Working in Maui/Hawaii in general

[theduckguru]

I don't know if this will help your decision, but most people who move to Hawaii with full bank accounts and intentions of never leaving last about 2 years. There are a very small minority that make it home after 3 years.

Some leave due to the economics and some leave because living on a rock in the ocean isn't as they imagined.

 

[Charlie99]

I don't know if this will help your decision, but most people who move to Hawaii with full bank accounts and intentions of never leaving last about 2 years. There are a very small minority that make it home after 3 years.

Some leave due to the economics and some leave because living on a rock in the ocean isn't as they imagined.

I've also noticed that there seem to be two groups of people that move to Maui ..... those that stay forever and those that leave after 18 months to 2 years. There doesn't seem to be many in between.

About two years ago we fell out of that reality to work as dive Instructors in Thailand, ...... About a month ago we decided we'd seen enough of the small island we were on and figured it was time to look into other options.

Rock fever or island fever is a common malady among new arrivals to Maui also.

 

[muddiver]

With all due respect, what I wrote is indeed applicable to this thread: the OP wanted to know about the realities and nitty-gritty about working as a dive professional in HI. I shared my experiences. I fail to see how that's not relevant.

I'm sorry to hear that you believe my post is 'plain wrong'. But having chatted to former colleagues of my fiance's who are now at other dive shops - and also having very good knowledge of my fiance's shop - I can only stand by my assertion that most are indeed independent contractors. (As I said in my original post, there are exceptions to the rule - I've heard that some shops on the neighbor islands offer salaried positions to staff. There was also a single former boat employee at my fiance's shop who obtained a salaried position, but he's since left). Today, however, none of the boat staff I know are on a salary: they submit invoices to the dive operator as independent contractors. Since they are not shop employees, they are not eligible for the shop's health insurance. (I personally think that's a crap way of treating one's instructors and dive masters, but obviously, the owner of the dive shop couldn't care two hoots for my opinion, and it's not my place to tell him how to run his business anyhow.) I'm glad to hear things are done differently in Maui. In the spirit of offering sound advice to the OP, perhaps the take-away lesson is this: find a shop where you are treated as an employee, and not an independent contractor.

Ok, so I don't live on the island, but I do know about Maratime Law in the U.S.

The operator you are working for is skirting financial death. If anyone on the boat that did not pay to be on the boat gets injuried, by law, they are boat crew and entitled to the provisions of the Sailors and Longshoreman's Act. That means that the boat owner will be paying for their medical expenses, living expenses, bills and a number of other things until that person recovers fully to a state of full employability. The dive boat industry has just been lucky that none of the wide eyed and eager scuba professional are knowledgable enough to know this. They would be leagally safer to treat you as an employee and provide medical coverage.

 

[Hoomi]

Just as a guess, I suspect that at least some of the high turnover among low-seniority guides and instructors comes from figuring out that working in the scuba industry is actually WORKING. It's not day-after-day of getting to go diving wherever and whenever you'd like. Some people enter into the business side of a hobby or sport, thinking it will mean they're getting paid to do what they love to do, forgetting that the reason they are getting paid is that there are associated tasks that people don't like to do for free.

You know, things like, "Ewww... somebody puked on the boat, and they expect ME to clean it up!"

Or the ever popular, "We know this customer is being a royal PITA, but they are a paying customer, and we expect you to treat them nice and take care of them."

 

[BUGBAGGER]

That's just not right! That's one funny line!

I honestly don't know where it went. They can look back at your post. I just didn't want to click out of all I wrote to re-quote it. It was like what I wrote over-wrote that part. I honestly would have perferrred your words to be there as i did with everything else.

 

[BUGBAGGER]

Muddiver,

The Jones Act which covers crew on boats is not as all inclusive as you indicate. Many crew members who become injured learn that the Jones Act covers medical expenses and some limited other expenses. Most times a serious injury that takes one out of work for any significant tiime leads to extreme financial difficulties because it does not fully cover their usual or potential income nor their living expenses and other bills. Many of my collegues over the years have recieved as much as the Act entitles them too with some of the best legal aide available in the state. The benefits are simply not that great and often afford less protection/benefits than typical workman's comp which crew members are not legally entitles to if injured on the vessel due to the Jones Act. Most have had to rely on family or friends until they could return to work.

Just another consideration when working on a vessel here. Now again, the company that was in question does provide health iinsurance if the crew member works at least 3 days. Sometimes the coverage for medical expenses will be better covered in this case because what is not covered by the Jones Act will often be covered by the Medical Insurance and vice versa. There is a lot of confusing nitty gritty detail to these parts of the Jones Act and it is usually helpful to get assistance to make sure one has filed for all eligible reimbursements.

 

[BUGBAGGER]

Muddiver,

Oops. I wasn't quite clear that I was refering too the first company that was discussed in the thread not the situations with one or more on Oahu where benefits provided do sound shady.

 

[kenbert61]

How much is rent?

 

[Charlie99]

How much is rent?

See Hot-Ads Maui, HI

Although the url is hot-ads.com, I got there by starting with the homepage of the local newspaper, Maui New. Mauinews.com | News, Sports, Jobs, Visitor's Information - The Maui News

Here in Kihei, the large apartment complex next door, Keonekai Village rents 2 bedroom 1-1/2 bath places for $1200-1250 per month. Places in West Maui seem to be slightly higher. Studio apartments can be found for less than $1000/month.