What is the life of a "dive bum" like ?

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Salt

Contributor
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Location
New England
# of dives
100 - 199
First off, I want to clarify that I don't mean the word bum in a negative way. I mean this very much as the equivalent of a ski bum - a person who has given up more material pursuits to enjoy a sport he loves for a period of time. ( I was a ski bum at one point in my younger years.) But perhaps "travelling dive guide" is a better term.

I have been on a couple of dive vacations and I have encountered more than a few of these types now. Usually younger (in their 20's and 30's) ; usually male; from a different country than where they are working, occasionally former military divers. They may work a couple of seasons for a shop in one dive location then move to another location.

I am fascinated by this lifestyle. It's probably jealously :cool2:

I assume there are a few of you on the forums. If so, I would love to ask some questions:

1) How did you get into this lifestyle
2) What qualifications did you need
3) How many days a week do you usually dive
4) Best part of lifestyle
5) Worst part of lifestyle
6) Favorite dive location
7) At what age do you think you will stop this lifestyle? What then?
 
The most active tropical Scuba Club in the Pacific:
Kwajalein Scuba Club

If you have the job qualifications and are a US Citizen --you won't have to live like a bum:

https://www.krsjv.com/Pages/CareersNew.aspx


. . .If you are hired in "Unaccompanied" status you are provided with a single status Bachelor Quarters room similar to a dorm room or small studio apartment, with a private bathroom. You are also provided a meal card which allows you to eat at the island dining hall at no cost. If you are hired in "Accompanied" status you typically receive housing for you and your pre- approved dependents, but no meal card. There are no charges to the employee for housing utilities. Your only fixed monthly cost for living on Kwajalein is for your basic telephone service. Most employees work a standard 5 day/40 hour work schedule. . .
 
"Does This Island Go to the Bottom" is an entertaining read about one man's life as a scuba instructor in the Caribbean. Link It is supposed to be a true story about the years he spent in the islands. After reading the book, I'm thinking that I am way too old for that lifestyle.
 
Look into liveaboards as well. The folks working on those seem to live the lifestyle for sure, with the added benefit of not needing to maintain a real residence it would seem - several of them on our Aquacat trip told us that they basically just crash with friends or go on 'vacation' somewhere on their weeks off.
 
Some places offer better lifestyles than others but the good ones are few and far between, and not as good as they look. Free meals and lodgings are all well and good, but what do you get paid on top of that to clothe yourself, replace kit when it's worn out, buy luxury items, ensure you have medical care if you need it? Most people living that lifestyle are living for the day; they will not have much chance of paying into a pension or savings account etc. What if you decide to have a family (or find you will be having one like it or not) - could you get a proper job when you quit the life of a dive bum? Also look at whether the work is all year round or seasonal - even if the resort is open all year, there may be quiet months where they have to shed staff, or you still have work but the tips are drying up.

Every time I go somewhere sunny, I think I would love the lifestyle, but usually I change my mind when I get back to reality. Getting to dive every day looks great, but in reality you will be up at the crack of dawn to get to the shop, you will be humping kit, dealing with crap divers, getting back and humping more kit, filling cylinders and fixing whatever kit your customers have broken that day.

I have to say, I am still very jealous of those who live this lifestyle and wish the best of luck to anybody brave enough to go for it - just make sure you go in with an open mind.
 
It's a bit 'meh' to be honest.
Diving/ working 6 or 7 days week. Long hours. Bad pay.

... but

... You're living the dream!

No not really. Most of the diving you do is ow courses and dsd's. Constantly looking after people for pay that even an illegal immigrant would sniff at. The bizarre thing is that a lot of the time you are an illegal immigrant as work visas and dive jobs do not often go hand in hand.

I had fun for the 6 years I did it but in the end I grew tired of other people doing the dives I wanted to do. Now I dive less, but when I do get in the water its because I want to not because I have to in order to eat that day.

Oh and your liver will take a pounding :)



Sent from my couch using tapatalk
 
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First off, I want to clarify that I don't mean the word bum in a negative way. I mean this very much as the equivalent of a ski bum - a person who has given up more material pursuits to enjoy a sport he loves for a period of time. ( I was a ski bum at one point in my younger years.)


No, ski bums work in the industry for the few operational winter months, then they work other jobs. Not all ski bums are actually skiing, it represents the other many many people in a ski town that work for the ski operation. They might have two or maybe three other jobs to keep it in the air and afloat and then just go home to Mom. There are a few full timers and that might be the Ski Patrol or senior employees who maintain vehicles, equipment and tradesmen.

It is in no way an inexpensive lifestyle, and it's very hard to make ends meet. In the ski industry, there has been enough local political pressure made so that somewhat affordable housing is available to some workers as part of the agreement to operate the ski mountain franchise.

The fantasy of the "ski instructor" Ski Bum life ends at the Hollywood version. Reality is different.

I'll take my experience in skiing and apply it to what I have only observed in 50 years of diving:

1) How did you get into this lifestyle

Seems that many show up and decide to stay. Most of the females who are involved wound up there originally with their bf's. Very few relationships of any kind ever survive.

2) What qualifications did you need

Nowadays, the answer for that has changed. Used to be you just showed upo, then maybe if you had a DM. Now you better have an OWSI rating and be prepared to work as any DM. In most "paradise" locales you really don't need any kind of card to DM a dive. You will be competing against locals who are willing to be paid on this scale.

There has been a shake-out in IDC Training Centers, as even the returning Vets are leery of throwing their hard-earned educational grants at something so etherial as this. I have seen a lot of noob divers sitting all wide-eyed at their IDC classes, visions of bikinis and pina coladas dancing in their heads. The smart people "in the industry" are teaching those classes, the real smart people in the industry are the Course Directors or better yet, the guys that show up at the end of the IDC to do the final Okay. It's all based on the Tupperware model.


