Typical Day
Captain Davey Jonesburg rises with the sun today at 4:45AM. He has an early morning charter and can't miss it. A "charter" is when a captain and his boat have been hired by a paying customer to take them, and typically several of their friends or colleagues, out to sea for a day of fishing, diving, salvaging, or whatever it is that particular boat is capable of doing.
People who charter boats view the experience as a fun or productive use of their time and money. The captain and crew view it as an only-mildly-annoying way to put food on the table—otherwise they wouldn't let these people anywhere near their boats. For these charters Captain Jonesburg is more like an adult chaperone on a middle school field trip than a feared maritime man.
Not much else would explain some of the questions and requests the captain and his crew receive. If Captain Jonesburg had a dime for every time someone asked if he could actually bring a wreck to the surface, or if they'll see any whales, or if he's ever found a sunken treasure...he'd have a lot of dimes (roughly a sunken treasure's worth).
If he'd found a chest full of gold at the bottom of the gulf, he wouldn't be renting out his boat to people who ask him ridiculous questions.
Captain Jonesburg arrives at the docks at 5:30AM. He checks the weather, the piloting equipment, the fuel level, and takes inventory of food on board. After giving his crew instructions and reviewing the day's plan with them, he chats with the harbormaster to see what's cooking elsewhere on the docks these days. Also, they chat about the football game yesterday—they're both massive Buccaneers fans.
At 6:30AM, his charter arrives. Today he'll be taking a marine biology professor from a local university, along with some of her students, out onto the water. The professor has asked Captain Jonesburg to take them to a known wreck site so she and her students can dive down and check out the remains firsthand. They're hoping to examine the effects of salt water on...something.
She explained it to Captain Jonesburg on the phone, but it went a little over his head. She can do the science stuff; he'll do the keeping-everyone-on-the-boat-safe stuff.
They head out to sea once all the students arrive. It takes a little more trial and error than Captain Jonesburg would like, but they finally find the wreck site at around 8:00AM. The students and professor suit up and, after a good safety lecture from Jonesburg's dive master (it's really just his friend Terrence who happens to be scuba certified), they head underwater.
Unfortunately, the team isn't far into their day when a problem arises. A weather report comes in at 10:15AM that says a storm has changed course and is now headed towards Tampa. He signals the divers to the surface and tells them to climb aboard. They're going to have to pack it in early.
"But I paid for the full day," the unhappy professor complains as she climbs out of the water.
Captain Jonesburg looks at her with bemusement. "I know," he says, "but a storm is rolling in. We'll have to try again another day."
"For a discount though, right?" she asks. "Since we didn't finish today?"
As the storm rolls closer, the last thing he wants to do is haggle. The captain is getting impatient. "I can't do that. I've used the same amount of fuel and have to pay the same docking fees as I would if we were here another couple hours so it's gotta be full price. This is a Mother Nature kind of a thing. It's out of my control."
But the professor isn't backing down. "How long until the storm hits? We can go down once more, can't we?"
Jonesburg sighs. "No. We're leaving now. I'm not risking my crew, my boat, or your life, or mine. The wreck site has been here for twenty years and will most certainly be here tomorrow, the next day, or whenever you can come back."
Sullenly, the professor and her students climb aboard. As Captain Jonesburg pilots the boat back to harbor, he notices the change in weather. He tells himself that he made the right move, no matter how frustrated the customer was. After all, he's the captain.
While sitting alone in his cramped and dirty office, Captain Jonesburg finishes off his packed lunch. Stomach full and with nothing to do but pass the time during the storm, he rethinks his actions from earlier today. Realizing it's probably better to keep a customer than to make a few extra bucks, he phones the professor back around 1:00PM.
"I'll give you the discount," he says, "but on one condition: I want to take one dive down to the wreckage with you and the students. I've steered the boat out there a hundred times, but I've never seen what all the fuss is about."
The professor agrees and Captain Jonesburg hangs up the phone. Listening to the rain patter outside, he hopes the storm will clear up in time for tomorrow. He'll lose a bit of money on the fuel costs, but he's excited to finally see the wreck up close. That's worth at least a couple dollars off.