Scuba Dive Instructor

[kaisteinbek]

Are there any dive instructors here??? are you using your qualifications make a living while sailing???? Share your adventures please.

[GordMay]

Greetings and welcome aboard the CF, kaisteinbek.

[SSgtPitt]

Originally Posted by kaisteinbek

Are there any dive instructors here??? are you using your qualifications make a living while sailing???? Share your adventures please.

I got Divemaster and was working my way to Instructor. We were going to travel the world, teach people to dive amd make a living taking people out on our boat. Then you get a reality check.
After numerous conversations with numerous instructors in Colorado, it became quite apparent you can't afford to eat teaching people to dive. Everyone here did it for free travel and dives. The only making any money is PADI and the dive shop. And the shop makes theirs off of sales.

[john61ct]

Yes in tourist spots around the third world, young western diving teachers barely make more than the lower tier of TEFL teachers.

IOW enough to live, one notch better than the locals, but barely enough to own a moto scooter, not enough for a car, a boat? Fuggedaboudit

[wandering rober]

For many years on St. John , V.I. , I owned and ran a dive business / multi-pass boat . Everyday I would be approached by young people offering dive -master , instructor services for free or lunch money . Most resort areas are the same . Also as you travel you will run into liability and or licencing problems . Local dive operations will not allow foreign competition .
Even scrunching bottoms in foreign ports will bring probs from local divers .

[SaucySailoress]

SCUBA diving professionally is a great way of paying for holidays.... you can make enough to live locally and eat frugally. But have to agree with the above posts... Transient SCUBA work isn't gonna pay for boat repairs.

And a word about the Centre owners. We owned and operated a 5* PADI centre for many years in Kuwait. We expanded to include a gym and sailing facilities too. Guess what? After paying the staff and the bills and the maintenance and buying materials, we made very little from it either...

But you know what? It was a great life so no complaints.

[CSY Man]

. . We owned and operated a 5* PADI centre for many years in Kuwait.

Small world, I lived in Kuwait in the 90s, in Hawali, then in Fintas Towers.
Never dove there, but dove in Jeddah.

[a64pilot]

Yeah, I never went diving on any of my stays in Kuwait either

[Palarran]

If you want to make some coin, become a kite board instructor. Much more scarce and about twice the price per hour. Actually they make a ridiculous amount of money. But you need to be good. It doesn't matter how much time you've spent doing it, you have to be really good.

[nwdiver]

To make money as an SCUBA instructor you need unique skills, one friend has 3 rebreathers and is certified to teach the brand he carries under the PADI system, he makes a good living off his boat in Thialand (he did well in Mexico teaching cave diving for several years) another has 3 good point and shoot housed cameras and 3 cheap laptops with photoshop he teaches photography then post production and does very well off his boat in Indonesia (you can teach photography as a dive master in the PADI system, or could, don't know about now) ....

As a Open Water Instructor, not so much.........

[gamayun]

Originally Posted by a64pilot

Yeah, I never went diving on any of my stays in Kuwait either

A girlfriend and I took a dive boat trip in Abu Dhabi during a conference there a while back. We were the only ones onboard (I always wondered if it were for reasons of "decency"), and the dive sites weren't all that interesting though we did come across a sea snake, which was very cool.

I also knew a guy who owned a dive shop in Northern Virginia who used to say, if you want to make a million dollars in the dive business, start with million and a half dollars....the PO could just scale that appropriately for what they want to do

The friends who seem to be making some kind of living in the dive business teach a specialized skill such as UW photography and they organize dive trips, which allows them to comp their own rooms/some expenses.

[CSY Man]

Originally Posted by a64pilot

Yeah, I never went diving on any of my stays in Kuwait either

No kidding, the beaches were closed and warning signs all over due to mines after the Iraqis pulled out. I came a short time after Desert Storm and nobody was thinking about diving or playing.
Quite a few Kuwaiti women were raped by Saddam’s “soldiers”, got pregnant and dumped the new borns off at some orphanage down town.
Diving or anything else remotely fun was way down the list.
Can’t remember seeing a dive shop in town, I was there 1992-1994.

[john61ct]

Just realize in almost all these exotic locations, the wonderful stories do not include the fact that they're working illegally on the wrong visa, no work permit, competing against third-world locals and usually very corrupt legal system with very nasty jails.

Many adventurous types have no problem with such details, and most get away with it just fine, but get yourself in the wrong sticky situation it can cost a lot more than a fine and deportation.

[a64pilot]

Originally Posted by CSY Man

Can’t remember seeing a dive shop in town, I was there 1992-1994.

I didn’t see any in town either, mostly went into town for the gold shops and software etc.
However there was supposedly diving going on post in Camp Doha, they had boats etc somewhere and of course Doha is right on the gulf. Part of MWR.
I was there three times I think, first time I think about when you were, first time I was at Ali Al Salem with the Air Force people, the Doha, and later back to Ali Al Salem.
Places I never, ever want to visit.