-
Join us for 3rd Thursday with CHUM on May 21st. We'll be meeting at the usual time of 7:30 pm CT. You're welcome to come enjoy it with other CHUMmers at Jake's. More details to follow.
-
2nd Sunday w/ CHUM
Join us for 2nd Sunday with CHUM on May 10th at 10:00am CT on Bowling Beach at Blue Lagoon! More details at this link. -
CHUM stickers are here! Put one on your scuba tank, your gear box, your car, your forehead. See a club officer to get yours.
-
Become a full fledged CHUM member by paying only $35/year to become a Tiger Shark, pay for trips or even pick up an extra CHUM T-shirt or CHUM patch here: CHUM Payments.
-
For CHUM's list of greater Houston area dive shops, dive sites, and dive charter operators see this link.
-
CHUM - Houston's SCUBA Club is the sponsor of the Texas SCUBA Diver license plate. Get yours at MyPlates.com!
-
Stream2Sea! Great products that are good for humans and the reef. Use the affiliate link below or check out with coupon code “chumrocks” and get 10% off your purchase. Click this CHUM affiliate link to order your products.
-
Follow CHUM on these platforms to keep up with what the club has going on Facebook, Instagram, Scubaboard, and YouTube.
And for Texas Dive Plates: TDP Facebook and TDP Instagram.
-
Questions, suggestions, want to lead a CHUM trip or learn about the CHUM officers? Contact us: Your CHUM Board of Directors.
New to Houston - Seeking Info on Texas Rig Diving
- Thread starter diverjed
- Start date
Big Dave
Nurse Shark
Rigs are great here. Check out the June Trip Report thread to read the trip reports, and look at the photos and videos of us at the rigs a few weeks ago.
There are spots on the alternate list if you'd like to go rig diving with us in August. Just private message me that your interested, or put up a post on the Hot - August Rig Trip thread letting me know you want to go.
C
clayton
Guest
go to extremeislandadventures.com they take trips out and hae first class service. good prices too. very nice boats.
Captain HardHead
Nurse Shark
- First Name
- Doug
Checked out the link. Didn't see anything about diving, just fishing info. Are they equiped for divers?
Captain HardHead
Nurse Shark
- First Name
- Doug
Galveston is a tough place to start a dive trip from, you really have to go a long way to get to good water. This would explain the higher charge ... fuel. Also makes for a long day with long boat rides. Anyone who has gone out of Galveston also knows that the first 12 miles are very rarely anything but rough (especially if your sea sick prone), but a 42' Hatteras helps that part of the problem.
That is why you'll find more "Dive" boats starting from Freeport, and further on down the coast. The further south you start from shore, the closer you are to good water.
Then there is always the Flower Gardens. A great weekend trip that you don't have to take off from work or worry about no-fly times.
That is why you'll find more "Dive" boats starting from Freeport, and further on down the coast. The further south you start from shore, the closer you are to good water.
Then there is always the Flower Gardens. A great weekend trip that you don't have to take off from work or worry about no-fly times.
- First Name
- Todd
CHH, you know firsthand about the costs involved and I've helped pump gas into your boat and watched the numbers fly up into the stratosphere, so I get the part about fuel cost.
But there's some things that don't mesh with $250 for rigs which can be found 20 - 30 miles off. Isn't Stetson 60 miles off? Double the distance, only $25 more?
In Florida, Oriskany trips are $150 and it's 22 miles off. Plenty of six-pack operators doing well going out there, often carrying 3 or 4 people. Trips from 15-20 miles run under $100. And locals complain of the high rates.
They get more dive days, true. But while weekends are busy, weekdays are much slower. Note we booked our Friday trip just a week ahead, and we had our pick of charters. It's hard for me to justify $200+ for a 2-dive rig trip when I can go to Florida for the weekend and get 6 dives for not much more.
I would do a lot more local rig trips if the cost was around $125. That may not be feasible here but adding a third dive to a $180 trip brings the cost per dive back to that level. The Flower Gardens are really a pretty good deal, about the cost of two rig trips and offer much better diving (and food).
