Working in Utila, Dahab and Koh Tao

Good article found in a great web.... DivePro Info

Posted by: tekstyle

Since even my English grammar is far from perfect I'm asked about my opinion from some nice members here ;-). As well I would like to climb up the ladder in the rating ;-)). So what about the following: Regarding that a quite a few members around this board which have been diving and working around this world, I guess its the one and only place where this is possible to ask for an opinion on the following topic. Great idea this board anyway.
I always thought Dahab, Utila and Koh Tau-o are quite similar on certain things. First of all they all work on a specific market: much more backpacker related, rather then resort. There is a kind of gringo trail or traveling route and this places got a name for getting your diving card cheap and more or less safe as a part of your traveling experience, so why not ?
Actually i was working in Utila and Dahab, in Koh Tao I did just some diving, would never do this again b.t.w. ;-)
So what are the differences ?
Utila and Dahab ARE places where you can go as diver and divers do, in Koh Tao you will be disappointed as a already certified diver, giving they have 2 or 3 good spots, but the staff there don't care about divers. Its a open water license money making machine. Its maybe a good place to have a fun and party time as a dive master trainee, but later you come and want to work as a dm and say you did your training in koh tao most dive centers will not be greatly impressed lets say. Of course I met a few dm's and instructors which started in Koh Tao and they are big time pros, but they got a lot of experience later and had a certain attitude anyway.
Dahab is not so much a backpacker place since its not much visited from backpacker anymore. Starting in the end of the last century, when the problems in the middle east got worse. Actually I had a good time working there in the late nineties. Standards of the instructors been always up and big classes and good money you could make. Nowadays it became much more of a resort place, but still generally good standards for the courses and some awesome spots to dives, especially for the tekkies. The downside if you get your training there as a dm you get all the training for shore dives, what is a bit of a negative point when you look later for a job as a dm, but never dived from a boat .....most dives in this world a done from boats.
Utila, quite long time that I've been there, it was also known for the cheapest place in the world to get your "PADI"
Most dm trainee get a lot of free fun dives in the packet, what is a great deal, thats the way its used to be, i don't now if still.
Also a places that got dive sites that are interesting for certified divers and the staff can deal with them. The time i was working there, I found the quality of the courses a bit lousy regarding amount of students in one class and the time the instructors spend with students in the water, but I thing and hope that changed a bit in the last years. From far it seems they working a lot forward and increased standards and service, due to a strong competition, what they didn't fight to much about cheap prices, smart asses ;-)
This is also happing in Thailand where the dc's have a little chat from time to time, that course prices are not going to much down.
This is a big Problem in Dahab, where the cheap competition backpacker prices have a big effect on the commission of the instructor, means the student get a cheap course, but a, lets say, not very motivated instructor, so standards a going down with the course price in my opinion. There are always exceptions, i know and paying for a expensive course is not a guaranty for a good course ;-).
But normally , it works like this: you pay sh*t, you get sh*t. same for the students same for the instructors, pay your instructor sh*t and your can turn a good instructor into a sh*t instructor.
So what is your opinion ? You think this three places are comparable ?
would like to hear your opinion .
If you are working in one of this three places in the moment, i hope you don't feel insulted, you find something good anywhere anyway, but i was always quite amazed how similar this places are.
Do you know another fourth place comparable to them ?
( maybe phi phi is a bit the same, no ?)
and b.t.w. yes i did work also at other places around the world
So some awesome dives in the nearest future to everybody here
And yes, i did use the spell check

4:04 AM - 3/20/2006 - comments {4} - post comment

Building your Diving Career. Or 6 key points to be a COOOOL diver with a Job

Well, I'm quite happy that people got quite "fusssssy" with my last blog about "|Free Courses...."| . I guess I could be wrong, and there is a lot of real good employer ready to give free internships.

So know about todays topic: Building your Diving Career.

In the world that we are living, competition is  a main factor in any industry. The Diving Industry is really competitive place. A lot of really good qualified people out there working hard to get that great jobs.

A few days ago, a diver sent me an email complaining why Dive Centers don't reply when they apply for a job. The reason is simple (and hold tied to your shair) every day, every ad in DiversJobs gets 500 people that make "click" and think of applying. The result a huge amount of emails that Dive Centers get everytime they post a job.

The consequences are quite obvious, only the best (in some cases) get that jobs.

