How is the life of a SCUBA instructor?

[dgreenh]

Funny little story. I don't know who the original author was...

You’ve read the book, studied the CD’s, seen the film - now for the reality.

Days spent reclining on the sundeck. Your perfectly honed bronzed body soaking up the rays as your students hang admiringly on your every word. The are eagerly learning from your wisdom and wishing that they too could be a diving instructor - living such a glorious life of carefree abandon in exotic places.

Long evenings spent with your favourite pupil(s) on the beach under the soft moonlight, your naked bodies caressed by the gentle evening breeze. You are explaining in detail the advantages of going down fast, coming (up) slow, the use of knots and lines for deep penetration, the need for regular equipment servicing and adequate lubrication of moving parts.

Dream on baby!

Up at 07.00 - in the diving centre by 07.30! Hump the tanks into the pickup and try to find the missing students on your list. Down to the jetty and hump the tanks onto the boat. A quick fight with the marine police over how many stamps you have on your crew list after which you head off to the same old boring dive site, which has been previously decimated by countless thousands of trainee divers endeavouring to understand the intricacies of buoyancy control. The you are giving a briefing on the first dive of the day and then re-assemble the students equipment - since it really does work best with the BCD the right way up. Finally you jump in first in order, to catch the one that always plummets 12 metres to the sandy bottom, whilst catching the two that are drifting out to sea.

As you swim around to the descend-line, a quick head count reveals that one of your students is missing. Fortunately, this time he’s merely trying to work out which fin is for the left foot and which is for the right. After much coaxing he jumps in and joins the rest of the group, only to discover that, having forgotten his weight belt, he’s left on the surface as everyone else descends. As they all eventually sit together on the bottom to carry out their exercises, you discover that one is now almost out of air, while another appears to have stopped breathing, another couple is looking anywhere but at you. Guess what the exercise is? Yes, every student’s favourite! Mask removal. You get three successes, one refusal and two shoot to the surface (the moment the water hits their nose).

Time for a quick lunch of leftovers before continuing in the same vein in the afternoon. Then back to the jetty, jostling with the other 200 instructors, hump the empty tanks back onto the pickup and are just in time to hang precariously onto the back of the jeep for the ride back to the diving centre. You are arriving totally exhausted just in time to see the manager disappear with your gorgeous blonde student. Never mind, the stupid short fat spotty ugly one is patiently waiting for you to explain the RDP tables once more.

Not to worry, only another couple of days of this. Then we can start all over again. But hey.... we love this stuff!!!!

 

[DevonDiver]

That sounds like quite an easy day.....

Here's how it works for a dive pro in Asia....

Wake up at 7am?? You've gotta be kidding right? 5am more like!

Who's going to pump the tanks, prep the rental gear, send off the dive manifest, prep snacks/water for the boat, confirm the %O2 in the nitrox tanks, check the weather, fill up the wash tanks etc etc etc etc ? :cool2: If you're teaching lessons too... then add to that list lecture preparation. And then there arecustomer emails to answer,...

And then a full day of diving and teaching....

And then more paperwork to complete, gear to wash, tanks to pump, dive centre to clean, log books to sign, boat to clean, kit to service, next day's program to plan, tide/weather checks, confirmation of new customers credentials (online checks), course exams to mark, course paperwork to complete and submit..

And then expected to have a few beers with the customers (keep that illusion going...keep smiling)...

And then, when day's customers go, back into the dive centre so that you are available to chat with any new potential customers that turn up... answer emails etc etc

And then, help lock up the dive centre...last tidy up.... get home and sleep (absolutely exhausted) around 11pm.

And then, repeat this process 7 days a week....

 

[robbcayman]

I have been doing it full time for almost six years now - Thailand, Australia, Caribbean and the Red Sea. Apart from the diving, I have seen some of the most amazing places on the planet, and will surely see more, when I have saved up enough money for my next 'plane ticket!

Wandering vagabond - yes - do I feel like a rock star sometimes - yes - is it worth it? YES - worth every single penny I spent to get get here, and worth every measly penny I earn for wages.

I am 36, and still passionate about what I do but you HAVE to be passionate to do this. It's not an easy life, personal attachments are difficult if your scenery changes every six months but hundreds if not thousands of people will remember you as their inspiration for the rest of their lives.

I've dived with man-eating sharks and whales the size of buses, I've seen shy and retiring people take their DM course and then get up on stage and inspire other people to dive themselves. I've had 20 idiots complaining about me personally because they didn't get to see a whale shark and I've had a boat ful of people bow down and give me the "wayne's world" worship because we saw a rare nudibranch.

I love it - I wouldn't trade it for all the riches in the world and I might be relatively broke compared to my old job as an IT consultant - I earn less per day here than I could earn per hour doing that - BUT - look at my office!!

Coming face to face with a 6 metre long shark, having dolphins playing underwater, finding the smallest pipefish in a tiny head of coral... this is stuff that most people only get to see in documentaries on the BBC or discovery channel.

for sure it's not for everybody... but... seeing the smile on a new diver's face, or having a whale shark sit on top of your bubbles - whatever it might be... it's awesome. If people don't feel the same, there's always golf!!

Love it, Live it

Crowley

Great write up. My question is do you ever lose the thrill? I mean, I love to play golf and scuba dive, but if I did it for a living I don't know if I would look forward to it as much. To me, diving and golf are an escape from my office job.

Then again, it might be better to do something like that than work in an office all day. I would just hate to turn something I love into something that I become indifferent to. I guess by changing locations you're able to keep the magic going. I'm sure DM's who stay in one location year after year would be more likely to get burned out, right?

 

[Hank49]

I passed my IE in 99. I don't call myself an instructor anymore because I'm not. I just dive now.
I tried to make a go of it but with three kids approaching college age, it was going to drain all my savings and I would have been broke at age 48 or so.
BUT, I'm lucky that I have another profession that has kept me living in the tropics and close to nice clean seawater that is required to grow shrimp. And it pays me well enough that I have my own boat, compressor, tanks etc.
I'm glad I did all the instructor training. It put me around the industry to where I learned about compressors, servicing gear and mostly, met some great people and made friends who I still dive with back in SE Asia, Hawaii and here in Belize.

 

[Scuba.com]

Honestly, like anything else it has its ascents and descents.

When I was younger with far fewer financial responsibilities it was a great way to go live in another country, and enjoy life. Work was hard, people were mostly fun and friendly and all in all it was a fantastic way to spend a few years. Money wasn't a concern as I was pretty much your average "spend it as I made it" young adult. Heck, I almost didn't have the cash to vacate one country when asked to find a new place to live. Immediately. LOL

As time passed and maturity (to some extent) grew, it evolved into a great extra source of income. It kept me in the water, kept me meeting new people and helped add to the household income paying for kids, cars, houses and such along with the other full-time endeavors. Amazingly, whether part-time or full-time, the amount of work is pretty much the same. A LOT for a little. But so long as you are enjoying it, I think most instructors would tell you that's okay.

Over the years I've recommended becoming an instructor to many divers based on those thoughts.

 

[robertarak]

I love teaching SCUBA, but I am lucky and have it very easy. I have a real job that pays the bills so I am not dependant on SCUBA to eat and put a roof over my head. I instruct for a great dive shop who does the marketing, gets the students, maintains the gear..on and on. I show up and teach. It is awsome. I make the couple of extra dollars that we all seem to want or need towards the end of our pay cycle and I get to teach, help and share with people do what I love. It is the perfect part time job. Would I love it so much if it was my sole income and I had to do it to eat...not so sure.