Instructors pay....

[Spratman]

Two different shops, one SSI, books and class $225. Second shop, PADI, $600, includes quarry dives, rentals and whole shebang.

The SSI shop sounds great, until you factor in buying your mask, snorket, fins and weight belt, plus your rental equipment minus the four tank rentals for your OW dives. So, yeah, up around this area, I'd say $500 to $600 is about right. For private lessons, SSI goes from $225 to $350.

Next go around, I'll pay the extra money and go for private lessons. Group lessons are so boring.

Anyway, as everyone else has said, it sounds glorious, however, it's not reality unless you're running the shop and dive boat. Ask Christie at BlueXTdivers down in Cozumel. She's a regular on the board.

 

[scubajoh44]

Basic economics - people pay you to do stuff you wouldn't do without the pay. The more people want to do something, the less you have to pay them to do it.

That's why there are more female prostitutes than male ones.

LOL! LOL! LOL! I think that's a little backwards.

 

[Goose75]

You are a teacher in the US and would prefer to be a scuba instructor full time. I would think you have more options than those of us in other careers. You can move to almost any location and apply for teaching jobs while working freelance for local scuba shops and offering independent instruction. If you aren't restricted by location there are always shops that need instructors. If the scuba work doesn't pay the bills, you aren't begging on the street. If it does, you can give up your day job. I imagine there are plenty of teaching jobs along the US coastline.

Since you live in Texas and are a DM candidate, once you get your DM ticket you can work the Flower Garden boats. That will give you a great insight into the work required on a dive boat/resort without having to quit your job first. Plus you can work the boats while you are working on becoming an instructor and have experience to cite.

 

[Ron Brandt]

WOW!!! $850? $600? That's amazing! Is everyone in yalls area that much? How many people do you certify in a year? With that amount it doesn't seem like you would have to do many to make money.

So Ron..... how would you stay in Mexico to be an instructor? I didn't think it was that hard to move down there, but I haven't checked into it and could deffinately be wrong.....

Personally I am not the one charging that amount but business costs have to considered......$500 a month yellow page advertising,$200 phone bill,$200 cell phone, $1200 lease on building,$100 per hour pool rental.....

As a scuba instructor in Cozumel you had better have a professional designation such as CMA,CGA,lawyer,doctor etc.
Or start you own dive op (please read paragraph above) and add the pay of 10 mexican nationals to every gringo investors in your business.....and the expense for boats.

Ask Christi on the Cozumel sub forum about it.

Ron

 

[AdTravels]

Interesting reading so far. Yes, earnings as an instructor are as wide and diverse as the waters we love. As a general rule you will make between 25% and 35% of the cost of the course. Here on Utila I know people who do earn $1500 - $2000 a month, but that is hard work. I have friends working in Europe who earn twice that but living expenses tend to be a lot higher.
Most people get into teaching for the love of diving and the life style that goes with it, it's not a career you choose to become rich (materialy), unless you move into resort management or liveaboard operations, but again very long hours.

 

[Cap335]

$100 per hour pool rental.....
Ron

And I thought $50.00/hour was bad

Randy

 

[scubajoh44]

I guess I'm staying in Texas and teaching. Someone need a summer instructor? I will need an apartment and tropical waters to work in...... ;0)

 

[AndyNZ]

Interesting to see the discussion of OW course prices, particularly linked to the question of 'how much does an instructor earn?'....

OW courses here vary from NZ$299 (learn to dive in a horrible lake), with an average of around NZ$500 which includes four coastal boat dives to a maximum of around $900 for one-on-one tuition and an offshore charter (e.g. Poor Knights).

On a $299 course, I'd say the dive centers only make any money if there are 6-8 people on the course and there's not much hope of follow on gear sales as the lake tends to turn people off diving.

Even $900 one-on-one has a next to nothing profit margin given that it costs $200 for the charters and $500 for the instructor costs. The remaining $200 disappears in fills, amortised gear costs, maintainance etc.

How much do you think instruction is WORTH? That is, what does the experience of learning to dive bring to you as an individual?

Personally, I think that here in NZ were going to see course prices go up and up, with most places charging minimum $700 for a group course and near $1500 for one-on-one. And a good thing to! Those prices have "value" and "worth" in balance and we cn show student divers how awesome diving is and give them a fantastic experience.

What do you think?

 

[TCDiver1]

I guess I'm staying in Texas and teaching. Someone need a summer instructor? I will need an apartment and tropical waters to work in...... ;0)

Now your talking. Do it part time for awhile, see if you like it and then determine if the lifestyle is for you .... pay and all.

Round here we have a saying about Instructor pay;
"Half the pay, for a view of the bay."

It's pretty true for most tourist areas which attract divers or diver wanna-be's i think.

 

[rigdiver]

I've always heard insturctors don't make money. In fact, they are lucky to break even. I'm looking for a place to do my IDC. I contacted AquaWorld in Cancun. They had this on the attachment they sent me.....

We have some of the highest paid instructors in the world in Mexico: $2000-$4000 USD per month average, some make even more.

Does anyone know if this is ture? I mean for the average instructor? I'm a teacher and would deffinately say I'm not rich, but this is the same range as what I get paid. I'm sure a scuba instructor would be more fun than teaching school. Anyone have more information on this?

Take a close look at every Instructor you know. Ask yourself: what kind of car are they driving? what are their living arrangements? what time do they get up in the morning and go to bed @ night? how many days a week do they work? are there any benefits like vacation or health insurance or retirement? Do you know of any person that has taught diving for a living for a long time that has a high standard of living? The average tenure is about 18 months. Realize you have insurance and dues that will cost you about $800/yr just to say you are a SCUBA Inst.
All that responsibility for minimum wage? I've met many Instructor's in paradise waiting tables because they made more money than teaching or working as a DM. Sad, but very true.
As far as the ad------I know better.
Bill