Diving instructor?

[splashman]

Hello!
I have been playing with the idea reacentyl of becoming a diving instructor.
I have searched the web and found loads of places that offer the training but cant get any info on what work is out there or how much you can expect to get payed.
Can anyone shed some light on this for me please.

[Tony Dwyer]

Hello!
I have been playing with the idea reacentyl of becoming a diving instructor.
I have searched the web and found loads of places that offer the training but cant get any info on what work is out there or how much you can expect to get payed.
Can anyone shed some light on this for me please.

I suspect a TRoll, but,

have a look at:

http://www.bsac.org/page/81/instructor-training.htm

Most BSAC instructors are not paid. Do a search on 'HSE' & 'Diving at 'Work' for rules governing commercial activity in the UK.

Other organisations have their own info.

[Enomis Divemaster]

Hi Splashman, I dont think I can tell you on this forum what it takes to be a PADI Instructor (thats the scuba association our resort is with) , but I can tell you that here in the Caribbean, the work of a dive professional entails long hours, hard work, very little pay and even less tips. But the waters are always warm (26 to 28 degrees year around), the diving is great, the reefs, corals and fish beautiful and bountifull and the rewards of seeing your non diver students turn into safe, enthusiastic scuba divers......... priceless! Follow your heart!

[bigjo]

Hi Splashman, I dont think I can tell you on this forum what it takes to be a PADI Instructor (thats the scuba association our resort is with) , but I can tell you that here in the Caribbean, the work of a dive professional entails long hours, hard work, very little pay and even less tips. But the waters are always warm (26 to 28 degrees year around), the diving is great, the reefs, corals and fish beautiful and bountifull and the rewards of seeing your non diver students turn into safe, enthusiastic scuba divers......... priceless! Follow your heart!

Alternatively do the same job as part of a club full of bickering and internal politcs and dive in 6 degrees in Stoney Cove whilst watching a couple of bored looking pike!!!!

Tough choice really

[Enomis Divemaster]

Well Bigjo, I knew that there had to be a reason why I decided to move to, and live and dive in the Caribbean. Having read your alternative, my question is "Whats keeping ya!"

[Richard Whitcombe]

Have you tried finding a job or visa for most places in the Caribbean ?!

I've been looking and failed dismally.

[Enomis Divemaster]

Richard, to my knowledge most dive shops or resorts in the Caribbean are associated with either PADI or SSI, that means that you would have to cross over if you are a dive professional with BSAC. If you go to the PADI or SSI websites you will find a web page that lists job opportunities for dive professionals all over the world. Find what you want, contact them and see what you can work out. I don't know if you have done this or not, but there are lots of openings available the last time I looked. As far as visas, most countries in the Caribbean will issue you a 3 month tourist visa upon arriving in the country. Then you can apply for a work visa that is good for 1 year. That is what Ive got here in Venezuela. Hope this helps, Lee

[Richard Whitcombe]

I am PADI so fully aware of it. Their "jobs" site is fairly worthless - the awful ones tend to advertise on there and world wide there are far more instructors looking for jobs than there are actual jobs.

Most Caribbean visas require you to be able to do a job a local cant and/or cost several thousand US dollars for example too.

Too many instructors and too few jobs are what keeps me and many other instructors stuck in the UK.

[Enomis Divemaster]

Well, dont know what else to tell ya, except to say that I know quite a few European instructors, including Brittish instructors working on the islands of the Caribbean. Anyway, if nothing else, tear your self away from England for a while, and come out for a vacation!

[Tony Dwyer]

I am PADI so fully aware of it. Their "jobs" site is fairly worthless - the awful ones tend to advertise on there and world wide there are far more instructors looking for jobs than there are actual jobs.

Most Caribbean visas require you to be able to do a job a local cant and/or cost several thousand US dollars for example too.

Too many instructors and too few jobs are what keeps me and many other instructors stuck in the UK.

Absolutely. While there are 100's of very inexperienced (don't know what cold water or the inside of a drysuit, feels like) sub 25 year olds prepared to work for chimp money, then it will never change.
Being a paid diving (PADI ?? :) )instructor at a tourist resort wouldn't begin to pay my mortgage or even my car insurance bill (3 cars, 2 of which are 2 seaters :) ).
So I remain a wage slave at Canary Wharf. Despite being a PADI MSDT & BSAC OWI. Thus I can afford to live passably well.