3) How many days a week do you usually dive

Seems to be 6 if not 7 days every week, but only if you want to outlast your graduation money. Likely 2 if not 3 times per day. If your ears were crackling too loud, I could repeat myself.

4) Best part of lifestyle

The party scene; cute girls/guys who know they never have to see you next week

5) Worst part of lifestyle

The party scene; cute girls/guys who know they never have to see you next week; Working as an indentured slave; in an industrial environment; living with whoever as a roommate; crap pay; being assigned the nationalities that do not tip; carrying tanks

6) Favorite dive location

Irrelevant as you will never see it while working. If the question was, "what is your favorite dive destination to work at", it's more a matter of "
what would be your favorite" dive destination if you ever got there.


7) At what age do you think you will stop this lifestyle? What then?

The actual age is determined by when your brain kicks in and decides that your ear-drums are shot and that someone that you trust convinces you of the awful truth, that you have "gone island" (a point at which you may not heed the warning anyway).

This terminal age of realization may be substantially delayed by regular consumption of alcohol (see "gone island" above).

Medical issues of any kind are a big trigger. The death of a parental unit is sometimes a key. One of the biggest terminating factors is when the private investigator hired by your crazy-assed stateside wife has finally found your hidey-hole. The reverse is also true- if your local honey has been sharpening the kitchen knives, this often portends ill and causes the exit of many from paradise.

Females may sometimes hear the clock. This urge to merge might trigger flight from "this friggin place" (as her Darwinian driven selectors kick-in and she realizes that her mating choices offer a rather bleak outlook for her child's welfare, but more likely this is over-ridden by the much more primal first-mating criterium, tanned good looks) or might happen on island and blossom into... (refer to answer #1 above)

I suppose the ultimate exit is to become a merchant in paradise, open up a souvenir shop, manage a resort, or open the island's first strip club. Then the cycle then begins anew but differently.

At least, that's the pattern that I have noticed.

 
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Not being a dive professional, my life has a dive bum was quite different. I had to make it based on my knowledge of marine life (as a marine ecologist) and my skills as an underwater videographer. Although based out of my home here on Catalina (where I might do as many as 350 dives a year), I also traveled to work as a marine biologist and/or UW videographer on eco-cruise ships such as those operated by Lindblad Expeditions/National Geographic. I'd get film contracts to shoot for documentaries, etc. Back then I had to really forego much in the way of material things (not a big problem for me) and tighten my belt. Wish I had to tighten my belt more now that I'm semi-retired!

Arrived here on Catalina Island fresh out of college to teach marine biology on SCUBA at a private boys school. Stayed due to the beauty of the island and the fact it was surrounded by water (duh!) with good kelp forest diving. Worked a number of different jobs to stay here before I got my PhD in marine ecology. After that I had a great job, but one that kept me out of the water most of the time. When I left that job I spent the next 13 years being an "official" dive bum until I retired. Now I do exactly what I did before I retired, but with a social security and small pension check.
 
I've been at it for 5 years now, am on my 5th job (UK, Costa Rica, South Korea, Philippines and now Grand Cayman) and still love it. if you read the extensive amount of other posts on the subject you'll see that the difficulty usually is finances which I believe is a result of there being far more SCUBA instructors than there are jobs for SCUBA instructors which means that there is always someone else willing to take your job if you do not for whatever reason like it and the sheer quantity of people willing to work for free or close to it means that many basic jobs in desirable places barely pay.

That said, over the last 5 years I have had some incredible experiences and met some great people and echoing what Ste Wart says my liver has taken a hammering along the way. If you research this topic then I believe you will find mixed results and the negative will come from those that got sold a dream and had their rose tinted glasses knocked clean off their face by hours of hard graft for little reward. You will not likely find a job that lets you float around with girls in bikinis when you want and enjoy cocktails and sunbathing the rest of the time but if you are prepared to work hard at, it is feasible to find a very happy situation for yourself. One thing is for sure - if you go down this route then the first thing you'll need is money, and lots of it.

1) How did you get into this lifestyle
Had enough of rat race life in UK with little to look forward to in standard working life so tried to decide what good looked like and then worked out the steps needed to put me there. I was a keen diver at the time and to me good looked like living on a tropical beach floating around with girls in bikinis and drinking cocktails. Went up to DM in the UK while still earning decent money, researching, studying, diving, developing and then cut the cord and headed to Costa Rica for my IDC.

2) What qualifications did you need
I went PADI purely because of brand recognition, bottom line is that globally there are more PADI outfits than anyone else so my thinking was if you want to have the highest chance of getting a job, go with the agency with the most jobs. Aside that I have little other qualifications apart from a strong background in sales (useful for working in diving) other things that would help are languages, IT skills, business development and mechanics. My DM cert allowed me to work for free but I needed my OWSI cert to start earning a little cash.

3) How many days a week do you usually dive
In this job now 5-6 days a week. previously I worked somewhere for 3.5 months and in that time I had 5 days out of the water, another place I had to sit out an off season for 3 months without diving.

4) Best part of lifestyle
PADI calls it "going places, meeting people and doing things underwater". It's cheesy but I'd agree with it to an extent. I like to travel, I like to meet people and hang out, of course I like diving and working as an instructor supports this.


5) Worst part of lifestyle
Thinking about the future

6) Favorite dive location
Cant really answer this

7) At what age do you think you will stop this lifestyle? What then?

Well when the wife finally gets me to have some kids I recon that'll be when I have to hang up the fins professionally unless I manage to swing some kind of resort management position that works out. If not (more likely) then .... who knows, till then I'll bury my head in the sand and hope for the best.


Good luck
 
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Great thread, Salt!
 

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