I wish the Flower Gardens were about 30 miles offshore, this area would be a diving mecca.
But there's some things that don't mesh with $250 for rigs which can be found 20 - 30 miles off. Isn't Stetson 60 miles off? Double the distance, only $25 more?
In Florida, Oriskany trips are $150 and it's 22 miles off. Plenty of six-pack operators doing well going out there, often carrying 3 or 4 people. Trips from 15-20 miles run under $100. And locals complain of the high rates.
They get more dive days, true. But while weekends are busy, weekdays are much slower. Note we booked our Friday trip just a week ahead, and we had our pick of charters. It's hard for me to justify $200+ for a 2-dive rig trip when I can go to Florida for the weekend and get 6 dives for not much more.
I would do a lot more local rig trips if the cost was around $125. That may not be feasible here but adding a third dive to a $180 trip brings the cost per dive back to that level. The Flower Gardens are really a pretty good deal, about the cost of two rig trips and offer much better diving (and food).
I wish the Flower Gardens were about 30 miles offshore, this area would be a diving mecca.
- First Name
- Ryan
My guess is their primary buisness is Fishing Charters. They throw diving in to try and fill any days not booked for fishing and cut the cost by what looks like the price of bait.....if they fill those days with divers great but if not they aren't out anything.
In other words if they dropped the price to be competive with dive charters they would end up with more divers and less time for fishing clients and end up making less money. Combined with Hardheads point that you have to travel further out of Galveston to get to good water and you get your higher price.......
In other words if they dropped the price to be competive with dive charters they would end up with more divers and less time for fishing clients and end up making less money. Combined with Hardheads point that you have to travel further out of Galveston to get to good water and you get your higher price.......
- First Name
- Ryan
Generally sport fishing charters (like this one) charge a set price for the entire boat and the price varies depending on where you are going fishing and the size of the boat.
For example. The Hatteras is 1750.00 a day for 30+ miles out, for up to six fisherman. So one person is $1750 or 6 is $292.00 pp.
For example. The Hatteras is 1750.00 a day for 30+ miles out, for up to six fisherman. So one person is $1750 or 6 is $292.00 pp.
- First Name
- Roger
diverjed, if you look at who Big Dave's been booking his rig trips through, you'll see some of the local operators. Capt Randy at Sport Divers has a good boat. Most LDS' can hook you up with someone.
Does anyone know if Ultra Dive is operating this year? I can't seem to hit his website.
Does anyone know if Ultra Dive is operating this year? I can't seem to hit his website.
Captain HardHead
Nurse Shark
- First Name
- Doug
ReefHound,
I'm sorry, but comparing our local Rig Dives to Florida is completely unfair.
1)Distance (advantage/Florida) Their longest dive site is 22 miles. That's the shortest we have from Freeport ... Galveston probably starts at 40 miles
2)Competition – Dive Sites (advantage/Florida): They have wrecks galore, plus rigs. They even have decent shore diving. We have Rigs. I guess you could count the V.A. Fogg as a wreck (yuk).
3)Competition – Dive Operators (advantage/Florida): They have countless dive boat operators, ranging from small (25-30 foot) boats to larger cattle boats. Here you could write down every Dive Boat operator on a post-it pad and have room left.
4)Dive Days (advantage/Florida): It's easier to keep your costs down when you get to do more trips per month. How many times have you planned a Rig Dive here only to have it blown out.
It is very understandable why diving is more expensive here.
I'm sorry, but comparing our local Rig Dives to Florida is completely unfair.
1)Distance (advantage/Florida) Their longest dive site is 22 miles. That's the shortest we have from Freeport ... Galveston probably starts at 40 miles
2)Competition – Dive Sites (advantage/Florida): They have wrecks galore, plus rigs. They even have decent shore diving. We have Rigs. I guess you could count the V.A. Fogg as a wreck (yuk).