[Richard Whitcombe]

Certainly my last 2 jobs in the med, the first one i lost money by the time you added up flight costs, the second i just about made a small profit (about £400 over 5 months) so its hardly a well paid job :)

The massive number of instructors vs the number of available jobs means that cheap will always win out.

[Michael Purcell]

Certainly my last 2 jobs in the med, the first one i lost money by the time you added up flight costs, the second i just about made a small profit (about £400 over 5 months) so its hardly a well paid job :)

The massive number of instructors vs the number of available jobs means that cheap will always win out.

Which is really the point of the GUE/Halcyon/etc "fair pricing" policies. We whack it up to JJ wanting to pad the wallet but just imagine a world where we actually paid the people who train us for hostile environments a fair and reasonable salary.

I think I paid less for my PADI Open Water than I pay the guy that washes my car! :)

[Tony Dwyer]

I think I paid less for my PADI Open Water than I pay the guy that washes my car! :)

It's often said that the quality of what you buy is usually reflected in the price. :)

[Janos]

I think I paid less for my PADI Open Water than I pay the guy that washes my car! :)

Yes. But that's because the guy who washes your car doesn't enjoy it as much as your PADI instructor.

Incidentally, it's one of the reasons why tube drivers are paid relatively highly. Can you imagine anything worse than having a job that is three laps of the Circle line each day?

Janos

[AndyDavis]

I am PADI so fully aware of it. Their "jobs" site is fairly worthless - the awful ones tend to advertise on there and world wide there are far more instructors looking for jobs than there are actual jobs.

Most Caribbean visas require you to be able to do a job a local cant and/or cost several thousand US dollars for example too.

Too many instructors and too few jobs are what keeps me and many other instructors stuck in the UK.

I disagree....there is plenty of work available around the world. It is just that you'll never find it by sitting on your arse in the UK. The internet is not the place to find diving work.

The best way is to take the plunge and move to your area of interest. Have a mooch around the local dive shops and drop your CV in to them. Initially, be prepared to accept any sort of work - the odd course here and there, some DM/leading work. Build yourself a reputation for professionalism and reliability and, pretty soon, you'll get a solid job in a good centre.

Apart from being an instructor with one of the primary agencies (PADI and/or SSI) and having a professional appearance/manner, the other things that help get you work are (in order):

1. Languages (the more the better).
2. Experience (more student certifications in your name).
3. Service Technician qualifications.
4. Boat Captain license.
5. Being able to teach more speciality courses.
6. Knowledge of local dive sites.
7. Customer sales skills.
8. Retail experience.

[Enomis Divemaster]

Point well taken Andy, but it is a sad fact that scuba professionals arent paid diddly, especially here in the Caribbean area. I became an OWI in 1978, and it always had to be my "second" job, even in the states, because I had to have a primary full time job that paid a decent salary to pay for my 2 Harleys, Corvette, house and wife's fancies. Now however, I have a pension from the states in dollars, and we can live like royalty here on Margarita Island. Being a dive professional in the Caribbean does have it's benefits such as great weather, 2/3 shorty wetsuits, outstanding diving, beautiful beaches, great food, laid back life style etc. I guess it comes down to what an individual's priorities are in life.

[Adrian Kelland]

Incidentally, it's one of the reasons why tube drivers are paid relatively highly. Can you imagine anything worse than having a job that is three laps of the Circle line each day?
Associate membership of the One-Under Club?

[Tony Dwyer]

Point well taken Andy, but it is a sad fact that scuba professionals arent paid diddly, especially here in the Caribbean area. I became an OWI in 1978, and it always had to be my "second" job, even in the states, because I had to have a primary full time job that paid a decent salary to pay for my 2 Harleys, Corvette, house and wife's fancies. Now however, I have a pension from the states in dollars, and we can live like royalty here on Margarita Island. Being a dive professional in the Caribbean does have it's benefits such as great weather, 2/3 shorty wetsuits, outstanding diving, beautiful beaches, great food, laid back life style etc. I guess it comes down to what an individual's priorities are in life.

Hmmm! If things go well, I'll be able to retire in a couple of years. House paid for etc. Any vacancies.

