Careers in the Caribbean

[Younggunz]

Please excuse my ignorance in the following, but I really want to get the honest, straight-forward answers from everyone here...

Honestly, my dream jobs would be to be a dive instructor and a personal fitness trainer on the side in the Caribbean. I've been a personal trainer for two years. Does anyone think such combinations of careers are possible in places such as the Caribbean? Is it possible to be a dive instructor for things like a cruise line, and still work aboard the ship as personal trainer or something? Or on shore, how available are such positions in the caribbean, and can you make enough to be somewhat comfortable?

I know I have asked a lot about money when it comes to diving, but it is not because I want to make a ton of money or anything, or expect to get rich, but I do have student loans from my bachelors degree that I must continue to make payments on and I'm worried about taking on another area of education that will not end up paying for itself.

Does anyone have any good websites to look into available positions in the Caribbean? I've done a search, but didn't come up with very informative websites.

Thanks so much everyone,
Gunnar

 

[Don Wray]

It would be alot easier if you would fill out your profile so that we know where your experience level is with diving. It looks easy, instructing looks easy, but as I stated in one of your other threads, resorts, dive boats and dive operations are more inclined to hire an instructor with training experience, not just schooling. A second fluent language is also a great big plus in the Caribbean; Japanese, German and to a smaller extent, Spanish. Put yourself in the operations shoes. As an owner/operator, are you more apt to hire an instructor, with 100 supervised training dives to get certified in 12 weeks from Halls; basic o/w to instructor, or an instructor with experience in varied enviroments, already taught lots of classes and has hundreds of non-training dives. My opinion is take it slower; take an openwater course to see if you can even dive. Dive some and take an AOW course to improve upon your skills. Dive some more away from training in different environments. Take a rescue course and then, yep, dive some more away from training. Do your Divemaster internship working with real students in real training situations. Complete your DM training, then work for 6 months to a year in an active training situation and observe, interact and learn. Then take your IDC/IE. You will have so much more to offer than a shake and bake type OWSI. Just my opinion, and the route I'm taking.

Lastly, it is going to be difficult to earn enough money as an entry level Instructor in the Caribbean or any where else that involves living expenses and student loan payments, unless, you hit the Powerball.

 

[Carribeandiver]

several dive instructor schools assist graduates find employment as a dive instructor BUT, none boast you will earn more than approximately $2000 a month. It is possible to earn more but realistic to assume you will earn less for a period of time when starting out.
However, consider living expenses may be less than what you would pay to live in the states.
If you wish to work as a DM or Instructor, do it because you enjoy it, not because you expect to pad your 401K.

 

[NorCalDawg]

If you're a good personal trainer you can make bank.... my trainer makes in the neighborhood of $150k per year. Granted, that's working 6 days a week, but it's not exactly like he's working all day either. Now, if you wanted to mix that career with being a dive instructor, you'd probably have to be located in a place with people that will pay for a trainer. Think, retirees. I'm thinking, Costa Rica. That's just what I would be thinking.

 

[95yj]

You'll probably make a lot more as a personal fitness trainer in the right location than with a career in diving. It's difficult to make a lot of money diving unless you own the shop and are in a resort location. Then just to get hired, it's good to be multi talented like instructor, multi lingual, diesel mechanic, shop manager, personnel manager, etc. etc. If you work it right, you can be a full time trainer and latch on with a dive outfit as a part time gig.

 

[Bruciebabe]

Please excuse my ignorance in the following, but I really want to get the honest, straight-forward answers from everyone here...

Honestly, my dream jobs would be to be a dive instructor and a personal fitness trainer on the side in the Caribbean. I've been a personal trainer for two years. Does anyone think such combinations of careers are possible in places such as the Caribbean? Is it possible to be a dive instructor for things like a cruise line, and still work aboard the ship as personal trainer or something? Or on shore, how available are such positions in the caribbean, and can you make enough to be somewhat comfortable?

I know I have asked a lot about money when it comes to diving, but it is not because I want to make a ton of money or anything, or expect to get rich, but I do have student loans from my bachelors degree that I must continue to make payments on and I'm worried about taking on another area of education that will not end up paying for itself.

Does anyone have any good websites to look into available positions in the Caribbean? I've done a search, but didn't come up with very informative websites.

Thanks so much everyone,
Gunnar

Dive instruction is a lifestyle thing for most, not a valid career.
You would probably do best with working as a personal trainer for the rich and famous whilst SCUBA diving as a hobby.
That way you can gradually increase your dive skills and level of training and get an insight into the job, even keeping an eye open for opportunities.

 

[DeputyDan]

You need to get your debt cleaned up before looking at the Caribbean for almost any position.

 

[MikeFerrara]

A career in diving sounds great but...

Before going very far with it, I would encourage some real research into how the dive industry works.

Sure it's a lifestyle thing but it's still hard to live without money. You'll find out that you will be more marketable if you can do more than just dive or teach. When I was closing my dive shop, I did some looking around. I could have had jobs but the pay, the hours ect just wasn't going to cut it aAnd that's after owning and running a dive shop for a few years.

 

[Thalassamania]

It's hard to live a disadvantaged lifestyle while most of the folks around you are in vacation mode.

 

[MikeFerrara]

It's hard to live a disadvantaged lifestyle while most of the folks around you are in vacation mode.

No Joke!

Just running a dive shop my wife and I couldn't keep up. People invite you to dinner, there's this going on and that going on. I worked during the day as an engineer while my wife ran the shop. I was making a little bit of money all told but some of the people the invitations were from were way out of out league financially. Spend just a couple evenings a week with those folks and it'll cost more than what a lot of people even make.