Average salaries?

[c_figaro]

If you really really hate your job, how easy is it to get into this kind of work, if you have, say 32 dives logged and an open water certification

lol

 

[under water]

Cayman Islands: $1200 to $1500 / month.

Alex, This may be a mistake, but I just saw an ad in a Cayman newspaper for a Dive Instructor on Little Cayman (Southern Cross Club) for US $1000 to $1750 per year!! see attachment.
Now that is pretty close to zero.
Maybe they really meant $1000 -$1750 per month ?? Not even Cayman $$.

 

[cappyjon431]

My Panamanian DMs and Instructors make between $275-$350/month. At first I was shocked that they made so little (by our US standards), but they love their jobs and can live fairly well on this amount because the cost of living is so low in Bocas del Toro.

They get one month of paid vacation a year, plus every four months they get an additional one-third of their salary tacked onto their paychecks (this is mandated by the Panamanian government). They get paid for 13 months a year, but only work 11--I wish we had this system in the states! They also make tips, although this is minimal.

I'm hoping to institute profit sharing after the first year of operation to increase their income and make my employees feel "invested" in the company.

 

[desmarins]

Here in Brazil things aren’t much better - we make around 200 US dollars a month, on a “weekend” workload – most have regular jobs and diving is more of a paid hobby than anything else. If you work steady, full-time in a dive centre (in the main cities), you might make 600 US D a month, maybe a thousand if you work management.

That is that.

And the owners have a pretty thin profit margin, so there isn’t much you can do. Not in Brazil, where overtaxing and the market itself wears almost everyone but the toughest down.

Compared to us, you guys have it sweet up in the Caribbean. That is saying somethin’.

 

[jameslee]

Working in cairns on the GBR i was on $18.65 per hour as an instructor and worked 8 hours per day.
My day consisted of DSD'S and certified dive leading, 3 dives per day max and if we reached our goals the first commission started at $30 per dive team member and went up to $110 per day.
This hourly rate was a casual rate for a big dayboat that catered for up to 360 customers. Busy!
So 5 days per week roughly took home 750AUD after tax. start time 9:15 - roughly 6pm
Living the diving highlife, but unfortunetly the same site day in day out.


But please note that this company is one of the highest i have seen and know of in Australia.

Oh and people that can speak a second languaage such as Japanese, cantonese and mandarin fluently, get $5 language allowance per day also.

 

[alleydog77]

This might be a little late for a response but I just logged in and saw this posting.

The income range for certified DMs and Instructors vary widely around the world. Suffice to say that as an instructor you can make as little as $8-10K for full time work to $50-60K or more depending on the location and your certification. In places like Thailand you can live very well on very little money. Places like Key West, FL it's really hard to live on $18-20K. Keep in mind that DMs are hired by many dive shops/resorts/companies but receive far less money than an Instructor.

When looking for a position outside your home country many factors should be considered, not just $$. Work permits, travel and cost of living should be a few of the costs you need to consider when weighting options.

If you are looking for a job in the diving industry also consider positions may not be 100% diving related. The world of diving is just like any other industry. There are jobs in sales, product development, management, research, marketing, training, and many many more. Combine the talents/skills you have and look for positions that may pay you a little more money and maybe teach on the side for PT money through a dive shop.

For examples of this check out scubajobsonline.com - career resource exclusive to professionals in the scuba diving industry

Cheers - Arron

 

[nitro.jeca]

Well, in Serbia there is a trend in thinking that if you want to dive, you should pay around 35 euros per dive, which is unreachable for students, and other solution is to work for free for my club,where standards are very low. I seek for a divemaster job because I want to gain as much experience as possible.I am new on this forum, so I would appreciate some information about current job opportunities. I have a bachelor degree in management (I am finishing my studies in june this year), have a divemaster certification, and speak fluent English(Cambridge CAE certificate, and hoping to get Proficiency certificate in june). I also can speak some German (I am also attending classes, Deutche Oberstuffe-B2). I have had 85 dives in my diving career,which is not much, but I paid for only 40 of them (other I gain as a compensation for translating two books about scuba diving for my club, PADI Advanced Open Water manual and PADI Divemaster Manual). So I am 22 years old, fit, ambitious, very good with comunnicational skills and willing to work hard in order to gain expirience in diving.

Thanks for reading this too long message.

 

[sportdiver24]

If you really really hate your job, how easy is it to get into this kind of work, if you have, say 32 dives logged and an open water certification

lol

Easier than you might think
You only need 20 dives to start your divemaster course and 60 to finish so you are halfway there. Find a resort/diveshop where you can intern and work in exchange for free diving, accomodation, and food (there are quite a few). Then all you have to pay for is a plane ticket to get there and the certifications that you aquire while you are there. You can do your advanced course in 2-3 days, it's 5 open water dives and a knowledge review on each dive with some in water skills. Then you can do your rescue and EFR course which only takes 3-5 days at the most. Then you can start your divemaster course which will take 4-6 weeks which may vary depending on where you go. This how I did it. If you want exact details or have any questions PM me.

 

[cappyjon431]

Easier than you might think
You only need 20 dives to start your divemaster course and 60 to finish so you are halfway there. Find a resort/diveshop where you can intern and work in exchange for free diving, accomodation, and food (there are quite a few). Then all you have to pay for is a plane ticket to get there and the certifications that you aquire while you are there. You can do your advanced course in 2-3 days, it's 5 open water dives and a knowledge review on each dive with some in water skills. Then you can do your rescue and EFR course which only takes 3-5 days at the most. Then you can start your divemaster course which will take 4-6 weeks which may vary depending on where you go. This how I did it. If you want exact details or have any questions PM me.

Sportdiver is correct, it is relatively easy to get into the dive industry. The difficult part is staying there for the long term. While not trying to be negative (I've been in the industry over 15 years and still love what I do), I have found that many people come into the business with dreams of the glamorous side of diving, only to become disenchanted with low pay, long hours, seasonal work, unreasonable/unscruplous employers, few benefits (insurance, retirement, etc.), unglamorous work (cleaning out plugged up marine heads, cleaning up seasick passenger puke, making up liveaboard cabins, etc.). It is not all diving. Just schlepping dozens of tanks everyday gets old in a hurry.

DMs are at the low end of the food chain and make significantly less than instructors in most places. Most DMs work to support their diving addiction and receive little else in the way of compensation. They get to dive for free, but rarely get paid. Because there are so many DMs and instructors out there, the market is saturated and pay will remain low for the foreseeable future. With the economy on shaky ground, I think the number of jobs will decline as more and more shops and dive ops close there doors.

I worked on and for a liveaboard company for almost a decade (eight years on the boat, two in their corporate office) and a land based resort for a few years and I saw literally hundreds of DMs and instructors come and go during that time. Many simply burned out, but some left for various other reasons. I own my own dive op now and I get a half dozen employment queries a week.

PLEASE don't think I am trying to disuade anyone from seeking work in the industry. There are ways to be happy and make a decent living. I just think a heavy dose of reality is important when considering a major career change.

 

[rickydazla]

In the five years I have worked full time in Australia, Fiji and the US I have always made between $100-$175 per day.