In the huge jungle of jobseekers that apply for a job we have all kind of species.

a) The dreamer. - The dreamers are usually nice people (but still dreamers) with no diving idea, that just want to change their life and apply to a MSDT job or even better to a Course Director Job

b) The spammer - people that apply to ALL kind of jobs, sending usually their CV without any introduction

c) The Only-Manager - Usually Instructors burn-out that just want to set into managers of a Dive Center

d) The Rockefeller - I have seen people applying for jobs and requesting at least 3000 us dollars per month. Well... if work in the UK or in Australia , may you will get that (if you are lucky), but in many normal diving destinations, getting that sort of money is simply unrealistic.

So, what about the real candidates? The good guys, the people like you and me....

Well, in between normal people (and by saying normal, I'm talking about mentaly normal people) we have instructors with great experience, with amazing qualifications and with really fantastic CV's.

So, which kind of individuals get the jobs?

I can define a 6 key points that are important to mention:

1. Languages:  As an instructor you always want to reach and be able to teach the biggest amount of divers. At the end of the day, that is what your boss wants. So multilingual instructors are always wanted in Dive Centers.

But also remember: The key languages are the languages spoken in the diving industry. So, if you speak portuguese or Basque... well it really doesn't make a huge difference (unless you work in Brazil or the Basque Country....     )

2. Diving Certification: I know that here many of you are going to jump an scream at me... but if you really want to be able to work in any sort of dive center you need to be with PADI. Ok, scream at me, tell me about PADI ascent rate, bla, bla, bla... I know, I don't make comission by talking about PADI, but if you want to work and want to make money and want to get more chances of a job, you need to go PADI.

PADI + MICROSOFT + Coca Cola... if we could choose we will may be go with SSI + LINUX + Water...  but there are almays more jobs for PADI Instructors than for SSI instructors. *

* If you don't believe me, go now to www.diversjobs.com and search for SSI Term. How many jobs do you get??? Now search for PADI. You compare the results.

3. Be better. Teach more stuff.

So you can teach open water courses. Great! So the rest of the 5000 people applying for that job you want. What else do you have? Can you teach Nitrox? Can you teach any DAN course? Can you teach any Trimix? Study.. study ... study... get more and more certs and get more and more credentials... . 

If I need to hire a PADI OWSI or a PADI MSDT... I go for the MSDT. The reason? Easy, the MSDT can teach more courses than the OWSI. Simple thinking.

4. So you dive and...?

Diving usually is in the water. And the water industry is huge! Many companies also need people with more qualifications, like Skippers, Coxswain holders (in Australia), Master Class 5 and people with boat handling papers and certifications.

This are DIFFICULT courses to take and usually this sort of divers get a lot more job offers. If you can dive and also take your customers in the same boat... the Dive Center managers is saving money and you have a bigger % of keeping your job. Usually really important if you are working in Australia and the US. (Also key for big liveaboard companies).

5. Market yourself: You need to sell yourself, you need to have a teaching style... a marketing way of be able to become "different". How? That's the 1.000.000 dollars question. You can try to create your own diving specialty... or become an expert in one topic... . But do something different. Bringing something new into a dive center always helps.

6. Sales and money mind:

Dive Centers (almost 99% of them) are run by people that need to make a living from the business. So, is always important to get people with SALES spirit. I read a lots of complains of diving instructors and divemasters about... "I love to dive... but I hate to sale and do marketing..." Well, the best instructors in dive resorts are the instructors that manage to Con-Ed their students. Instructors that bring more income to the dive center. You must think: I didn't join this profession to do that. Well.... if you don't bring money to a dive center, sooner or later you will be walking out the door. Believe me...

Also I find that people that make a little bit of effort get a Job. Next time you find the Job you want, make a quick international call (don't be mean, if you really want  the job, spend that extra 5 dollars and pay for the phone call) and have a quick chat with the employer. Let them know you are a REAL candidate. Let them know how good you are.

Don't follow the crowds, try to be different......

Like a guy that I used to know that was scared of not getting a job, so we created one day a jobsite for divers, and he name it: DiversJobs.

11:46 PM - 10/27/2005 - comments {2} - post comment

About Free Internships and FREE diving courses

If you want things FREE in life, stop diving and change to Chess

I was there also, in the place where you think... "God I'm so smart I'm going to become the best diver in the world without paying a single dollar..."

I was also in the fantastic world where you do a FREE Divemaster course and everyone is smilling you at the dive center.

The reason? : You are the next slave!

