So... Where are you going now? 
(We just can't let this thread go quietly...)
(We just can't let this thread go quietly...)
A career as a dive instructor - realistic or idealistic?
- Thread starter Sirenita
- Start date
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OP
My experiences over the last 18 months have been something of a creative catalyst, so I'm currently keeping a low profile and taking time to work on a writing project assimilated from my adventures and my blog. You could say the traveller is taking a rest for now. Then I shall be heading to Alaska next spring to pay an extended visit to a friend, who may or may not be a member of Scuba Board.
Honestly, the fun never stops.
Honestly, the fun never stops.
Sirenita,
I too left a good job, moved to the islands and lived the life in tropical paradise, or so I thought it would be. I didn't mind the long days, but I did get tired of diving the same shallow reefs while teaching.
When I first moved to the island the staff asked me what I was going to do on my days off. I said dive; they all laughed and said "that will soon change". After a few months on the island I understood what they meant. There were times when I wanted to stay dry on my day off. Especially if I had lots of scrapes and cuts.
For me paradise changed when a hurricane hit the island. I left a few months after the storm and decided to attend university. Besides, I was loosing money instead of making money. Nonetheless, moving to the tropics was a great experience.
The ironic part is my diving has taken a turn. I had a choice, hang up my fins or dive mountain lakes. This past summer I made several dives in Yellowstone Lake and saw things most divers will never see. I also made it into a magazine for diving in Fire Hole river in Yellowstone National Park.
Now I am considering setting up a dive program through the university. However, I'm finding myself poorer as a student than a dive instructor.
At the same time the travel bug is hitting me and I'm ready to go somewhere. Traveling is like a chronic disease with no cure.
Cheers
I too left a good job, moved to the islands and lived the life in tropical paradise, or so I thought it would be. I didn't mind the long days, but I did get tired of diving the same shallow reefs while teaching.
When I first moved to the island the staff asked me what I was going to do on my days off. I said dive; they all laughed and said "that will soon change". After a few months on the island I understood what they meant. There were times when I wanted to stay dry on my day off. Especially if I had lots of scrapes and cuts.
For me paradise changed when a hurricane hit the island. I left a few months after the storm and decided to attend university. Besides, I was loosing money instead of making money. Nonetheless, moving to the tropics was a great experience.
The ironic part is my diving has taken a turn. I had a choice, hang up my fins or dive mountain lakes. This past summer I made several dives in Yellowstone Lake and saw things most divers will never see. I also made it into a magazine for diving in Fire Hole river in Yellowstone National Park.
Now I am considering setting up a dive program through the university. However, I'm finding myself poorer as a student than a dive instructor.
At the same time the travel bug is hitting me and I'm ready to go somewhere. Traveling is like a chronic disease with no cure.
Cheers
Hi Sirenita,
I was talking with a Course Director a few years ago when I was working at a shop in North Carolina. One thing he told me was really interesting and stuck with me. He said that the money is not in the wet end of SCUBA diving. He said to think travel. Getting people to and from the locations and then, maybe leading dive groups.
Nonetheless, margins are so tight for shops selling gear that they really don't have that much to pay instructors. Bear in mind that teaching diving is quite often a loss leader for selling gear.
Let us know how it worked out.
I was talking with a Course Director a few years ago when I was working at a shop in North Carolina. One thing he told me was really interesting and stuck with me. He said that the money is not in the wet end of SCUBA diving. He said to think travel. Getting people to and from the locations and then, maybe leading dive groups.
Nonetheless, margins are so tight for shops selling gear that they really don't have that much to pay instructors. Bear in mind that teaching diving is quite often a loss leader for selling gear.
Let us know how it worked out.
I too have decided to hang my wetsuit up and move on to other things I have done the opposite of one of the Japanese Instructors and have moved to a Large Investment bank, yes I have re-joined the rat-race
Before I took this journey I read and re-read scuba-board and many similar forums about whats it actually like to live and work as an instructor and can you actually make enough money from it to live, I can say that I was pretty prepared for my Scuba adventure and would now like to give back some information that I gained while living and working as an Instructor and running a Dive Center in Phuket for 18 months, obviously my experience may not represent everyones experiences but I do think that having met so many other instructors and worked so hard during my time in Phuket I am qualified to make some sort of statement. Yes there are instructors that have more experience and time in the scuba industry and they may have different experiences but in this industry like others you have to appreciate that, when you are financially relying on this then your opinions are 'tainted' slightly. Indeed after reading my previous posts I was obviously happy and keen to promote the 'dive-life' and it looks like I didnt really see the 'big-picture' of working massive amounts of hours with massive responsibility for next to no money, so here are my thoughts and take them or leave them:
1, I worked every day (not one day off) in 15 months and earned about £6,000 ($12, 100 / 450,000 THB) - This is well over average and includes a salary to run a dive centre, instructor course commission, hotel commissions, DVD sales, Equipment Sales Commission, Photo CD Sales, I worked two high seasons and one low season and was available all the time and took a daily salary to run the dive-centre. I worked in a new dive centre that was very quiet and done 70 Certifications and lots of beach / reef guiding.
