanup/research) and rarely (if ever) even bothers to run recreational dive trips anymore. Once the remaining FG loyal diver customer base gets discouraged and drops off in despair, FLING will then be praying for regular oil industry disasters and major land-falling hurricances that they can service...they won't be able to resurrect a diver-based business model once it's been destroyed...people will be looking for more reliable dive vacation options.