The issue is, if you want a CHEAP sport, diving is not for you. Is better if you face it and you wake up.

If you are really poor and you really can't afford it: Don't do it.

Because diving is something that in the first years, it keeps getting more and more expensive.

I don't complain, but I assume the nature and the structure of the diving society. That's why you have to stop and understand what are the risks when you take any of this offers about FREE IDC, FREE Internships, etc.

The risks are the same as at any other industry. You stop being a client. You are just the "guy that is getting this for free". And let's face it if you are working for it... why people want to give you the course as fast as possible??? If you get certified, you stop working in your internship.

I heard all kind of crap. From... " it gives you a real concept of what a dive center is like..." or ..." you end with so many dives that you will be the best divemaster in town.."

This is 100% WHALE crap.

And not only that, is a mathematical point of view it is a bad business.

I know... you must think that this guys is crazy, that not paying is the best deal in the world. Really?

Well... how many people do you know that built a business without investing?

Let say you do a free internship for a Divemaster Course. In the normal diving world, this offers go for 6 months time.

Well, guess what. A normal DM course is 2 months to 3 months. So you already lost 3 months that you could be earning money, working for another dive center (or for the same DC you did your DM course with).

So, not only you loose time and money, you are subject to rules and conditions, that based on 10000 of cases that I know, gives you a course where the Instructor Staff is not 100% ready to help you with your course. Why should they? In their mind you are not paying... you are one of the group... part of the staff....

Just think of this:

This is a business. If you think people open dive centers and invest thousands and thousands of dollars, for their love to Flipper and to free Willy: You are wrong.

So if this is a business... and Divemasters earn so little (anywhere in the world) WHY a Divecenter needs to offer FREE DM courses?

Do you think they are going loose money? Do you think they accept you just on your AMAZING skills?

Almost eveyrone that apply to an internship gets accepted.

Is not like winning the Nobel price.

But again, I could be wrong. Just make the experiment. Take your sister, brother, cousin, girlfriend and do it. See how makes a better living between the 2 of you. The paid customer doing his Divemaster Course - or the cheap labour working for free during 6 months for a course that at the end of the day, costs less that 600 dollars.

So. Before you apply: Go running to McDonalds (or you can choose Subway) and work your ass for 15 days. Get the money. Pay the course. Enjoy the sun... and when you realize you did the best decision... send me a postcard saying "Who is the man? Gabriel from DiversJobs is the Man! )

5:34 PM - 10/24/2005 - comments {4} - post comment

Abusive people in an Abusive world?

9:58 AM - 10/24/2005 - comments {2} - post comment

Why DiversJobs don't post ALL kind of Jobs....

Well... if it wasn't for legal reasons, we will tell you the name of the players... but because I want to stay clean, I have to confess that DiversJobs don't post all kind of jobs because in the diving industry, as in many industries, you have good guys and bad guys.

The good guys are good. Easy. Isn't?

The bad guys, some times are difficult to discover at first sight. Sometimes to find a baddy you need to work for that baddy, and that really... really sucks.

So... how you detect the Bad guys.

Well just start by using your BRAIN before you use GOOGLE

If you see that a Dive Center keeps popping up in places like PADI MEMBERS... well, may be this show us some strange hypothesis

1. The Dive Center can't simply find staff.

2. The Dive Center can't keep their staff

3. The Dive Center may is not even searching for staff... but collecting CVs. (mmmm I bet you never though that)

4. The Dive Center is trying to sell you an internship program.

5. The Dive Center thinks that they are still in Alabama in 1830 and that you are a nice and dumb slave ready to work for them.

So... things you can do:

Talk to them.

If they accept your CV extremely fast ----> Not a good Point. (unless you are Jessica Alba )

If they keep promissing you the earth and the moon -----> Not good.

If you want a contract and they say sure... but you are not going to apply for a Working Visa : WAKE UP. Smell the roses man!

In my experience posting jobs... (Believe me I have posted at least 5000 jobs.... or more.... ) I have noticed that the dooooogy dive centers usually are in Greece, Cyprus, some in Egypt and Dominican Republic in top Number one.

Am I destroying the reputation of a full country? No. Is just my simple opinion.

Always try to deal (god and this sounds horrible but....) with a WESTERN manager and not with the local owner.

You may think you are street wise, BELIEVE ME: You are not.

A Bad Dive Center Manager can do 2000 tricks to mess with your head. So the best thing you can do is start from the begining.

