A new chapter of stewardship · July 2026Read the transition note

Trips

Fee & Cancellation Policy

What a visit costs, how and when it is paid, and what happens to your money if a trip changes or is cancelled.

Frying Pan Shoals Light Station · Doc ID FPSLS-FCP-001 · Version 1.7 · Effective: September 27, 2026

How this document works. This is the separate written fee and cancellation policy referred to in the FPSLS Liability Waiver, Release, Assumption of Risk, and Indemnification Agreement (the "Waiver," Doc ID FPSLS-W-001) at its §6.4 and §10.1, and in the House Rules §15. It governs money only — what a visit costs, how and when you pay, and what happens to your money if a trip changes or is cancelled. It is an independent document: the Waiver does not supersede, merge, or extinguish it, and this policy cannot amend the Waiver or any release, assumption of risk, indemnity, or other legal term in it. If this policy ever appears to conflict with the Waiver on a legal right, the Waiver controls; this policy controls payment terms. "Company" means the operating entity — currently Frying Pan Tower Lighthouse LLC, and any successor or affiliated operator; "Tower," "Participant," "Tower Leader," and "Independent Operators" have the meanings given in the Waiver. "Purchaser" means the person who makes a booking and pays for it; "party" means every person named in that booking, including the purchaser if the purchaser is travelling. "Card balance date" means the day five (5) days before scheduled departure; "bank balance date" means the day ten (10) days before scheduled departure. The version of this policy in effect on the date you book governs your booking.

1. What your visit price covers — and what it does not

The visit price is paid to the Company and covers, for a standard visit:

  • Two nights' berth and lodging on the Tower and general use of shared facilities under the House Rules;
  • Meals and drinking water aboard;
  • The written and on-site safety briefings;
  • Round-trip boat transportation between the departure dock and the Tower, arranged and coordinated by the Company with a disclosed independent operator. The operator named in your booking confirmation is your transportation provider of record. The transportation component of your visit price is remitted by the Company to that operator on your behalf — the Company coordinates the booking; it does not perform the carriage, and it does not mark up the operator's charge. Before departure you will sign that operator's own agreement and waiver (Waiver §1.3); aboard the vessel, the operator's crew is in command and the operator's own terms govern the carriage.

The visit price does NOT include, and the Company does not sell or arrange:

  • Helicopter transportation — for anyone, under any package. Helicopter operations at the Tower are conducted for owner and operational use only. Helicopter service to visitors would be offered only if an appropriately certificated air-carrier operator is engaged, and only after that is announced in writing. Until then, no visit price includes, and no payment to the Company buys, helicopter carriage.
  • Dive charters or any vessel-based diving (arranged with an independent dive operator under that operator's own agreement — Waiver §6.2.1).
  • Travel insurance, trip-cancellation insurance, personal equipment, or personal expenses, including your travel to and lodging near the departure dock.

2. Fees

Standard visit price
$2,000 per persontwo-night visit; includes the items in §1. One price for every scheduled trip; no seasonal pricing is in force.
Booking fee
$500 per persondue at booking; part of the visit price, not added to it; not refundable if you cancel (§4); credited or returned if the Company cancels (§5)
Balance
$1,500 per personthe visit price less the booking fee; drawn automatically on the balance date (§3)
Minimum group size
4 participants — a planning target, not a gateoffshore trips have fixed operating costs, so the Company plans each departure around at least 4 participants. Bookings of fewer than 4 are accepted: to reach the minimum, the Company may combine your booking with another group or individual travelling on the same trip. Your per-person price is the same regardless of your party's size and regardless of whether your trip is combined.
Contractor / commercial-work terms
set by the applicable contractor agreement, not this policy

Your price is set when you book. The price in effect for your trip on the day you book is your price; it does not change if the Company later agrees to move your booking to another date under §4.

"Non-refundable," as used for the booking fee, means this: the booking fee is not returned if you cancel, if your balance cannot be collected (§3), or if you do not appear. It is held as credit if the Company cancels for weather or safety, and it is returned if the Company withdraws the trip for any other reason (§5).

All prices are in U.S. dollars and are tax-inclusive: the stated price includes any applicable taxes and fees, which the Company determines and remits as required — nothing is added at checkout.

3. Booking & payment

3.1 One booking, one bill. The purchaser books for the whole party and is billed for the booking fee and the balance of every place in the booking. The Company does not divide a booking's charges among the members of a party. Persons who want separate bills make separate bookings on the same trip.

