What are the chances of finding a job on a live aboard as crew

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Scubasteve1982

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Location
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I'm new to the site and new to this game. I'm a PADI OWD, I currently live in Philadelphia and have a good paying job. But I'm sick of the daily grind of the north east and want to move down south and live life. I was wondering what options I have. I would really love to work as crew on a sailboat or live aboard. I'm sure these jobs are hard to come by. I also realize without an Instructor cert finding a job will be even more difficult. Has anyone made this big step and found a job aboard a boat. I'm 25 and not getting any younger. I found that I'm totally in love with the ocean and SCUBA and need to find some way to do this and make a living, even if its a very very meager living. I need to do this before I get married or have kids. If anyone has an experience or opinion I would love to hear it! Thanks
 
Have you tried contacting any of the dive liveaboards or applied?

I'd check out the websites for Nekton, Agressor, BlackBeards, Aquacat, etc. and see what they have. Call their 800 number and see when they might have openings. Crew rotate on and off all the time so they will always having openings at some point.


There are also many private boats or private charter boats that are more upscale that hire crew members. There are websites for this seperate from the scuba industry.

Make yourself marketable. You don't have to be a divemaster to work as a deckhand, but any training you can get will only polish up your resume. Get your RedCross CPR and/or first-aid certifications for example. There are Safety At Sea type classes that are good also, but usually not required for dive charters.

Also if you want to move far south, check the charter boat operations of sailboats out of BVI. They usually aren't dive orientated, but they still need crew or deck hands.
 
The Agressor Fleet is hiring right now. It is also usefull if you know how to cook. A lot of the live aboards employ chefs that are just that- chefs.

Also, it's not a live aboard but you can always check in NC or FL or even AL to get in with a fishing fleet. It's not diving but it is a way to get your foot in the door and they often employ newbies as crew and bring the up through the ranks. You can always use you SCUBA skills to clean the bottom of hulls (not fun but it pays well).
 
The more skills you have on your resume the better. To crew a liveaboard dive boat, dive instructor is almost a given.

Other skills that will get you a job over other instructors are.
Coast Guard liscenced captain
Chef
diesel mechanic
small boat handling experience
paramedic/emt

the list goes on use your imagination
 
Uncle Sam's NAVY will provide on the job training!
 
You'll have to have a CPR/First Aid cert plus most boats want you to have an STCW rating which is not sea time dependent. A captain's license needs sea time. The best idea is to get some sort of job on day boats to build experience and then start applying to liveaboard ops. If you want to get into diving, start with getting cert'd through rescue or divemaster. You'll need your instructor ticket to get a decent job diving without a doubt.

You can make things happen, but you'll have to work at it.

I dive for a living and I have the best office in the world, but it took me time, energy, patience, and money to get here.

Good luck!

Rachel
 
STCW 95 is a must for most liveaboards now days.

While that is a great cert to have for working any offshore job, is there any dive liveboard that actually requires it?

I think there was a thread by one of the flower garden boat captains asking that.... I don't think there were any 'yes' answers.


STCW 95 is not required on vessels of 200 gross tons or less that are 'domestic voyages'. (voyages that begin and end in the US).

It still is a good feather to have your hat/resume when applying for a liveboard job.


now working an offshore commercial ship crew, I think most require STCW 95


EDIT: Looking at the Agressor and Peter Hughes page, they require STCW95 for employees
 
I would agree that you need to get your instructor rating to maximize your chances of getting a job on a liveaboard- I was just on the Nekton, and only the cook and steward were not instructors. Once you have the rating, it should be a matter of applying to all of the boats out there, and getting lucky on the timing.
 
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