The 5 W's Of Tipping On A Dive Charter

[@Chris-ty4hn]

Love your videos! True for N. America like USA, Mexico, Caribbean. For the rest of the world like Europe and Asia, do what the locals do. In many countries the dive industry is like their restaurants, a % service charge is already included in the cost so the employees are paid a living wage with benefits like free healthcare. So either no tip needed or a smaller tip for excellent service.

[@LakeHickoryScuba]

Hello Chris8899, glad you like our videos. Others have commented as well, that tips are not the norm in other countries. For me personally, I still feel that it is appropriate. Be it a cultural thing or just a sense of showing gratitude, tipping will probably always be a norm for me.

[@williamsweet7511]

Thanks for the TIP

[@LakeHickoryScuba]

You’re welcome William Sweet. Glad you liked the video.

[@HikingXCSkiing]

My first year diving my son and I went boat diving a couple of time on what the dive shop called drive and dive. They brought everything and picked us up from the shore. After the summer I learned about tipping and brought two thank-you cards one for the captain and one for the dive master making up for not tipping the previous times.

[@LakeHickoryScuba]

That is a great idea HikingXCSkinng, thank you cards is another great way to show appreciation. This would be a great idea for students to give their Instructors as well. To be honest, I've had several students do that for me.

[@Robert_H_Diver]

I tipped the boat captain and the dive master on my last off shore dive. They were both excellent.

[@LakeHickoryScuba]

That is awesome to hear robert harrison, hope your dive was amazing as well. Being a inland water training center, we always enjoy when we get off shore to dive.

[@Robert_H_Diver]

@@LakeHickoryScuba definitely, most of my dives are in a quarry!

[@Wfgross]

Just returned from Cozumel. Awesome drift diving. Was that the wreck CF53? Scuba Club Cozumel uses the tip envelopes that a previous commenter mentioned. My understanding is that this is also used as an evaluation tool by SCC. Guides and deck hands receiving higher average tips are “rewarded” by management, not sure how, but I think this is a good tool.

[@LakeHickoryScuba]

Hello Warren Gross, that was the C53. Glad you had a great time down in Cozumel. We are headed back there next week as well. Perks of being a dive shop.

[@timgosling6189]

Find out in advance what's expected. Reward a good experience appropriately. You won't go wrong. Some of my dive guides and instructors have become friends for life.

[@LakeHickoryScuba]

You make a great point Tim Gosling. Even as an Instructor Trainer I have Divemasters that have forgot more about diving than I will ever know. Not only are they friends, but true mentors for me. People who I look up to and respect, and nothing more than Divemasters that are out leading and guiding people underwater. They will always get a tip from me.

[@kevindavison6019]

At one resort I went to in the Caribbean, the dive shop had little mailboxes for all the DMs and little envelopes for peoples tips so at the end of the week you could leave what you thought was appropriate and there was no awkwardness with when or how much each person was tipped. In general I'll tip based on how helpful the crew or DMs are. On one charter I lost a piece of equipment on the water entry, while it was not real expensive, and I didn't need it for the dive, I elected to enjoy my dive rather than do a search for it. The crewmate Did a Search to find and recovered it, needless to say he got a big tip since I didn't have to spend money to replace my equipment.

[@LakeHickoryScuba]

Hello Kevin Davison, that was awesome to hear that the crewmate found your lost item for you. And I loved the idea of the mailboxes for the DM's. I may steal that idea for our DM's here at Lake Hickory Scuba.

[@scottgibson7893]

The general guide for me is about $10 per tank. About $40 per day for my wife and I on a standard 2 tank dive day. If I’m spending a week with the same crew it’s more likely to be a little higher towards the end of the trip. I also tend to go higher if there are fewer divers on the boat.

[@LakeHickoryScuba]

Hello Scott Gibson, thanks for sharing with us. In our experience, $10 per tank per diver is a very reasonable amount to tip.

[@johnc1848]

Nice. We tip the guys in Cozumel very well, half to the boat guys and half to the divemaster. My situation is unique because I am diving With Roberta's Scuba Shack on boats owned by other dive companies because I can't get on and off Roberta's fast boats.