2, Running a dive centre is hard work, I spent all the time without students, re-designing the website and working in marketing (Hotels and Other Travel websites mainly)
3, Established dive centers that have contracts with established hotels are hugely advantaged and its very hard to earn those contracts (often financial 'encouragement' is needed in these situations)
4, Everything costs, Shop Rent, Accommodation Rent, Utility Bills, PADI fees
5, In Thailand the police are generally corrupt, I had three times (and know of loads more) when they threatened myself / the business if I didnt volunteer money to them. It was the last think I wanted to do but eventually had to pay them, with advice from my Thai friends. They do not care for non-thai nationals in the Dive Industry and do not appreciate the fact that in General Japanese students want to be taught by a Japanese Instructor in a Japanese Dive Centre
6, Found that some competitors that had been around much longer than our dive centre were consistently 'using and abusing' their Instructors, working them into the ground then not-paying them or not delivering the promises (work permits normally) I know of one shop near my old one in Kata that has done this to at least 3 Instructors.
7, 'Instructor Churn' - Fact 70% of new Instructors will not actually be a PADI member after 18 months of doing their IDC !!! just think about that. Every month Phuket alone has about 25-40 new Instructors being certified
8, As its everyones dream job the salary is low and will remain so while the margins are tight and there is an oversupply of Instructors willing to work for 'air' / experience / certifications and a few THB
9, I once guided 4 divers over 4 dives in one day that took myself 15 hours and earned about 1000 THB (about £14 / $28) Guiding is fun and easy, Instructing can be better paid but teaching a single open water student takes 4 days and you can pay only 1000 THB per day
10, Due to the financial reasons above Open Water courses are squeezed into 3 days and have multiple students. I refuse to do the OW course in 3 days and still believe it could only be done if the student has dived before and has completed all the knowledge reviews prior to the start of the course. 3 Day Open water courses are not fun and stressed and not the happy / fun /easy way and not my way but they go on every day.
11, I met some of the most successful instructors 'in the world' and im not exaggerating as Thailand certifies more students that any other country and some of the people I met had been there for 7+ years. These instructors have certified 3000+ students and have 10,000 + dives and they are generally happy but always having money problems, one had been there for 8 years and confided in me that this year was the last year where he hadn't needed to withdraw money from his UK accounts. The guy was popular and in demand and currently a tour leader on a liveaboard during the high-season.
12, Culture, the change of culture is exciting and a reason to work away from your own country but life is very cheap in Thailand and I personally know of 10 (yes 10) people that are now permanently (for the rest of their life) damaged in someway or other due to road accidents (all of them on motorbikes / mopeds) One friend had his wallet and watch stolen after he had been run over in the morning (0800) while on the way to work. Shameful and almost beyond belief. I know one guy thats brain damaged and 2 that have had severe internal injuries / broken legs etc etc
13, Like many other poor / developing countries Thailand needs money from tourists and Phuket is the money box of Thailand and as such learn that there are very few 'genuine' people there that are concerned about you more than your money
14, The desire to be at the next level is very appealing but really doesnt mean much when you are there, I am now an official Badge collector that has done loads of Instructor Specialties, Become an IDC Staff Instructor and Staffed IDCs, I dont like the idea of people rushing to the next level just for boasting rights. I have seen some terrible and I mean terrible divers / Instructors and know the pressure of financial and certification levels have forced people into giving these people what they paid for.
15, I have seen terrible abuse but divers and Instructors of marine life / reefs and do not tollerate it and will never let it go without correcting behavior, as such some of the most popular beautiful dive sites have massive damage to them
16, In 15 months I saw marine police once and saw the immigration police about 20 times ! (marine police concerned with the health of the dive sites and immigration police concerned with work permits / donations to their pocket)
17, At the end of my time I thought to myself even if I was given (for free) the dive centre I was going to buy I wouldn't stay here, that moment was a time in my life that I will possibly look back to as a cross-roads moment but I regret nothing so far
18, Since I have been back (5 months over low season) I have heard of a massive oversupply of instructors and no divers / students. I have heard of some instructors not working one day for 4 months !
