17 replies to this topic

[WreckWench]

Hey gang... someone asked me if the NC trip flowed into the SC trip i.e. the Cooper River trip and I said 'no there is a week or so break'. However several people have asked about the feasibility of combining them.

So I wanted to share what it would involve and then get REAL input as to whether it would be of interest to try and combine these trips.

1. Each venue needs to be a stand alone venue as well as suitable for being part of the combo trip and/or back to back trip.
2. When offered as a stand alone trip...people want to be sure the weekend is included to maximize vacation time.
3. Each trip is typically 4 days of diving with a day of travel on each end. The full day of travel applies to those who drive as well as fly.
4. Due to the SC or Cooper trip being tide dependent... it has to remain the dates we chosen i.e July 31 - Aug 5, 2014. However the NC trips just need to be in June, July or August and *typically* earlier July is luckier weather wise. So slipping our dates to the end of July could possibly mean we get blown out... but knock on wood we've only been blown out 2x in 15 years so we are pretty lucky! But assuming we felt ok about the weather... we could do the NC trip traveling on Sat like most Caribbean trips and diving Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and travel home if only doing NC or to SC on Thursday and then dive Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday as we have currently scheduled.

5. This would make the NC/SC combo trip about 8 days long if you did both and we'd have to drive from NC to SC which would be approx 9 hrs of total driving + pitstops. (LONG DAY).
6. We'd also have some add'l logistics with those who need a ride in and out NC for flights. We would have to drive to Raleigh and drop them off and those who were staying would then just drive to SC with the van and FLY OUT OF Charleston. So those doing both trips would fly into Raleigh and out of Charleston.
7. The final factor to consider is that BOTH of these trips are very strenuous meaning long days of diving and long days of travel i.e. driving. We would probably have to put a day of rest in the middle for sightseeing around Charleston or just resting making it 9 days which is not as ideal for those who are vacation conscience BUT certainly needed for those who are *older* and believe vacations should have a relaxing element to them and not be a *diving boot camp*. LOL!
8. So if we added the day of rest between the trips (which I'm thinking we HAVE to do so I can recuperate a bit as your hostess or scale back the work I do on the trips) then we'd travel on Friday dive Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday and then head to Raleigh to drop off those only doing NC and either rest there or drive to Charleston and then have a day off to sight see a very beautiful and historic colonial city or just sleep and catch up on internet things and get ready for the SC trip. The SC trip would then start diving on Friday and the last day of diving would be Monday and people would head out on Tuesday.

So is this an idea who's time has come...or is this a nightmare waiting to happen and we should keep these trips separate as we have historically done???

Thank you for your input! Kamala

[jesterdiver]

In theory this sounds like a very interesting idea. The logistics do seem challenging though. I personally would only do one or the other, in this case the NC trip. The type of diving seems so different, if there's interest in such contrasting trips that's great!

Since I'm considering driving down and making a road trip out of it with friends, a second leg to the trip wouldn't be practical for my situation. That and the fact that it is a shorter trip is a draw for me because I need to conserve my vacation days for all these trips lol! For those who are flying in and want to take advantage of the flight to this part of the east coast, this may be a great option! They can get more dive bang for the buck. I think then it's also a very good idea for a rest day in between the trips especially after the long car ride down to SC.

If you bump down the dates for NC and give the option of doing both, does it really change your routine too much? You may get divers who would have done just one or the other, now doing both. You would have driven back down to SC anyway after NC. Yeah it's gonna be a quicker turn around starting to dive SC so soon after NC, but that seems like the only real draw back, and the day of rest in between should help that hopefully. Seems like it could be a win/win?

[Buzo Guero]

Kamala,

Were I to make the journey to Carolina to dive, I'd want to combine both trips, despite the logistical issues. Wrap it up, I'll take it!

[jesterdiver]

Nice! I was just about to PM you to taunt you to come out east! C'mon over, and remember I'll be driving down most likely, so I can bring down any gear you may need!

Kamala,

Were I to make the journey to Carolina to dive, I'd want to combine both trips, despite the logistical issues. Wrap it up, I'll take it!