[@LakeHickoryScuba]

Glad you liked the video John C. Next time I'm I'm in Cozumel, I will check out Roberta's Scuba Shack.

[@johnc1848]

@@LakeHickoryScuba She runs a smaller operation, but very personal, and her boats have 250HP outboards, so they get to the dive sites super fast. Makes it nice for people who have family members who don't dive because you are back to the dock by noon. Only draw back is I can't use them as an adaptive diver, so she gets me on Dive Paradise or some of her other buddies who have boats like that. Plus you won't have more than 8 people or so on a boat. I'm partial to her since she and her crew have been so great to dive with as an adaptive diver. She really opened my world up and she has become a very good friend.

[@matthiasjattke4822]

Thank you for the interesting video about a lets say "touchy" subject. My understanding of tipping might be slightly different since I am from Europe where, in my experience, typically everybody that belongs to the crew actually has a working contract and is paid a salary. I therefore allways seem to have issues with the "american" (!?) way of people working for tips allone. I like to tip for one reason, and one reason only. Did the person do the job I pay for in a manner, that exeeded my expectation of said job. I go to a restaurant, I expect to get clean food provided to me and at least regular human decency in the service. Therefore if I get a clean plate with regular but unspectacular food and with a friendly hello and goodbye of the waiting staff, i would typically not tip. If however the food was great and/or the waiting staff was super helpfull and maybe brought some water for my dog on their own and went out of their way to provide me with a great experience, I would of course tip generously. The same applies to me for diving. If I pay for a dive charter (e.g. 2 Tank Guided Dive from boat with hotel pickup) and i get picked up on time, delivered to the boat safely everybody is "regular" friendly I do my dive with the guide and he shows me one or two critters on the dives and I get back home safely. That would be the service I payed for and I would not tip. If however they go above and beyond to make sure I enjoy myself thoroughly (wait until I get the perfect picture of the cute little seahorse, explain me some geography on the ride to the boat or fix my broken whatever). They will deserve a tip. For me tipping therefore is a "thank you" for a job done better than it would have needed to be. I liked the video of James from @Divers Ready on the subject as he seemed to be pretty much in line with my understanding. (video linked here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/g6DJc2SqmraCb68)

[@LakeHickoryScuba]

Hello Matthias Jattke, I've seen James' video as well. And I understand what you mean about the differences in pay between countries. It's ironic though, most Dive Guides here make a descent living making tax free tips, depending on how much they work on charters. They seem to be happy with the current way. I remember when I was a Dive Guide / Divemaster. My pay was never with tips, but I would always get free equipment and free travel. As an 18 year old kid back then, I was perfectly happy with that. I use to get free trips all over to dive, including equipment and meals. To be honest, I kind of miss those days.

[@mikkosport2300]

Thank youfor very useful points of tipping. For an european, like me tipping does not come so naturally.

[@LakeHickoryScuba]

Hello Mikko Sport, glad you liked the video. Cultural differences willing always be present no matter where you are in the world. Truth be told, after uploading this video, I had several friends in the Industry call me up to tell me that tipping was not really common over in Europe. This was a shock to me. I have always found that even if tipping is not the norm, it definitely puts a smile on someone's face afterwards, and hopefully it encourages them to keep up the good work. Here in the States, I tip in other situations as well. My barber gets a tip, waitresses get tips, my mechanic gets a tip, etc. etc. I just feel like its a great gesture to show a sense of gratitude for a job well done.

[@nilotubes]

@@LakeHickoryScuba Even within Europe It highly depends on the country, in Sweden tipping is very rare and only done at restaurants, and then modest amounts like rounding up etc. Germany however where I lived for about 5 years you are expected to give 10% regardless of service level for pretty much everything. I think it boils down to different standards on salary, over in Europe working for tip alone is not a model applied, there is always a wage and this differs in different countries, Sweden has higher wages for service jobs than Germany, where tipping is stronger. I once had a defacto private DM as a guide diving Thailand (from Belgium). After a few days diving with him I decided it was nice to depart with a little token of gratitude and gave him a tip of maybe 20 USD (don’t remember but some European sensible amount of money), the guy really shined up and told me I was the first one that ever tipped him and he was so happy. I usually do symbolic tipping as I know they appreachiate it, however then in the states I’m always confused about what is expected and it feels like everything is crazy with the amount of tipping being used as compensation rather than salary.