19, I will possibly contribute to the PADI statistics (point 7) and become an Instructor that done his / her bit and made some people happy and safer but then moves on to other fields
20, Law, I personally knew people that were victims of very serious crime, rape, assault, burglary, police beatings. Since I have been back to the UK you realize that you almost accept these as they are 'normal' I havent seen or heard of any of the about crimes in my area, although I dont doubt they occur.
Conclusion
I have no regrets and am glad I did it, my one regret is that I worked so hard with a view to buying a dive center that I didnt explore the country enough, if you find yourself in another country then stop and take a look around you from time to time and get out of the tourist areas.
It was a great time of my life and met a massive amount of interesting people / students and Instructors who I will keep in touch with probably for life
There are some excellent Instructors and Dive Centers about and Phuket is an excellent place to dive and experience. To live and work there is tough due to competition and low pay.
You dont realise that you live in Paradise as you just look at the boats and beaches as your office after a while but there are days when you have a happy, beautiful people diving with you that you just cant believe how lucky you are to be here
I now love the UK more than ever, safe roads, honest government officials, police you can trust, girls that are generally honest, the reliability of the Utilities and Internet, the cleanness, the lack of wild dogs shagging in your garden
I hope this is of use to people if they are undecided about what to do regarding working as an instructor. My advice would be try if for a year but dont think you are going to be able to save any money, have fun and be safe
Before I took this journey I read and re-read scuba-board and many similar forums about whats it actually like to live and work as an instructor and can you actually make enough money from it to live, I can say that I was pretty prepared for my Scuba adventure and would now like to give back some information that I gained while living and working as an Instructor and running a Dive Center in Phuket for 18 months, obviously my experience may not represent everyones experiences but I do think that having met so many other instructors and worked so hard during my time in Phuket I am qualified to make some sort of statement. Yes there are instructors that have more experience and time in the scuba industry and they may have different experiences but in this industry like others you have to appreciate that, when you are financially relying on this then your opinions are 'tainted' slightly. Indeed after reading my previous posts I was obviously happy and keen to promote the 'dive-life' and it looks like I didnt really see the 'big-picture' of working massive amounts of hours with massive responsibility for next to no money, so here are my thoughts and take them or leave them:
1, I worked every day (not one day off) in 15 months and earned about £6,000 ($12, 100 / 450,000 THB) - This is well over average and includes a salary to run a dive centre, instructor course commission, hotel commissions, DVD sales, Equipment Sales Commission, Photo CD Sales, I worked two high seasons and one low season and was available all the time and took a daily salary to run the dive-centre. I worked in a new dive centre that was very quiet and done 70 Certifications and lots of beach / reef guiding.
2, Running a dive centre is hard work, I spent all the time without students, re-designing the website and working in marketing (Hotels and Other Travel websites mainly)
3, Established dive centers that have contracts with established hotels are hugely advantaged and its very hard to earn those contracts (often financial 'encouragement' is needed in these situations)
4, Everything costs, Shop Rent, Accommodation Rent, Utility Bills, PADI fees
5, In Thailand the police are generally corrupt, I had three times (and know of loads more) when they threatened myself / the business if I didnt volunteer money to them. It was the last think I wanted to do but eventually had to pay them, with advice from my Thai friends. They do not care for non-thai nationals in the Dive Industry and do not appreciate the fact that in General Japanese students want to be taught by a Japanese Instructor in a Japanese Dive Centre
6, Found that some competitors that had been around much longer than our dive centre were consistently 'using and abusing' their Instructors, working them into the ground then not-paying them or not delivering the promises (work permits normally) I know of one shop near my old one in Kata that has done this to at least 3 Instructors.
7, 'Instructor Churn' - Fact 70% of new Instructors will not actually be a PADI member after 18 months of doing their IDC !!! just think about that. Every month Phuket alone has about 25-40 new Instructors being certified
8, As its everyones dream job the salary is low and will remain so while the margins are tight and there is an oversupply of Instructors willing to work for 'air' / experience / certifications and a few THB
9, I once guided 4 divers over 4 dives in one day that took myself 15 hours and earned about 1000 THB (about £14 / $28) Guiding is fun and easy, Instructing can be better paid but teaching a single open water student takes 4 days and you can pay only 1000 THB per day
10, Due to the financial reasons above Open Water courses are squeezed into 3 days and have multiple students. I refuse to do the OW course in 3 days and still believe it could only be done if the student has dived before and has completed all the knowledge reviews prior to the start of the course. 3 Day Open water courses are not fun and stressed and not the happy / fun /easy way and not my way but they go on every day.
