A Scuba Diving Instructor Salary Explained - How much do Dive Instructors earn?

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Unless you teach enough classes, you are paying to do it. Don't forget paying insurance for years after you stop teaching.

My goal is to bring in enough to pay for the insurance and member if I stop I stop paying insurance.
 
My goal is to bring in enough to pay for the insurance and member if I stop I stop paying insurance.
I did that with one course. The other courses' pay was for profit (minus gas for the car).
 
I did that with one course. The other courses' pay was for profit (minus gas for the car).
You profited $1000 in teaching one course? For a shop? You are lucky!

There's also the factor of recouping costs for becoming a dive pro.
 
You profited $1000 in teaching one course? For a shop? You are lucky!

There's also the factor of recouping costs for becoming a dive pro.
$1,000? My Insurance (just to assist, not to do DM lead courses or charter dives) plus annual PADI insurance came to a total of about $260 CAD (It would have been another $100 to have the complete DM insurance, so I would have been in the hole by $60 after assisting one course). I had $40 left over from one course's $300 pay and used that toward gas, so (with high Can. gas prices) I probably came out a very few bucks ahead after assisting on one course. Remaining courses that year went into my pocket.

Yes, the DM course probably cost me like $500-$700, can't really recall, but in that area. I used shop equipment in the pool and my own at the shorem so nothing but the course & materials to buy. But, like my 5 years of university, I don't count all that tuition money when considering my teacher's salary. That's just the cost of getting a degree (or DM/Instructor certification).
 
$1,000? My Insurance (just to assist, not to do DM lead courses or charter dives) plus annual PADI insurance came to a total of about $260 CAD (It would have been another $100 to have the complete DM insurance, so I would have been in the hole by $60 after assisting one course). I had $40 left over from one course's $300 pay and used that toward gas, so (with high Can. gas prices) I probably came out a very few bucks ahead after assisting on one course. Remaining courses that year went into my pocket.

Yes, the DM course probably cost me like $500-$700, can't really recall, but in that area. I used shop equipment in the pool and my own at the shorem so nothing but the course & materials to buy. But, like my 5 years of university, I don't count all that tuition money when considering my teacher's salary. That's just the cost of getting a degree (or DM/Instructor certification).
DMs don't get paid in my area.
 
  • I have gone on many dive boats in South Florida where we are told that the divemasters work for tips alone. I am pretty sure that is illegal--at least that was the consensus of a thread we had on this practice a few years ago. One boat I used a lot was called on this, and their spiel converted to saying that a substantial portion of the DM's pay comes from tips.
The boat I was on this weekend seems to use this model. The captain on our last outing said, and I quote, "the deck hand and divemaster work for tips and tips alone" so take care of them.

I put a pin in my brain to look into this later, 'cause that sounds crazy.
 
DMs don't get paid in my area.
Right, that seems to be way more the norm. So they do it for tips, perks and degrade the term professional for anyone who expects to get paid for the work they do. But "I just want to give something back and see the joy on the faces of students such as I experienced myself diving"-- Yeah, give back-- The pro athlete making millions sometimes "give backs" by donating money to their old HS. I guess DMs (or even instructors) don't have millions, so maybe it's just "give".
 
Go up to highly skilled dive training — e.g. trimix — then the supply is restricted to highly experienced instructors, thus there’s a corresponding increase in pricing to make the course economically viable. The clientele here being highly experienced and knows what good looks like.

It's limited by the numbers of people willing to pay into the insane number of ponzi scheme levels that the instructor pipeline really is.
 
It's limited by the numbers of people willing to pay into the insane number of ponzi scheme levels that the instructor pipeline really is.
You get what you pay for.

When in 'resorts' where there's several dive shops touting for your money, course prices are low and the quality is correspondingly mediocre; particularly the amount of time doing 'academics'.

As one moves on to the advanced courses (deco, trimix, CCR) the supply of suitably experienced good instructors is far more limited thus prices are higher but the quality and time spent is much better.

Early in one's diving 'career' it becomes clearly obvious that there's an element of Ponzi to the PADI "recreational" diving training as they trade on the "master" moniker (master badge collector, or shop assistant). Once past Rescue Diver (an excellent course BTW), PADI quickly becomes irrelevant.
 

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