[Diver Ed]

I have been on both of these trips in the past. Living in South Carolina, each has been a drive to destination for me. I have also jumped from the boat to the car to head home from each destination. About 7 hours from the wrecks, and 2 1/2 hours from the river. I was exhausted on each drive. 16 dives in the river over 4 days is VERY tiring on the body. The wreck trips are long days, and if the weather kicks up a bit, they are even longer and more tiring. I did six days of diving out of Wilmington this summer with a couple of friends ( both in their 30's ) that I dive the river with several times each year. They questioned me about heading to Charleston for a couple of days of river diving ( would have only been 3 dives a day, as Kamala is the only one that I know of that gets 4 dives a day in there ), if we got blown out in N.C. Our last two days were blown out. When I told them how far the drive was, they decided they were too tired and it was not worth the effort. I told they that there was no way my body would be able to do it anyway. I also have a different take on each of these trips. I do not consider either of these trips to be trips that you take because you enjoy diving. You dive NC because you have a certain level of interest in wrecks, and to a lesser extent, sharks. Same goes for the river. You do the trip because you are interested in fossils and or artifacts. It just so happens that you need to be a capable diver to gain exposure to both areas. I am curious to see how much the interest overlaps here. I know, for me, I would not combine the two trips. People can always add an extra day or two to their wreck trip, if they rent a car or do a drive in. There are also other dive options in the Charleston area that can be added to the river trip to extend that. Just my thoughts. Ed

[WreckWench]

Each trip is unique in addition to the different type of diving they represent. They are US domestic trips that are typically 'drive to' trips. When you drive in you have the luxury of bringing food for the boat and well doing it the way the locals do it. That pretty much excludes 'fly in's' unless they are quite resourceful. (Finding lunch at 5:30 am in NC before going out on the boat all day is very challenging and your choices incredibly limited.)

I started my first diving company diving the wrecks of NC and the premise was...make it as easy for fly in divers as it was for the locals. That meant I supplied breakfast on the dock and lunch on the boat and one group dinner to cut the costs of an expensive beach venue PLUS allow us to really hang out as friends and invite the crew to join us. This formula worked so well and become the model for all my trips now that we are SingleDivers.com.

In fact we have prided ourselves in finding those special local venues such as NC, SC, WA, and to a lesser extent FL and we have set up trips that cater to ALL our members while keeping the price low enough that even the locals will join us. They are some of my favorite places to dive but they are loss leaders or break even at best. So to make it work I do a lot off extra work that most group leaders can not do nor do not want to do. Ten years ago it was a lot easier... now I need help to buy all the food, transport all the divers, drive to RDU to pick up the fly ins and well just host the trip the way I would want to enjoy it if I were just a trip participant. Help = additional cost so while combing the trips may help to cut some of that overhead... truthfully I am not sure I can physically manage to do these types of back to back trips where I am the one supplying breakfast, lunch and one group dinner that I buy the supplies for and cook myself.

However many of you have asked that they be combined and I thought about it and decided to open it up for discussion hoping veterans like Ed and others would chime in. In theory it sounds easy and sounds good. But I need to hear from people that have done one or both venues so I know if they think its feasible or if anyone would actually do both. And if they did...would they enjoy it.

That being said... I would entertain the idea of trying it ... but usually I need time to recover from each of these trips since I do so much work behind the scenes on them. And while I think I could do it if we had enough interest... it would not be in my best interest to do them back to back if only 1 person was doing both trips. I would need enough to make the extra work be worthwhile. Or I would have to skip some of the diving in order to get everything done and that sort of defeats the purpose don't you think?

[scubaclint]

I have done both trips and enjoyed each.

I would consider both "Big Boy Diving": They are long days and the will test your skills. Even though they are not full week trips, they definitelty felt like it.

A combination NC/SC trip would not interest me.

ScubaClint


I am keeping an eye out for July NC next year though.

[Greg@ihpil]

K, maybe this is a corny idea...I understand your position in terms of running the dive trips & trying to be hostess .What if you got a catering co. to do some of the cooking?Tell then what time you need lunch & or dinner delivered by...Sure it would be a little more $$,but you wouldn't have to worry about that aspect. Also,that would ease up your TIME.Just a .02 of psi....

Each trip is unique in addition to the different type of diving they represent. They are US domestic trips that are typically 'drive to' trips. When you drive in you have the luxury of bringing food for the boat and well doing it the way the locals do it. That pretty much excludes 'fly in's' unless they are quite resourceful. (Finding lunch at 5:30 am in NC before going out on the boat all day is very challenging and your choices incredibly limited.)

