Teaching/operating dive shop as semi-retirement job?

Please register or login

Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.

Benefits of registering include

  • Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
  • A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
  • You can make this box go away

Joining is quick and easy. Log in or Register now!

Some get to the point in their life where another dollar ain't worth the hassle - I'm betting money is meaningless in the afterlife

Did you ever see a hearse with a trailer hitch?
 
I did roughly what you are talking about.

I retired from public education with a pension. I was then just another scuba diver. While trying to figure out how to spend my time, I became an instructor. I loved it. I then got into technical diving. I loved it.

That was a long time ago. Today I teach technical diving nearly exclusively. It's not a huge part of my life--the technical diving market in Colorado is not huge--but it keeps me just about exactly as busy as I would like to be. I am perfectly happy with the way things are today.

During that path of my life, I could have branched out in a number of different directions, none of them foreseen. As John Lennon said, life is what happens when you are busy making other plans.
 
Just keep in mind that the best way to make a million dollars in diving is to start with 2 million.

This is exactly what I've noticed. Diving seems to be just another of many hard ways to make an easy living. That's what struck me, is that like I said over half the staff turned over in 8 months, and the rest probably didn't have the money to leave except for a few on the very high end on the tech side who did seem to love it. This is also SE Asia, here in Canada it seems like it's more of a part time gig for people, but the diving and lifestyle isn't quite the same...

This is as much a 'what to do with my life' rant as anything else. After I got laid off from oil/gas I took almost 2 years off, traveled a ton, but as many others in the early retirement spheres have found, you need to do *something* with your days beyond sitting on the beach, some sort of mission. I got another job which sounded fun on paper, but was the same as before. A company eager to monopolize all your time in exchange for lots of money you don't need. Now I feel like an ass for moping about such problems...

This would be something purely for the experience and lifestyle, and a bit of a pursuit to better my diving. My tech instructor for Advance Nitrox/deco procedures had like 1000+ tech dives and she was spectacular. While that would be an ambitious point to reach, doing so privately would cost enough to buy a luxury car. Teaching would let me get those dives in. Conversely, even like guiding the whole being up every day at 7am, organizing/assembling/carrying gear for 4 divers x 3 dives a day, seems like more hassle and responsibility than it's worth, for what would amount to beer money.

The tech route also seemed more attractive as you can really make a name for yourself, it indirectly ties into my engineering background, and the clientele I think is considerably more serious about diving compared to doing DSD after DSD comprised of people who can barely swim but figured they'd give it a shot on vacation.
 
A good friend of mine went down this route. A bit of part time to supplement stuff. Within a year he was doing 50 hours a week. he enjoyed the teaching but it took over his life. That is the real decision - can you control the need to do more that is the constant pressure? If you are any good more people will want to "hire" you to teach them and tell their friends too.

Weekend OWSI with another job cannot do more and more because on Monday it's back to the office.

If you enjoy it why not? But do not think it is easy or part time. You are not choosing an "easy" way to top up.
 
As they say, "if you work for free, come work for me".

I'm retired military (read not a living wage) and draw SS. I work in the dive industry almost daily to stay busy and sane.

But the reality is, if people are honest, scuba instruction is work. You should get pay for what you do as the expenses are on going and your time/effort is worth being paid for it.
 
The vast majority of instructors I know do it as a hobby rather than the money. I learned to dive with a PADI outfit and most of the instructors have highly paid day jobs. It is difficult to make money from diver instruction in the UK as we have to compete with overseas dive centres who will teach you for a similar price in warm, clear water. We also have very strict rules and anybody receiving payment for training has to comply with the Diving at Work Regulations. This means that an instructor is legally obliged to have a safety diver in the water with him as well as surface cover. In addition, they have to have a medical at least once a year. When you factor in all the overheads, they must barely cover their costs. The only diving instructors I know over here who earn a living from it are the most highly regarded tech instructors.

I am a member of a BSAC club; while it is possible to pay for a course at what they call 'Technical Centres', most BSAC courses are taught in the club by volunteer instructors. Everybody pays the same branch fees (although we charge a bit more for novices as their training includes equipment) whether or not they are training. When you sign up for a course, you pay about £40 for the training pack, but nothing to the instructor. The instructors do it for the enjoyment, and also because they appreciate somebody did the same for them when they were a novice.

The instructors I know who work in sunnier climes do not make much money. They tend to have to share accommodation and rely on tips for their beer money. Most tend to be quite young, but I know an older DM who retired to Gozo. He has a deal with a local dive centre; he gets paid nothing but works on the understanding that he only works as a guide for qualified divers, and he does not hump kit or fill cylinders. In return he gets free air fills and equipment servicing, and gets a supply of buddies.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/peregrine/

Back
Top Bottom