3)Competition – Dive Operators (advantage/Florida): They have countless dive boat operators, ranging from small (25-30 foot) boats to larger cattle boats. Here you could write down every Dive Boat operator on a post-it pad and have room left.
4)Dive Days (advantage/Florida): It's easier to keep your costs down when you get to do more trips per month. How many times have you planned a Rig Dive here only to have it blown out.
It is very understandable why diving is more expensive here.
MichaelBaranowski
Nurse Shark
- First Name
- Michael
I have my own boat and just the cost for fuel will be $200-250 to go make a few rig dive 25-30 miles offshore. We normally try to have 4 people so we can lower the fuel cost a little. But that doesn't even include the cost of maintence, insurance, etc...........
We normally make 3 or 4 dives to make descent trip. So far this year I have only been only make one trip due to either rough seas or crappy weather. I am really hoping we can get some high pressures so the seas will flatten and I can offshore a little more.
We normally make 3 or 4 dives to make descent trip. So far this year I have only been only make one trip due to either rough seas or crappy weather. I am really hoping we can get some high pressures so the seas will flatten and I can offshore a little more.
- First Name
- Todd
My post was primarily in response to this outfit charging $250 for a two tank rig trip.
I wasn't comparing our local rig dives to Florida with the expectation that they could price match, I even said $125 is likely not feasible. In fact, I didn't even say places charging around $180 were unreasonable, I pointed out how they could add value to make $180 a better deal.
The distance (aka fuel costs) is further here but isn't that much further. Competition is an artificial construct and doesn't change whether one *can* do 22 mile trips for $150, but whether one wants to. I also covered the dive days, you have any stats showing Pensacola ops get blown out less or the seas are calmer there?
But the bottom line is, as a consumer, I don't care the reason local ops have to charge higher prices and I have no obligation to be "fair". If I feel a price for a product or service is too high, regardless of whether they have solid reasons why they must charge that, then I have the right to seek alternatives. A diver may go to Cozumel over St Thomas because it's cheaper. There may be sound reasons why St Thomas cannot charge the same low prices but it's certainly fair for a diver to compare the prices in choosing where to go.
I wasn't comparing our local rig dives to Florida with the expectation that they could price match, I even said $125 is likely not feasible. In fact, I didn't even say places charging around $180 were unreasonable, I pointed out how they could add value to make $180 a better deal.
The distance (aka fuel costs) is further here but isn't that much further. Competition is an artificial construct and doesn't change whether one *can* do 22 mile trips for $150, but whether one wants to. I also covered the dive days, you have any stats showing Pensacola ops get blown out less or the seas are calmer there?
But the bottom line is, as a consumer, I don't care the reason local ops have to charge higher prices and I have no obligation to be "fair". If I feel a price for a product or service is too high, regardless of whether they have solid reasons why they must charge that, then I have the right to seek alternatives. A diver may go to Cozumel over St Thomas because it's cheaper. There may be sound reasons why St Thomas cannot charge the same low prices but it's certainly fair for a diver to compare the prices in choosing where to go.
Last edited:
MichaelBaranowski
Nurse Shark
- First Name
- Michael
I have also heard that some of the local fishing guides are charging $1500 a day plus fuel cost on 6-pack boat locally.
- First Name
- Ryan
holy crap.......that would fly in alot of live Maine lobster or fresh Alaskan Halibut
smash
Nurse Shark
- First Name
- Patricia
Very interesting...the Hatteras used to be Sean Stowell's boat the FishnDivers. Sean used to run regular rig trips through Gigglin' Marlin, Houston Scuba and a couple of the other shops. If the weather was good and the boat was happy, he'd run us out to Stetson for the day if we wanted. I did several rig trips and my first ever Stetson trip out of Galveston on that boat.
Anyone know what Sean's up to these days?
Captain HardHead, are you and I the only alums of our Rescue class still hanging around in H-town?
C
clayton
Guest
i know that yake the hatteras out for diving and also the scarrab too. i would mych rather pay a little more and be in a nice comfortable boat then in a pos w/o ac cabbins.