Wednesday, January 04, 2006

Wanna Dive?


Ok, I'm going to talk a bit specifically about my scuba business today.

I moved to Kona as a new diving instructor from Corvallis, Oregon back in early '99. I started working for a "dive shop" which didn't have a boat, it booked other boats, and moved to a dive shop with their own boat later that year. I've been teaching scuba and leading dives ever since.

Back in '01 I began teaching and leading dives on my own part time while working for other shops roughly half time. I picked up the boat in early '03 and have been building the business since.

The boat, pictured above, is a Radon boat built in Califiornia. They were basically built for urchin diving and are a popular design for fishermen and dive operators over here. We are a registered passenger vessel and carry a maximum of 6 passengers. It's not the biggest or most beautiful boat in Hawaii, but it's a nice little dive boat for 6 passengers. We have a licensed Captain on board at all times and all dives are guided. We provide sandwiches for lunch and carry cold beverages and towels on board.

I run day trips whenever I get two or more divers lined up for the day. Going out with just two divers seems to be a rare thing in the dive business these days, but I like it as it's an easy/fun day, we get to know each other, and it keeps my crew working and happy. I run night trips on Tuesdays and Thursdays if I have passengers booked. We generally like 3 or more for the night dive and will happily refer people to other operators if we don't have enough to make an evening of it. We also will do night trips on other nights if we have larger groups interested. Private charters are available. Booking in advance is extremely helpful.

The title of this blog links directly to my website if you want to check it out. If you, or anyone you know, are interested in diving Hawaii, check it out, I have a fair amount of pictures and information on it.

Now ends the blatant self-promotion portion of this blog for a while.

Have a nice evening,

Steve

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