Instructors pay....

[David P]

Here in So Cal $495 including books, class time, pool time, gear rental, trip to and from Catalina Island, day of beach diving (+$15 for air fills), hotel stay on island, day of boat diving, and C card. You supply personal gear + whatever you eat on the island. After $100 goes to instructor, $50 for island ferry, ~$100 boat,~$75 hotel, that only leaves $170. That has to go to paying for the gear, books, paperwork,pool rental, instructors hotel, ferry... The classes are almost a freebee for the dive shop, hoping the students will splurge and buy all of their dive gear there at the shop....

 

[Coldblue]

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?

My info is a bit outdated but i think it will give you a guideline.

I worked in Mexico, Yucatan Peninsula 3-4 years ago. Average instructor salary ranges were $1800 - $2200 a month.

I worked 8am - 6pm, 6 days/week. 3 dives a day the norm, 4 if there were too many people. All levels of instruction/specialties. The hotel had his own diving operation and provided accomodation and all meals/drinks i could ever want, everything outside was out of my pocket.
I got paid about U$900 and a small percentage of total sales. Tips accounted for about 10% of my pay but i'd give about half of it to crews of the boats.

Not the usual arrangement of most instructors but calculating living expenses (rent/food) in that area my salary was right in the average. They took care of my VISA as well.

People i knew making in the $3000 - $4000 range were either contractors (i.e: guy running an UWvideo business offering the service to a few hotels) or CDs like another poster mentioned before.

Can you make a living out of it? I'd say it depends on your personal concept of living standards, your saving/spending patterns, etc. I've met many people making a living as instructors and also a few others that could not live with less than $5000 / month.

Is it more fun? Absolutely.

CB

 

[diptera]

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?

You got this from someone who wants to sell you an IDC, right?
Do you think MAYBE they have an incentive to overstate the return
on an investment in their services? Mexico probably doesn't have, or doesn't enforce, really strong truth in advertising laws.

When someone gives a range, take the end that's least favorable to you - that comes out to 24,000 per year. Not much, and that's probably what they pay the course director who oversees the staff running the IDC's, and they only pay him that rate WHILE IDC's are going on.

The southern coastal regions are full of people who took an OW course filled with sales pitches for instructional ratings, and said "This is fun! I wanna do it for a living!" and they are eking out an existence, while their peers back home are accumulating experience and skills in industries with far greater opportunities for advancement. One friend of mine spent 5 years captaining liveaboards, only to return to reality and have to start from scratch on building a real career. He refers to those five years as "the time I ran away to join the circus."

Think about something - if it was really so lucrative, would the Instructor mills have to market so heavily? Would there really be a lot of openings for you? The reason there are so many openings is there's a high turnover rate as people burn out and get smart.

 

[SteveC]

Thats exactly right. It is probably just a sales pitch.

Steve

 

[scubak]

I know we figured here in the PNW, that after gas to sites, classroom and pool time and all the other "overhead"...most instructors are doing this because they "Love" Scuba...it equated to about 7$ and hour....not much less than DM in Hawaii (without tips)...and as a DM here in Wa...Well, that is another thread.
K

 

[Shallow Draft]

My SO paid about 300.00 canadian $ for her course in Alberta Canada. That is west of Regina.
This included the 4 open water dives. There was extra cost to get to salt water [Victoria] though. So if the $800.00 incuded the trip to the ocean it would not be out of line. There would not have been exta charges is the OW dives were done in a local lake.

 

[AndyNZ]

So where in the world would pay the most as an instructor?

Where there's an immature market, providing you have the capital to set up a decent business and get it running - return on investment around 5 years, I reckon.

The more pertinant question is where can you have the best quality of life....

I've recently been offered four months work in Vanuatu, no pay but all board, lodgings and a small daily (beer) allowance. Seriously considering it.

As with Azza, I work in New Zealand - as part time instructor I earn around NZ$100 a day before tax, $70 for a half day. $26,000 if I worked five days a week, every week.

Saying that, the lifestyle is awesome. Often dive after work (the day job) on a friends boat, fresh scallops for dinner and plenty to keep you occupied year round.

Have to ask the question, though, am I willing to give up my snowboard season to go and work in Vanuatu over winter???? Tough call....

 

[WICKED_WIZARD]

Hi

I am currently a freelance NAUI instructor in Durban South Africa.
Our going rate for OW is in the rang of R1800 to R2500.
That includes at the coast 3 quarry dives and two boat dives.
Cost is roughly 2 * R190 for boat dives including gas fill.
R60 for gas fill for the quarry dives. R60 for pool session.
R280 for material for student.
R200 for petrol to you.
Kit hire is normally included. If you do not have gear, you have to hire for you students. About R180 for all for a day. One pool day, one quarry day, one see dive day.
3 * R180
This leaves you with about R1520 to cost. But if you have second hand gear like most do to give to your students. Its R980, or lets say R1000.
So roughly you can make R800 to R1500 per student down here. Up country where they only have quarries, they save the R380 on boat dives, so the potential is more.
Now you can live reasonably ok on R5000 a month. And taking R1000 on a student its easy to get a ok living. 5 students a month. I like nitrox specialties more. Going for around R1800 a student.
Material cost R322 per student and nitrox fill is R45 * 2. And you do it in the quarry.
So total is around R650 that includes petrol and gas and entrance fee. But that's working on one student. I had 4 last weekend and it cost me R500 a student, and charge was R1800. Thus R3900 for a days work. So the possibility to make a reasonable living or even a well off, is there. You just have to find the students

 

[ghostdiver1957]

If you want the best instruction and one on one personalized attention... you pay the $600. I guess I live in an area where the people have money - and don't mind spending it. The Baltimore - Washington DC Corridor is ripe with high rollers : )

Ken

 

[skybird]

WOW I guess my training was cheap! I paid $275 for private lessons. He did not put a time restraint on it, said that when I was ready we would be done. Got in lots of extra dives, some of them we went on just for fun, all in the quarry. Paying $175 for the AOW with the same set up ( with no quarry fees, cost for air fills or equipment rental if I need it) Will be $75 total for nitroxand also $75 for wreck diving. Guess I am very fortunate, I would not hae been able to learn to dive for $660 or $800 for OW

Skybird