If you see the Job ad and is less than 3 sentences: Stop.

Why if someone REALLY need staff don't even spend 5 minutes to write a full description of the job and the dive center to work for??? The rest if for you to figure out... but next time you apply for a job, think twice, is your time, don't waste your hard work in places that are ready to take advantage of your skills.

So think and then apply.

Have a nice time.

8:29 AM - 10/21/2005 - comments {2} - post comment

Selling DiversJobs.com

Ok, lets tell the story without names or figures. In that way everything is much better....

But, since the last month or so, something has been in my head related DiversJobs.com. 6 weeks ago, a BIG company contacted me interested in buying the website : www.diversjobs.com . First I though everything was just an hoax, but after a few emails and a quick phone called, an offer was put on the table. A really interesting offer.

The issue is that selling the website to this company brings an ethical question.

I'm aware that DiversJobs brings a great service to people. I know many people that have a job now thanks to DiversJobs, not only thanks to the diving job posting service, but also for the option of letting Dive Centers find their CV's and approach them with private job offers.

I know by fact that if I sell DiversJobs, the main idea of the site will change....

So.... what should I do?

I guess soon we will find out.

Good night and have a good dive job hunting !

5:33 AM - 10/19/2005 - comments {6} - post comment

The worst thing you can do.

5:49 AM - 10/17/2005 - comments {2} - post comment

Relation Jobseeker (Diver) and employer (Dive Center)

Ok, first of all is quite late... so sorry about the spelling mistakes and my horrible grammar.....  

I decided to create this Blog because many times I see crazy things in the diving industry and many times I simple go quite... thinking... "It is a crazy world...."

Since I created DiversJobs (one of these days I will write how DiversJobs started...) I have seen all kind of things. From Employers posting ads searching for divers to search for golf balls in lakes... to scams... abuses... fake jobs... and people that sometimes forget that Scuba Diving is a serious industry.

I know this is not a new subject, many people have posted a few times, their frustration regarding the lack of serious relation diver professional and employer. 

Working in diving is for me the best job in the world. But nothing is always gold... and working in diving brings many risks and difficult situations that diving professionals have to face and think about.  To understand this topic we have to think... what does it means to be a Diving Professional... and that question is like the chicken and egg...

Across the world we see many amazing diving instructors, with years of experience. Intelligent people that understand that you need to renew always your training and understand diving as a service and as an Education and Recreational Industry.

In a sad way, diving has become also an option for people to resources, to travel and have a great time while working. I think that is where many troubles start. The lack of unity in the diving industry.

Let me give you clear examples....

If you go to dive in Egypt you will find that the diving industry is a bazaar. People offer you courses every day cheaper and cheaper... if you don't like the price... you will always be able to go to the next dive shop and target for a better prize. The result? Many strange dive centers with dodgy equipment....  bad staff members... etc.

If you go to Koh Tao in Thailand instead, Koh Tao brings something called Koh Tao Doc. An association created by the dive centers to unify their interest, standards, and prices.

The result? A better industry. No dodgy dive centers.... (or at least smaller %) .

With the diving industry is the same, and in the diving job field there is a clear virus.... the lack of benefits and rights the diver professional suffers.

Few Dive Centers and in few countries in the world offer serious job contracts with full social benefits supported by the local labor law. USA, CANADA, AUSTRALIA, NEW ZEALAND and the UK are some of the few where the regulations are clear and few people try to bend them.

In the rest of the world, in amazing diving destinations the flow of diving instructors is so big that the simple "Freelance work" is the daily bread in the region....

You come, you teach an open water course, you get paid and bye bye ....

Is this ideal?

Obviously no.

Is this a dive center problem/fault?

In a certain way... may be it is. But in a bigger percentage is a cultural problem, an education issue. Until the professional community (and I'm talking about divemasters and instructors) don't start  to demand contracts and clear deals the problem will continue.

People get  abuse when they allowed people to do so.

So....

what is  the solution?

Clearly, I have no idea. May be the change is from inside. may be if we understand that we can't claim legal rights if we don't eve apply and accept the local laws of the country where we are working.  And by saying this I want to finish this blog with an easy remark....

Are you searching for a job in South East Asia? Are you searching for a diving job in the Caribbean?

Are you ready to go an apply for a working visa?

May be not....

Why not?

Because it is a hassle.....

