Holding out on Roatan

[James Bond boat entry]

I found the availability of employment on Roatan to be poor, been there done that even with inside help.

When I did my IDC, the Course Director was quite blunt in stating a second language other than English is necessary & the career expectation of a dive instructor is 2 years.

In a perfect world, it would be wonderful to do the DM course pick up some work and survive having fun in a tropical place.... but reality is, most tropical markets are over served by Dive Centers and so called dive professionals = underemployment.

Roatanman does hit the nail on the head concerning the pyramid diagram concerning employment in the recreational dive industry. Except, the CDs are too busy with the instructor making business to have time for the small money stuff.

 

[dontyouliketheparty]

Well thanks everyone for your thoughts,

seems to be split opinions on the viability of employment on a saturated dive island.. Seems the point is whether the dive centres are geared toward creating Instructors as their core turnover or whether it's about people diving recreationally. I didn't realise so many people wish to be Instructors? I thought the vast majority of people diving do so as an expensive hobby..

Like I mentioned before, I'm completely inexperienced and am yet to find out if I'm any good at diving let alone employable, The crux of the matter is if I am to spend a lot of money finding out learning the trade I would relax a lot more if work were a possibility also with the the Centre that trained me if not on the island itself, rather than going against divers from all over the World for a position when I'm clearly inexperienced & fresh out of dive school to compete on the PADI jobsite.

Providing Roatan is busy my friend & I shall be there with second language tapes to boot..

Thanks again, Lee

 

[cap10]

As a past instructor for 18 years I can say this. You become and instructor for the love of the Job and you are not in it for the money by any means in fact it will cost you out of your own pocket to become an instructor. Then there is the fact that you will not have any medical insurance benefits, No Payed Vacations, No paid Hoilday Pay, when you do get to take off from your everyday job and go on a dive trip you will be a baby sitter for who ever many in the group if they know you are an instructor you will be questioned the whole time by others. Then you are liable for any wrong decision you made. You will be responsible for your instrutors annual renewal card and your own Liability insurance. Then you will be expected to show up at work at the resort at 6:30am to start getting the boat ready, tanks filled, boat fueled and water, load tanks on board boat and set up customers BC and reg, Then at 9am you and the boat Captain head out with guests and all along someone is asking you a question. Then you get to go dive with these guests and inverably someone will have a problem with bouyancy or mask leaking or fogging up, or sucking air faster than a speeding bullet and bolts for the surface. Then finally you manage to get everyone back except that one time one of your divers never makes it back to the boat and is never seen again. Now back at the docks and you assists the divers in getting their gear off the boat to their lockers, off load tanks start filling tanks, wash down the boat service the boat engine for the next trip out, grab a bit of lunch in a hurry cause the next trip out is in 1 hour and you have to load tanks and gear back on for the next group so you can start all over. Once the afternoon trip is back and all is secure for the night at the docks then you need to clean up and put on your party cloths cause the days group has invited you out for dinner and drinks for the night. Party-Party-Party. This is all part of being an instructor at a resort. Finally at 11pm-midnight you get to go home for about 5 hours sleep if you are lucky cause you are expected back at work at 6:30am to start another day. This goes on for 6 days with one day off unless another instructor does not show up and you are called upon to fill in for him or her. All this cause you want to be an Instructor at a resort. It was a great time those 18 years but no money and no retirement fund saved up. Then try being a Charter boat Captain for the next 18 years with no pay, no vacation pay, no hoilday pay, no Medical and no retirement plan. Again had a great time.

 

[ncchuck]

Great and accurate description of the life of an Instructor. I was lucky that a room was provided but others don't even get that so making ends meet can be almost impossible. It's the toughest job and most fun I ever had.

Many islands like Roatan make it very difficult because the wage scales are so low for everyone. I think the resort owners forget that many of the native DM's and other workers have family homes to sleep in every night while foreign labor probably doesn't. I actually went in the red in all my diving jobs but I was lucky I had a supportive wife that understood my crazy ways.

 

[dontyouliketheparty]

Thanks for the wake up call Cap10,

I hope all the stress of the job and all that's inbetween warrants the want to be part of it. The only way I'll know is to get out there and try..I don't expect to be paid a lot but I do expect to be paid enough to do it like you mentioned. When I'm learning I'll see how the other half live & make my decisons about the industry then. I don't have an outside source of income to fund myself once I am qualified, so whatever meager income I can get will have to suffice..If It doesn't pay enough to survive then I'll have to come up with somethng else, but until then it's going to be an adventure!

