>In a message dated 98-03-03 22:43:15 EST, dlv@ga*.ne* writes:
>
><< Some of the boats are more picky than others, in that to deep dive,
they
> have to actually know you, and really know what you are likely to do. >>
>
>Dan,
>
> Why is this a problem?
>
>  Are the boats changing the destinations in route based on the passenger
>manifest??
>
>  Or are the dives being called at the dock??

Al,

No, the boats just tell the tech divers to find a different boat, because
they think tech divng is too dangerous. Its like a virus that more and more
boat captains are catching.  Some might call this predictable, since so many
unfit divers are exercising their "right" to commit suicide.  The thing is,
the boat drivers have a "right" to say, screw you, not on my boat.   Unless
we can show them WKPP style statistics, a lot more boats will soon be
recreational depth only.  A few will still do "special" dives for their
friends, but these don't happen often.

Why does this matter? We have ledges just a little  north of Palm Beach,
with tops at 180 and sheer cliff faces dropping to 235 feet, covered in deep
water corals and sponges, with enormous schools of fish all over them. Snowy
grouper are as thick as grunts on a 60 foot reef, and 4 foot amberjack get
so plentiful sometimes you can't see more than 10 feet, even though the vis
is about 100 feet. There are warsaw groupers to 250 pounds, and on our deco
hangs, we sometimes see black marlin or sailfish. And guess what??? The
"right to dive FAT and UNFIT  crowd", assisted by the "Deep Air till we die"
cult, led by Brett Gilliam, is helping to make it almost impossible to get
boats to take us to this reef.  The boats really believe tech diving is
dangerous.  And people ask me, "why should we have stricter standards"????.


>

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