I started my first diving company diving the wrecks of NC and the premise was...make it as easy for fly in divers as it was for the locals. That meant I supplied breakfast on the dock and lunch on the boat and one group dinner to cut the costs of an expensive beach venue PLUS allow us to really hang out as friends and invite the crew to join us. This formula worked so well and become the model for all my trips now that we are SingleDivers.com.

In fact we have prided ourselves in finding those special local venues such as NC, SC, WA, and to a lesser extent FL and we have set up trips that cater to ALL our members while keeping the price low enough that even the locals will join us. They are some of my favorite places to dive but they are loss leaders or break even at best. So to make it work I do a lot off extra work that most group leaders can not do nor do not want to do. Ten years ago it was a lot easier... now I need help to buy all the food, transport all the divers, drive to RDU to pick up the fly ins and well just host the trip the way I would want to enjoy it if I were just a trip participant. Help = additional cost so while combing the trips may help to cut some of that overhead... truthfully I am not sure I can physically manage to do these types of back to back trips where I am the one supplying breakfast, lunch and one group dinner that I buy the supplies for and cook myself.

However many of you have asked that they be combined and I thought about it and decided to open it up for discussion hoping veterans like Ed and others would chime in. In theory it sounds easy and sounds good. But I need to hear from people that have done one or both venues so I know if they think its feasible or if anyone would actually do both. And if they did...would they enjoy it.

That being said... I would entertain the idea of trying it ... but usually I need time to recover from each of these trips since I do so much work behind the scenes on them. And while I think I could do it if we had enough interest... it would not be in my best interest to do them back to back if only 1 person was doing both trips. I would need enough to make the extra work be worthwhile. Or I would have to skip some of the diving in order to get everything done and that sort of defeats the purpose don't you think?

[WreckWench]

Thanks Greg...it would be a lot more money and you couldn't rely on it.

That is why I do the extra work. Once you do the trip...you'll see what I mean!

[Diver Ed]

I agree with everything Clint said, except the part about July NC. I will keep my eye on the Cooper trip instead. If that does get more directed towards bottles, as has been requested, I will opt out. I prefer the teeth and arrowheads.

Ed

I have done both trips and enjoyed each.

I would consider both "Big Boy Diving": They are long days and the will test your skills. Even though they are not full week trips, they definitelty felt like it.

A combination NC/SC trip would not interest me.

ScubaClint


I am keeping an eye out for July NC next year though.

[ScubaTurtle]

I agree with everything Clint said, except the part about July NC. I will keep my eye on the Cooper trip instead. If that does get more directed towards bottles, as has been requested, I will opt out. I prefer the teeth and arrowheads.

Ed

Same here Ed. I would prefer the teeth. That's in fact why I was so excited in the first place. I want one of those teeth!! (well fossils anyway)

[WreckWench]

Despite the fact that I would like it to be ALL artifacts vs teeth AND the best teeth I've seen found in the river are found when artifacting because 'teeth' spots get hit by everyone... you always do spots with lots of teeth. In fact its almost exclusively teeth so this year I want to have it be a bit more balanced. But there will be sufficient teeth hunting ops...just want to look for colonial clay pipes, 150+ year old rum and ginger bottles AND teeth!

[jesterdiver]

Did someone say 150 year old RUM!?

Despite the fact that I would like it to be ALL artifacts vs teeth AND the best teeth I've seen found in the river are found when artifacting because 'teeth' spots get hit by everyone... you always do spots with lots of teeth. In fact its almost exclusively teeth so this year I want to have it be a bit more balanced. But there will be sufficient teeth hunting ops...just want to look for colonial clay pipes, 150+ year old rum and ginger bottles AND teeth!

[WreckWench]

Bottle...my dear... bottle! LOL!

[ScubaTurtle]

Despite the fact that I would like it to be ALL artifacts vs teeth AND the best teeth I've seen found in the river are found when artifacting because 'teeth' spots get hit by everyone... you always do spots with lots of teeth. In fact its almost exclusively teeth so this year I want to have it be a bit more balanced. But there will be sufficient teeth hunting ops...just want to look for colonial clay pipes, 150+ year old rum and ginger bottles AND teeth!

Thanks Kamala. That's a good point. I'm still interested, so we'll see how things end up.

Edited by ScubaTurtle, 15 September 2013 - 01:23 PM.