My Skills - Qualities:
IT Geek
SCUBA instructor with BSAC & PADI (loads of specialities)
Judo Instructor
Fluent in English, but Poor German and worse French
Can drive a boat, even if it has sails
Good with most kinds of infernal destruction engine. I even understand Wankels
House trained with passable social skills
Can cook passably well
Quite good with a rifle & good archery shot
Etc

Do I qualify? :O)

[Richard Whitcombe]

Judo Instructor

That may well come in useful on some discover scubas. Particularly eastern europeans!


Quite good with a rifle & good archery shot
Etc

..and if the above fails, so could this :)

[Mike Halligan]

IT Geek
SCUBA instructor with BSAC & PADI (loads of specialities)
Judo Instructor
Fluent in English, but Poor German and worse French
Can drive a boat, even if it has sails
Good with most kinds of infernal destruction engine. I even understand Wankels
House trained with passable social skills
Can cook passably well
Quite good with a rifle & good archery shot


Funny, that sounds just like a liveaboard 'guide' I've met (or two, maybe three)

[Adrian Kelland]

Funny, that sounds just like a liveaboard 'guide' I've met (or two, maybe three)
Just the cover of an international assassin :D

[Mike Halligan]

Just the cover of an international assassin :D

Nah! I met a few of them and they're nothing like Tony :p

[MarkA]

Alternatively do the same job as part of a club full of bickering and internal politcs and dive in 6 degrees in Stoney Cove whilst watching a couple of bored looking pike!!!!

Tough choice really

Do clubs really dive in Stoney Cove on a regular basis
I thought that place was just for people too miserable to join a club and spent all their time whinging about politics

[Enomis Divemaster]

Ya know, I have always been told that most Britts are sorta cold, disinterrested and kinda uppity folk. Well, after having met all the many Brittish tourists that have come to our slice of paradise and dove with us, and after having read all the interesting comments posted on this subject, I stand corrected and I have come to the conclusion that Britts are really warm, friendly, interesting and likeable folk (like me). But yall sure talk American with a funny accent! And hey Tony, what with your qualities, and especially if you are a mechanic and know diesel engines such as Cummings, I can get you a job manana, well......... after you retire!

[AndyDavis]

Point well taken Andy, but it is a sad fact that scuba professionals arent paid diddly, especially here in the Caribbean area.

This is, sadly, the truth....scuba instructors don't get paid well. Over here in Thailand, there are always large influxes of newly qualified instructors coming off of the numerous IDC programmes that are run here. Most of them aren't interested in diving as a career...but just do the dive instructor 'thing' for a couple of years in the sun. This means that they are prepared to work for peanuts (or even for free in order to gain experience). It kills the market for the rest of us - to a degree.

However, I've made a decent living from being an instructor - enough for my rent, food, a little savings and the odd beer now and again. I am aware that I sacrificed 'big bucks' and all the superflous clutter (mortgage, flash car, pointless electronic gizmos) that come with the 'rat race'. I now live in a little bungalow with a view of torquise sea...I watch tv on a portable set, hold BBQs for my friends, sleep in a hammock on my days off and drink cold beer in a bamboo beach bar.

Overall, it doesn't pay much - but being a dive instructor offers me a quality of life that I just couldn't match in the UK - regardless of how many zeros appear on my monthly pay cheque.

[Adrian Kelland]

This is, sadly, the truth....scuba instructors don't get paid well. Over here in Thailand, there are always large influxes of newly qualified instructors coming off of the numerous IDC programmes that are run here. Most of them aren't interested in diving as a career...but just do the dive instructor 'thing' for a couple of years in the sun. This means that they are prepared to work for peanuts (or even for free in order to gain experience). It kills the market for the rest of us - to a degree.

However, I've made a decent living from being an instructor - enough for my rent, food, a little savings and the odd beer now and again. I am aware that I sacrificed 'big bucks' and all the superflous clutter (mortgage, flash car, pointless electronic gizmos) that come with the 'rat race'. I now live in a little bungalow with a view of torquise sea...I watch tv on a portable set, hold BBQs for my friends, sleep in a hammock on my days off and drink cold beer in a bamboo beach bar.

Overall, it doesn't pay much - but being a dive instructor offers me a quality of life that I just couldn't match in the UK - regardless of how many zeros appear on my monthly pay cheque.
So, better than a Brixham shore dive then Andy? :D

Adrian

[AndyDavis]

Well, monsoon is here - so viz is about the same at the moment, my twins weigh the same, I'm as cold in a 3mm as I was in my drysuit...but the apres dive is a considerable improvement! :-)