11, I met some of the most successful instructors 'in the world' and im not exaggerating as Thailand certifies more students that any other country and some of the people I met had been there for 7+ years. These instructors have certified 3000+ students and have 10,000 + dives and they are generally happy but always having money problems, one had been there for 8 years and confided in me that this year was the last year where he hadn't needed to withdraw money from his UK accounts. The guy was popular and in demand and currently a tour leader on a liveaboard during the high-season.
12, Culture, the change of culture is exciting and a reason to work away from your own country but life is very cheap in Thailand and I personally know of 10 (yes 10) people that are now permanently (for the rest of their life) damaged in someway or other due to road accidents (all of them on motorbikes / mopeds) One friend had his wallet and watch stolen after he had been run over in the morning (0800) while on the way to work. Shameful and almost beyond belief. I know one guy thats brain damaged and 2 that have had severe internal injuries / broken legs etc etc
13, Like many other poor / developing countries Thailand needs money from tourists and Phuket is the money box of Thailand and as such learn that there are very few 'genuine' people there that are concerned about you more than your money
14, The desire to be at the next level is very appealing but really doesnt mean much when you are there, I am now an official Badge collector that has done loads of Instructor Specialties, Become an IDC Staff Instructor and Staffed IDCs, I dont like the idea of people rushing to the next level just for boasting rights. I have seen some terrible and I mean terrible divers / Instructors and know the pressure of financial and certification levels have forced people into giving these people what they paid for.
15, I have seen terrible abuse but divers and Instructors of marine life / reefs and do not tollerate it and will never let it go without correcting behavior, as such some of the most popular beautiful dive sites have massive damage to them
16, In 15 months I saw marine police once and saw the immigration police about 20 times ! (marine police concerned with the health of the dive sites and immigration police concerned with work permits / donations to their pocket)
17, At the end of my time I thought to myself even if I was given (for free) the dive centre I was going to buy I wouldn't stay here, that moment was a time in my life that I will possibly look back to as a cross-roads moment but I regret nothing so far
18, Since I have been back (5 months over low season) I have heard of a massive oversupply of instructors and no divers / students. I have heard of some instructors not working one day for 4 months !
19, I will possibly contribute to the PADI statistics (point 7) and become an Instructor that done his / her bit and made some people happy and safer but then moves on to other fields
20, Law, I personally knew people that were victims of very serious crime, rape, assault, burglary, police beatings. Since I have been back to the UK you realize that you almost accept these as they are 'normal' I havent seen or heard of any of the about crimes in my area, although I dont doubt they occur.
Conclusion
I have no regrets and am glad I did it, my one regret is that I worked so hard with a view to buying a dive center that I didnt explore the country enough, if you find yourself in another country then stop and take a look around you from time to time and get out of the tourist areas.
It was a great time of my life and met a massive amount of interesting people / students and Instructors who I will keep in touch with probably for life
There are some excellent Instructors and Dive Centers about and Phuket is an excellent place to dive and experience. To live and work there is tough due to competition and low pay.
You dont realise that you live in Paradise as you just look at the boats and beaches as your office after a while but there are days when you have a happy, beautiful people diving with you that you just cant believe how lucky you are to be here
I now love the UK more than ever, safe roads, honest government officials, police you can trust, girls that are generally honest, the reliability of the Utilities and Internet, the cleanness, the lack of wild dogs shagging in your garden
I hope this is of use to people if they are undecided about what to do regarding working as an instructor. My advice would be try if for a year but dont think you are going to be able to save any money, have fun and be safe
bmcsteve
Contributor
WOW! So much for my dream of supplementing my retirement income teaching scuba.....
Oh well.... I will just have to enjoy my diving in retirement instead.
Oh well.... I will just have to enjoy my diving in retirement instead.
Sirentia
I followed your travels on your blog, fascinating time, but I was worried when it went very quiet.
It's good to hear that you are still writing and your travel bug is recovering. Alaska sounds interesting.
Have a great time and keep us informed of your progress.
I followed your travels on your blog, fascinating time, but I was worried when it went very quiet.
It's good to hear that you are still writing and your travel bug is recovering. Alaska sounds interesting.
Have a great time and keep us informed of your progress.
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