So... then when something happens, why do we keep complaining by using words as "Legal Contract" and "Legal agreements"

4:38 AM - 10/17/2005 - comments {0} - post comment

Thinking about Working in the Diving Industry?

Taken from School Leaver magazine issue 31.5

The image that most people have of diving is the one portrayed in countless television wildlife documentaries and glamorous holiday programmes: groups of recreational divers drifting effortlessly through warm, azure waters surrounded by a veritable aquarium of rainbow-coloured fish. If only all diving was like that...

One of my recent dives took place on a dismal day in March; the water was as grey as the clouds and as cold as ice. For most of the dive I could barely see my hands in front of my face. Rainbow-coloured fish? No chance! Just discarded shopping trolleys amid an array of broken concrete and twisted steel. Busying myself with the task in hand, I took comfort from the memory of past dives in tropical seas ­ and the thought that at least I was being paid to be there!

As a qualified commercial diver and a practising civil engineer, I usually don't get much of a choice as to where or when I dive ­ that's dictated by the work that has to be done. I dive as a means of getting to and from a work site. The work itself could be anything from carrying out a video survey of a breakwater to building a foundation for a bridge pier.

I began my diving career by learning to dive for leisure and sport. There are three main organisations which train recreational divers in the UK: the British Sub Aqua Club (BSAC), the Sub-Aqua Association (SAA) and the Professional Association of Diving Instructors (PADI).

* BSAC is reputed to be the world's biggest dive club with over 55,000 members. It trains divers through a network of some 1,250 branches and 200 schools in over 50 countries. BSAC branches are normally run by local members who are free to organise and promote their own diving activities. Anyone can join a branch and take advantage of the facilities offered. Dive training can begin at the age of 14 and is usually conducted over a period of time. BSAC Schools offer the same training as the branches but as full-time concentrated programmes.

* The SAA is also based in the UK. It acts as a "forum" for a national network of independent diving clubs. SAA training programmes have been devised to ensure that trainee divers work through the grades of competence in an enjoyable and progressive way.

* PADI was founded in the USA and operates through a worldwide network of over 4,000 dive centres and resorts. Their educational programme takes a modular approach. Core courses, which teach essential diving skills, can be supplemented with optional speciality modules (e.g. photography, navigation, night diving, rescue). PADI also offers a career path to those who want a job in recreational diving ­ you could end up running your own PADI dive centre!

If you want a diving career in the UK, you must hold a commercial diving qualification. These are approved by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) ­ the Government's safety supervisory body. You must also work within a set of legal rules, the Diving at Work Regulations 1997 (DWR).

There are many different types of working diver, each requiring different skills and competencies. These include:

• Offshore diving in support of the oil and gas industries
• Inland and inshore diving, for example, in support of civil engineering or fish farming
• Scientific and archaeological diving in support of research and education
• Media diving ­ working as presenters, stunt performers, photographers or sound and lighting technicians
• Recreational diving ­ involving the instruction and guiding of recreational divers
• Police and military diving.

There are three levels of commercial diver training:

1. The "entry" level qualification trains a diver to use SCUBA (Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus), where the diver carries an air supply in cylinders

2. The next level of training is known as Surface Supplied Diving, where the diver receives an air supply via umbilical hose from the surface

3. The highest level of training is called Closed Bell Diving. These divers breathe mixed gases in order to dive deeper than 50 metres. They often live for weeks at a time in a compression chamber

The financial rewards for divers can be considerable, but so are the risks ­ diving is a potentially hazardous occupation. Good training will, however, minimise these risks through the application of safe working practices.

There are only a handful of places in the UK where you can train to be a commercial diver, and there's only one University that offers HSE-approved commercial diver training to its undergraduate students. Students who study civil and coastal engineering, ocean science or marine biology at the University of Plymouth are able to train as HSE Professional SCUBA divers as part of their normal curricular studies. The University has its own diving and sailing centre, where a team of full-time diving instructors work closely with academic lecturers.

