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It’s usually 10% on liveaboards and $5 a tank on day boat charters , more for extra service, fixing gear, loaning gear, saving your dive and even more for saving your ass.
Remember most DM/crew on day boats are unpaid and tips is all they get other than free air and a chance to dive even if it’s just setting the anchor.
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I tip a minimum of $10 per charter, so when my wife and I dive I tip $20 minimum. As sated, they normally work for tips only and they are there solely to make sure you have a good trip.
If the DM throws in little extras, letting us know about the dive site, maybe something special to check out on a wreck, whatever else I’ll tip $40-$50.
I’ve also found that if you dive with the same charter group on a regular basis and they know you and know you’re going to take care of them then they’ll go out of their way to take care of you too.
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There was a dive op in the Keys that had a history of leaving divers behind so you might want to remind them that there was a tip waiting for them after the 2nd pick up!
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thanks, im right on track then
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Greg - 8/19/2013 12:50 PM 
$5 - $10 per tank/dive per person. So if the service is great and you and your significant other do a two tank dive, then tip $40. If it’s just you, then tip $20. If the service is lousy, then walk off with frown and a promise to never return. That’s how a free market enterprise is supposed to work :) Reward the great ones, put the sucky ones out-of-business.
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It depends a lot with the type of dive charter. Cattleboat vrs 4-6 diver max, In the states vrs vacation. Day boat or live aboard. Can you hold your own or do you need a lot of assistence from the crew. Is the crew really helping or just going along for the ride. Tip what your feeling good about.
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I tip in line with what everyone is recommending. Biggest tip I ever gave was $20 in Cozumel. They made diving so easy it was just an awesome trip. In the end let the quality of service and your gut instinct be your guide.
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MDW - 1/24/2015 9:04 PM
I base the tip on services rendered. I’ll give that kid who humps everybody’s gear from truck to boat and back again $20 every time (and all my buddy’s do too), but the deckhand who basically sits on the boat, snags the mooring line, sits on the boat, snags the dock line - he gets nada because he’s just along for the ride (and maybe logging hours at sea toward his 6-pack license). For the average crew member who provides some assistance / value to the passengers, $5 or $10 depending on how many other divers are along.
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MDW - 1/24/2015 9:15 PM
Anecdotal evidence:
I have been on a particular dive boat up in the Thousand Islands (many times) where the boat goes out weeknights for $25 for a single dive. The captain’s nephew takes a wheelbarrow and runs back and forth from each diver’s vehicle and puts the gear right in the boat, then brings it all right back to the parking lot after. I have no problem giving that kid a tip that’s 80% of what I just paid for the boat trip.
I have been on a several different boats out of New Jersey (a couple times each) where there are 12 or more divers paying $100 or more for a 2 dive trip and there is a crew of 4 who do very little other than ride along and maybe grab your fins and toss them in the general direction of your seat after each dive. At most, I tip $5 which will have to split between the 3 crew other than the captain who is getting our $100 (tip the workers not the owner).
Usually on tropical dive trips the crew consists of a driver and a DM who are employees of some shop that owns the boat, and usually they are pretty helpful and hardworking. I usually give them each $5 or $10 tip on a 2 dive run. Maybe a little less for a single dive.
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