3.2 To hold your places. The $500-per-person booking fee is due at booking, for every place booked. It is credited in full against the visit price. Places are held when the booking fee is received.

3.3 The party. At booking, and before payment, the purchaser gives the name and email address of every person in the party. After the booking fee is paid, each adult receives a personal link to create their own account and to complete and sign their own documents. A person under 18 is not sent a link; that person is added by their parent or legal guardian from the guardian's own account. No person signs for another adult.

3.4 Signing. Every person in the party must sign every required signing-packet document — the Waiver and each incorporated document, and, for a minor, the Minor Addendum signed by the parent or legal guardian. The Company asks that each person sign by the card balance date (five (5) days before departure), whatever payment method was used. A person who has not signed by that date keeps their place and may still sign at any time before boarding, by whatever transport the trip uses. A person who has not signed does not board. The place of a person who has not signed at boarding, and has not been replaced under §3.5, is treated as cancelled by the purchaser five days or fewer before departure, and §4 applies to that place (booking fee kept; balance held as credit). It is not treated as a no-show. Every participant must also meet the Waiver's §5 fitness and capability standard (able to complete the hoist transfer and climb the access ladders unassisted). Minors are admitted only as the House Rules §10 provide: persons aged 16 or 17 under the Minor Addendum, and persons under 16 only under a written exception approved in advance by the Company for the specific visit.

3.5 Changing who comes. The purchaser may replace a person in the party until five (5) days before departure. After that, a replacement is made only by writing to the station (§8), and only if the Company confirms it in writing. A replacement person must sign under §3.4 before boarding and must meet every booking condition in this section.

3.6 The balance is drawn automatically. By booking, the purchaser authorizes the Company to draw the balance — $1,500 per person — from the payment method used at booking, on the balance date, without further action by the purchaser:

Payment card
five (5) days before scheduled departure (the card balance date)
U.S. bank account connected through Link on the payment page (confirmed at once)
five (5) days before scheduled departure (the card balance date)
U.S. bank account (ACH debit)
ten (10) days before scheduled departure (the bank balance date)

The bank balance date is earlier because an ACH debit takes up to four business days to confirm; a bank payment made through Link confirms at once and follows the card balance date. The Company sends the purchaser a reminder before the balance is drawn.

3.7 If the balance cannot be collected. If the draw fails or is returned, the Company writes to the purchaser. If the balance remains unpaid forty-eight (48) hours after that notice, the places in the booking are released and the booking fee is kept.

3.8 Bookings made close to departure.

  • A booking made fewer than ten (10) days before departure is by card only.
  • A booking made fewer than five (5) days before departure pays the full visit price at booking; every person in the party must sign under §3.4 before boarding.

3.9 How to pay. Payment is made to Frying Pan Tower Lighthouse LLC through the hosted payment page of the Company's payment processor, reached from the booking page. The page accepts a payment card (including a card presented through a supported digital wallet, where the page offers it) and, where the page offers it, a U.S. bank account. There is no surcharge for paying by card and no discount for paying by bank account. The booking fee is always paid through the booking page. The balance, and only the balance, may be paid by other means (for example, Zelle or check) by prior arrangement with the station (§8), confirmed in writing.

A balance paid by other means must be received on or before the date the station confirms in writing, and no later than the card balance date. A balance not received by then is an uncollected balance under §3.7.

3.10 The transportation operator's paperwork is part of departure. You will receive, and must sign before boarding, the disclosed boat operator's own agreement and waiver. The Company's confirmation of your booking identifies the operator.

4. If YOU cancel or change

The booking fee is not refundable if you cancel. A cancellation is made by the purchaser, in writing to the station (§8), and takes effect when received. It may cover the whole booking or one or more places in it; the terms below apply per place.

More than 5 days before departure (before the card balance date)
booking fee kept; nothing further is owed. No balance is drawn. If a balance has already been drawn from a bank account, or paid by other means, it is returned in full.
5 days or fewer before departure (on or after the card balance date)
booking fee kept; balance held as credit toward a future trip (credit terms below)
No-show — the person does not appear for departure, without a cancellation received beforehand
no refund and no credit
  • Until the balance is drawn, the only money at risk is the booking fee.
  • Changing the date: a booking carries no right to a change of date. A purchaser who wants to move a booking to another trip may ask the station in writing (§8); the Company considers each request case by case, and a change is made only if the Company confirms it in writing. Where a change is agreed, the booking fee and the price travel with the booking.
  • Credits: any credit issued under this policy is valid for twelve (12) months from the date of issue — except credits issued under §5 for a weather or safety cancellation, which are valid for twenty-four (24) months — and is transferable: you may give it to another person, who takes it subject to this policy and every booking condition in §3 (signing, fitness standard, age rules).
  • Your cancellation does not affect the rest of your trip: the Company may combine bookings to keep a departure at or near the 4-participant planning target (§2).