[@LakeHickoryScuba]

Hello Nicklas Lonn, we tell others that if they decide to tip, to tip what they feel is appropriate, and to not worry about how much others tip. Truth is, there is no set standard for tipping, especially in the Scuba Industry.

[@recreationalvehicle5212]

BRO I DO CONCRETE (HEAVY CIVIL) SO WHEN PEOPLE START STOPING AND TIPPING ME FOR A SMOOTH RIDE TO WORK THAT DAY ILL START TO TIP THE REST OF THE WORLD

[@LakeHickoryScuba]

Hello Recreational Vehicle, thank you for sharing your thoughts with us. Sorry to hear that no one has ever considered your work sufficient enough to give you a tip. Maybe one day, someone will stop while driving by, and give you tip.

[@cliffordbarnes1]

If there are people on the boat not getting paid what are they there for? It’s a choice. If I pay for the dive why would I pay for it twice in tips? If the dive is free I’ve no problem paying people through ‘tips’. If not then forget about it, it’s that simple. Whoever is taking the money is the person holding back their wages, not me for not tipping. Plenty of hard workers in other industries will never see a tip but probably earn less that some in the service industry getting tips.

[@LakeHickoryScuba]

Hello Clifford Barnes, thank you for sharing your thoughts with us.

[@Teampegleg]

Not digging the new style, it reminds me of those terrible corporate videos from the early 2000s pretending to be impromptu by "doing tasks" before moving into the content of the video.

[@LakeHickoryScuba]

Hello Team Peg Leg, sorry to hear that you do not like the production of our videos, but thank you for sharing your thoughts with us. We have also added chapters to our videos for the ones that would like to skip the Teasers and Intro. All are listed in the description and on the play bar as well. Please feel free to skip the parts that you prefer not to watch.

[@thomasgodfrey2014]

In general I think tipping has gotten way out of hand , some people like my wife wants to tip 45/50 dollars. With a 100 dollar meal, Ah. Negative ghost rider , I tip 1 dollar per drink per person. , 3 for each meal That equates to @ 25 dollars. For the 3 of us . Seems plenty to me. And the waitress probably ends up making more than I do.

[@LakeHickoryScuba]

Hello Thomas Godfrey, thankfully, my wife lets me handle all the tipping. Now with that being said, she is a former waitress, so she is constantly telling me I should tip more. LOL

[@thomasgodfrey2014]

Love your vids, Where are y’all located

[@LakeHickoryScuba]

We are in Taylorsville, North Carolina. 420 Taylorsville Beach Ct. Taylorsville, NC, 28681.

[@thomasgodfrey2014]

@@LakeHickoryScuba is that brevard or asheville

[@LakeHickoryScuba]

We are in Alexander County, about 2 hours east of Asheville.

[@wingsontheat7188]

Tips are only "tax free" if the implied advice to not report taxable income is executed and tax fraud is committed. Perhaps avoid this implied advice.

[@LakeHickoryScuba]

Hello Wings on the AT, you make a great point, thanks for sharing. I can't speak for other countries though.

[@recreationalvehicle5212]

Lol youve been doing this for years and your channel is small...lol have you been tipped for this channel...

[@LakeHickoryScuba]

Great question Recreational Vehicle. So we actually have a video here on our channel talking about the History of Lake Hickory Scuba. I started diving in 1988, as a third generation diver. Got my first job in 1995 working for a small dive shop about 9 miles from my current shop. After working for 2 other shops, we opened our shop up in 2012 and that is when we started the Lake Hickory Scuba KZbin channel as well. And yes, Lake Hickory Scuba Center is a monetized and sponsored channel here on KZbin.