Working in diving overseas

[SarahM]

Hi,

I am a BSAC OWI. I am taking a career break next year starting January, and want to go to a Latin America (either Mexico, Berlize, Honduras, or Costa Rica) and work in diving. So far I have a lot of passion for my trip but very little information. Can anyone recommend good sources of information or does anyone have experience of working in the diving industry and would you be willing to talk to me?

The kind of questions I have are:
how can I pick up work?
what equipment is essential to take?
is there anyway to avoid paying a fortune in excess baggage?
do I need specialist insurance?
will it be necessary to cross-over to PADI?
is it best to start as a guide or an instructor?

Please reply on this forum or e mail me directly. I would really appreciate any help you can give.

Sarah

[stu wall]

Hi,
Many people take time out from their career and a good opportunity to provide a source of income and subsidise your keep is by working in the dive industry and there are opportunities either working as a Divemaster or Instructor.
Unfortunately you cant excpect a high salery but what you may earn is food, accomodation, a small income and lots of hard work.....maybe if your luck some commission!!!

One thing you need to do to gain access to the dive industry is sell yourself to your employer, the more experience & training you have and can provide for the employer and their clients, the more attractive and versitile you become. There is no doubt that teaching Padi as an Instructor opens more doors on the global market with its vast array of courses available, however you can also gain entry into the industry as a Divemaster leading groups of divers and gaining experience along the way whilst at the same time having some great fun. Some centres offer internships where you recieve payment through training & education but you can see the more you have to offer the dive centre, the more attractive you become for employment.
With respect to dive equipment well i would recomend your own gear but unfortunately as far as i am aware no one to date has found a soloution to the excess baggage charges :mad:
Unfortunately litigation is a sign of the times so you will need Travel / Dive insurance and as an instructor you should be covered for 3rd party liability insurance. Dan Europe provide insurance cover at the proffesional level so you would find out more on thier website.
There is no doubt about it you will have an excellent time working in the industry at what ever level you choose to enter, but will gain some great eye opening experiences and have some great fun along the way. Most proffessional instructors / Divemasters will never unfortunately be millionares through there hard work and dedication to the sport, but one thing is for sure is that they are there because they love it:)
I wish you every success on your travels and do feel free to ask for any further advice.

Best Regards
Stuart

Website - http://stuwall.mysite.wanadoo-members.co.uk

[John Bantin]

My pal Stuart Cove has one of the most successful dive centres in the world. This is what he looks for when employing divemaster and instructors:
Joinery skills.
Skilled boat mechanic skills
IT skills
Foreign language skills
...and so on.

The world is awash with diving instructors. What else can you do?

[johnabbott]

You will have a great deal of difficulty in finding employment actually diving unless you are qualified with PADI. They do have a bit of a stranglehold on the professional recreational industry at the moment, a bit like Microsoft in the IT world. There may be other options for work such as manning the dive shop etc. As a PADI diving instructor you get access to an employment area on the web site which is a good place to start looking for work.

As an instructor it is best to aim to start as an instructor and accept guiding if it is all you can get. That said, some instructors I know like to guide. If you are employed as an instructor you will probably get a bit of both anyway.

More often than not, you are expected to have all your diving kit and you may well end up paying excess baggage to cart it round with you.

As has been said, you need to offer other skills. Languages will often get you employment in a resort awash with dive instructors looking for work. German and French speaking instructors are in particular short supply in Latin America.

Its a great life. You may never come back.

Cheers John

[Dave]

With respect to dive equipment well i would recomend your own gear but unfortunately as far as i am aware no one to date has found a soloution to the excess baggage charges :mad:


There is a simple solution to excess baggage on a trip like that and that is to ensure that the routing is via North America where the piece based baggage system applies. On itineries via N America, the allowance is 2 pieces , with each piece being a maximum of 32KG ( giving a total allowance of 64KG ) . This compares favourably with the other IATA allowance for baggage which applies elsewhere which , internationally, is typically 20Kg for economy, 30Kg for Business and 40Kg for 1st class.

If still short on allowances, then US carriers have a benefit in that they typically allow higher cabin allowances ( e.g. 2 pieces of 9Kg each ) which added to the 64KG , means you can take 82Kg with you

I have no problems taking my dive gear around the world

Dave