Posted by Ken Kurtis on March 12, 2001 at 23:01:51:
In Reply to: cancelations posted by frustrated on March 12, 2001 at 18:19:32:
We canceled our trip this past Saturday to the oil rigs (aboard the Mr. C) due to the 9-foot swell that was running. All the other San Pedro dive boats canceled as well.
However, a couple of fishing boats went out. One made it five miles off-shore (left Friuday evening) and returned to dock about midnight due to what they estimated were 15-foot seas.
Now the interesting part here is that it seems the general fishing policy is that if the boat leaves the dock, you don't get a refund but are issued a rain-check, good for one year, and which a certain % of the people never use. Soimething tells me that type of policy wouldn't fly with divers.
(For the record, Reef Seekers offers to either transfer you to another trip or issue a refund - your choice.)
Deciding to make the go/no-go decision in what you feel are marginal conditions is always very tough. The boats that we deal with (Cee Ray, Encore, Great Escape, Mr. C) all agree with us that we'd rather cancel on a day that we could have gone than go on a day when we should have stayed in port.
But it's a tough call because you also have to factor in not only whether or not you can get out, but whether the conditions will be diveable once you get where you're going.
There are no easy answers for this one. And the last thing you want to do is leave people with the impression at the end of the day that you ran the trip mainly so you could keep their money.
Maybe Tim Burke will chime in with the perspective from a captain/owner.
Ken Kurtis
NAUI Instr. #5936
Co-owner, Reef Seekers Dive Co.
Beverly Hills, Ca.