Lee

 

[Bay Island Diver]

Sorry I should have phrased that better,

The average length of time a new instructor stays in one place is 3 months, as they get longer in the tooth and have seen what the diving world has to offer, they often settle in their favourite place for many years.

There are also many instructors who just instruct for a short time as a career break.

The beauty of the job is that it is a passport to travel and actually earn a little as you do, you may or may not have to supplement your income with outside funds as you start out, once you find that job that pays the bills and is enjoyable you may stay around longer.

For me, more important than anything else is the team, when a good team comes together, the dive shop tends to try a little harder to keep it together. This means paying extra wages. The increased expense this results in is more than offset by the increased custom that a quality team attracts.

 

[ncchuck]

Sorry I should have phrased that better,

The average length of time a new instructor stays in one place is 3 months, as they get longer in the tooth and have seen what the diving world has to offer, they often settle in their favourite place for many years.

There are also many instructors who just instruct for a short time as a career break.

The beauty of the job is that it is a passport to travel and actually earn a little as you do, you may or may not have to supplement your income with outside funds as you start out, once you find that job that pays the bills and is enjoyable you may stay around longer.

For me, more important than anything else is the team, when a good team comes together, the dive shop tends to try a little harder to keep it together. This means paying extra wages. The increased expense this results in is more than offset by the increased custom that a quality team attracts.

Great clarification. From my very limited experience I'd agree with all you said. Good teams make all the difference to customers as well as employees. Divers can tell when a team works well together. Unfortunately, places like Roatan have little ability (I didn't say none) to pay extra wages because the cost of living especially for locals is just too low and the competition is just too high. When I was on Utila, I'd say 90% of the instructors left because they couldn't make ends meet even while working night jobs in bars and restaurants. I think the situation on Roatan may be slightly better and many operators provide housing for instructors.

I knew a lot of the facts when I made the decision to give it a try and I thought it was extremely rewarding. I had a few surprises along the way but most were good ones. You really do have to follow your dreams. Regardless of wether they come true or not, you can always say I tried it. If you don't try all you can say is I had a dream.

 

[parrotheaddiver]

As a past instructor for 18 years I can say this. You become and instructor for the love of the Job and you are not in it for the money by any means in fact it will cost you out of your own pocket to become an instructor. Then there is the fact that you will not have any medical insurance benefits, No Payed Vacations, No paid Hoilday Pay, when you do get to take off from your everyday job and go on a dive trip you will be a baby sitter for who ever many in the group if they know you are an instructor you will be questioned the whole time by others. Then you are liable for any wrong decision you made. You will be responsible for your instrutors annual renewal card and your own Liability insurance. Then you will be expected to show up at work at the resort at 6:30am to start getting the boat ready, tanks filled, boat fueled and water, load tanks on board boat and set up customers BC and reg, Then at 9am you and the boat Captain head out with guests and all along someone is asking you a question. Then you get to go dive with these guests and inverably someone will have a problem with bouyancy or mask leaking or fogging up, or sucking air faster than a speeding bullet and bolts for the surface. Then finally you manage to get everyone back except that one time one of your divers never makes it back to the boat and is never seen again. Now back at the docks and you assists the divers in getting their gear off the boat to their lockers, off load tanks start filling tanks, wash down the boat service the boat engine for the next trip out, grab a bit of lunch in a hurry cause the next trip out is in 1 hour and you have to load tanks and gear back on for the next group so you can start all over. Once the afternoon trip is back and all is secure for the night at the docks then you need to clean up and put on your party cloths cause the days group has invited you out for dinner and drinks for the night. Party-Party-Party. This is all part of being an instructor at a resort. Finally at 11pm-midnight you get to go home for about 5 hours sleep if you are lucky cause you are expected back at work at 6:30am to start another day. This goes on for 6 days with one day off unless another instructor does not show up and you are called upon to fill in for him or her. All this cause you want to be an Instructor at a resort. It was a great time those 18 years but no money and no retirement fund saved up. Then try being a Charter boat Captain for the next 18 years with no pay, no vacation pay, no hoilday pay, no Medical and no retirement plan. Again had a great time.

Hey Randy but now you have a real job with insurance and vacation time and we get to go on vacation together sometimes.......are you running any of the gulf trips this season?