Self made diving career

[Saltair]

Your profile says downeast Maine. How far down are we talking? I'm in that general neck of the woods...

 

[Bob Vincent]

It seems you've made up your mind ... and there was some good advice given here.

If your leaning to be a sat diver just remember this. Sat divers make a lot of money and should there's a reason why. A sat diver is good for only appx. 2000 sat dives. When nitrogen is compressed so small it enters the bone marrow and the bones become brittle. A very un-medical explanation.

 

[Isaac-1]

I have known several commercial divers here in Louisiana over the years (I have never wanted to do that sort of thing myself), most of the jobs are dirty, and often dangerous, although there are a few I know that have found some jobs that sound almost pleasant. (inspection diving inside municipal water supplies, etc). As an example I have a very good friend that worked as a commercial diver in the late 80's/early 90's, back then the attitude of "divers are disposable" was still very much in force, safety even in the bigger operations was far short of what it should have been. It was one of these major lapses in safety that made him decide to find another line of work, he and one other diver were doing an inspection dive with surface supplied air, they started feeling light headed at depth and bolted for the surface, pased out on the way up, he woke up several hours later in a decompression chamber in New Orleans, (it turns out a new dive tender had cleaned their air hoses with bleach). Thankfully the other diver in the water was able to get them both to the surface before being overcome by the fumes.

 

[b_fish]

Thanks for all the replies and input. I've found that the best way to learn about something is from the people who actually do it. At risk of sounding defensive, I've just gotta say though, I think some of you are missing the point. I'm well aware of the realities of what commercial diving is. I know its not all sunshine and fishes. But, I've been doing some pretty lowly(and low paying) work topside for my whole adult life. Plus, I don't want to make underwater welding or oil rig work my career. If its just a temporary J-O-B, thats OK. I guess I was just wondering if this training seemed like a valuable thing if I could apply it to other aspects of underwater work. I will check out some of those other links that were suggested though.
Thanks again.

 

[b_fish]

Your profile says downeast Maine. How far down are we talking? I'm in that general neck of the woods...

I'm from Machias, but live in Gouldsboro.

 

[The Logic Theorist]

When nitrogen is compressed so small it enters the bone marrow and the bones become brittle. A very un-medical explanation.

I think that was a haiku.

 

[mselenaous]

I say if that's what you want, AND you've done your homework AND youo understand what you are getting into (Helen Keller diving in hazardous conditions, poor pay with a potentially short diving career &/or life span); then do what you have to do to make it happen for yourself and be successful at it. Good luck to you.

On a good note, if you like NASCAR, you will probably get to meet Team SCUBA owned by Ray Black, the owner of Commercial Diving Academy in Jacksonville FL.