5. If the trip is cancelled for weather, safety, or reasons beyond your control — or is withdrawn by the Company

Offshore trips depend on weather and sea state. A trip may be postponed or cancelled by the Company, the Tower Leader, or the transportation operator for weather, sea conditions, mechanical or safety reasons, or events beyond anyone's control (storm damage, Tower or equipment casualty, government or Coast Guard closure, medical or SAR activity).

  • Weather or safety cancellation before departure → everything you have paid, including the booking fee, is held as credit toward another trip, at full face value, valid for twenty-four (24) months from issue — double the standard credit window, because the missed trip was no fault of yours (credit terms otherwise per §4). A weather or safety cancellation never forfeits anything: every dollar you paid remains yours to use.
  • There are no rain dates. A booking is for the trip's stated dates; a weather or safety cancellation goes directly to the credit above.
  • A trip withdrawn by the Company for any reason other than weather or safety → everything you have paid, including the booking fee, is returned in full. This includes a trip shown as "proposed" that the Company decides not to run, and a trip the Company withdraws because it will not reach the planning target in §2.
  • A trip that begins is a completed trip for payment purposes. If weather or safety cuts your visit short after departure, the visit price is not pro-rated or refunded. The same rule runs in your favor: if weather delays your retrieval and your stay runs long, you are not charged for the additional nights or meals.
  • If the boat operator cancels and no substitute can be coordinated for your dates, that is treated as a weather/safety cancellation under this section. Claims about the carriage itself remain governed by the operator's own terms (Waiver §1.3); the Company's responsibility under this policy is limited to credit or return of the visit price as this section provides — the Company is not responsible for your travel costs to or from the departure dock, lodging ashore, missed connections, or other travel expenses (House Rules §18).
  • Strongly recommended: carry trip-cancellation / travel insurance. Offshore schedules move; insurance protects the money this policy cannot (your shoreside travel and lodging costs).

6. Damage, additional costs & security

  • You are responsible for the reasonable, legally recoverable costs caused by your violation of the Waiver or House Rules — including the cost of your removal from the Tower (Waiver §6.4) — and for damage you cause to the Tower, its equipment, or others' property (Waiver §4.1(c)).
  • Emergency, evacuation, and medical charges legally imposed on you, incurred at your request, or caused by your violation are your responsibility (Waiver §7.1); these are typically billed by the responding provider, not the Company.
  • No security deposit is collected. Instead, where the purchaser paid by card, that card is kept on file with the booking, and by booking the purchaser authorizes the Company to charge that card for the costs above that the purchaser caused — supported by an itemized written statement, with photographs where applicable, sent to you within fourteen (14) days after your trip ends, and limited to actual, reasonable, documented repair, replacement, or cost amounts. Card charges are capped at $1,500 per person; any amount above the cap is invoiced. Disputing a charge does not waive the Company's rights or yours.
  • Each person answers for their own damage. Costs caused by a member of the party other than the purchaser are invoiced to the person who caused them, with the same itemized statement. The purchaser's card is not charged for another person's damage.
  • A bank account is never debited for these costs. Where the payment method on file is a U.S. bank account, the costs are invoiced.
  • This policy contains no non-disparagement, review-penalty, or gag term of any kind — you are always free to leave an honest review (consistent with Waiver §8.2 and the Consumer Review Fairness Act, 15 U.S.C. §45b).

7. Changes to this policy; adoption

The Company may update this policy; each version is dated and stamped with a version number. The version in effect when you booked governs your booking. Material changes will not be applied retroactively to a confirmed booking.

Adoption. This policy and each revision of it are adopted by the Company with the approval of the Tower's owner group. Version 1.7 was approved on September 27, 2026 and takes effect on that date.

8. Questions

Bookings and payment questions, cancellations, and every notice this policy requires "in writing to the station": station@fpsls.com.

Fee & Cancellation Policy · Version 1.7 · Effective September 27, 2026 · Doc ID FPSLS-FCP-001 · Frying Pan Tower Lighthouse LLC · Independent of, and referenced by, the Waiver (§6.4, §10.1) — governs payment terms only; does not amend the Waiver.

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