12:01 AM - 10/13/2005 - comments {0} - post comment

Long Article About diving Jobs

Found in http://www.kriyayoga.com/expert_forums/scuba_diving/posts/14.html 

Many divers are looking for divejobs - of course we the find thousands of traditional divejobs

• divemaster in general
  
• underwater guide on islands and diveresorts
  
• dive guide on diveboats, underwater research / marine biology projects
  
• SCUBA diving instructor
  
• instructor for snorkeling courses
  
• salesperson in a diveshop or dive facility
  
• repair technician in a dive resort or dive facility
  

for such conventional / traditional divejobs you find jobs through online advertisement, job offers in SCUBA diving magazines, job offers through SCUBA instructor associations such as PADI, NAUI and others ... or as i did for my very first job - on the way to the Florida PADI College in Jacksonville in 1979 i went on a dive vacation in Mallorca - a Spanish island i the Mediterranean sea - to gain additional open water / ocean SCUBA diving experience during a 3 week dive vacation ...

from the dive resort owner i received a job offer as SCUBA diving instructor in the Republic of Maledives - to start right after my instructor college time. YES i accepted later on that job offer - but finally got a job on the neighbor island of that instructor - and stayed there for a full 2 years in a row before continuing in other dive locations around the world.

Hence before getting a dive job - you may first be a customer and excellent diver, moving up the ladder of continuing diver education and suddenly become a job offer from the dive resort you have been customer. Who else knows you and your potential and professional qualifications better than the ones who trained and taught you.

but ...

here i am talking about the many other divejob opportunities this rewarding and exciting job offers you !!

first a brief overview of the different additional divejobs i had during my many years as a professional PADI SCUBA diving instructor ( PADI MI 11580 ) until i retired from active diving and move on in life. some of the most rewarding and exciting UW divejobs i had as a self employed / freelance dive professional have been:

1. light salvage
   
2. treasure hunting
   
3. artifact collecting
   
4. marine biology - research projects
   
5. UW repair work
   
6. UW photographer
   
7. repair technician for Viking dry suits
   
8. repair technician for Bauer compressor
   
9. repair technician for SCUBA equipment
   
10. inventing and manufacturing of diving accessories in homework style
    

all of above jobs i did while having my own small ONE man PADI facility "Amphora Diving School" ..

hence we see

being a SCUBA diving instructor is far more than simply teaching non-divers to become divers !!

once you have decided to be a diving professional, you have a wide selection of opportunities. however - you have to SEE those opportunities yourself, you have to acquire all necessary skills and knowledge yourself, you have to invest in all additional specialized equipment and finally and most importantly ..

YOU have to OFFER such services to the broad public, you have to make your special underwater skills known to all - by:

1. word of mouth advertisement / promotions by happy customers and successfully trained divers
   
2. yellow pages - the single most expensive advertisement method - and nowadays may be soon part of history !!
   
3. advertisement campaigns in classifieds or local newspapers
   
4. printed flyers and brochures hand carried into mailboxes of your dive shop neighborhood
   
5. online on your web site - modern diving professionals of course do have their own web site - its the cheapest and by far most efficient method to reach out to new customers searching for exactly your specialty UW skills and expertise !! KNOW how to optimize your professional SCUBA diving service oriented web site to make sure that whoever searches what YOU have to offer will find YOUR web site - this special skill and knowledge is called SEO - Search Engine Optimization. there are many forums to assist you once you have exceeded the beginners level of SEO skills or you may participate in a vacation SEO workshop or join an online community of web designers / web site owners - or search Google to find your solutions needed to solve your problems
   

to be a dive professional is a real job - a dive professional is a job as serious and as demanding as medical doctor, nurse, or any high risk job. to be a dive professional dealing with humans - your customers, dive students, divers, vacation divers, recreational divers and customers DEPEND and rely on you !! often their lives is entirely in YOUR hands. hence a diveprofessional has many options to work and find or create underwater jobs - but he NEVER has an option to fail or make mistakes.

the following diving professional related skills are required in FAR above average performance level

1. quality consciousness
   
2. reliability
   
3. dependability
   
4. broad knowledge and skill level of a large variety of mechanical skills
   
5. human communications
   
6. human relationships
   
7. honesty in all aspects of life
   
8. selflessness day and night - safety and wellbeing of all others above all !!
   
9. 100% FREE of ANY addiction
   
10. totally fit and healthy - including an excellent spiritual, emotional and mental health which in
11. turn requires a happy and well balanced family / love life FREE of any problems at all - your mind and heart needs to be free for your UW job - free for the safety and concerns of your customers!!
    
12. sincere interest to love all, to share with your customers and to serve others
    
13. sincere desire to make others happy - to create true deepest customer satisfaction
    
14. absolute safety consciousness in all aspects of life
    
15. environmental awareness, environment consciousness, love FOR nature and all life forms on earth
    

the overall requirements on a dive professional are quiet comparable to the requirements for air craft pilots or professional bus drivers. both need top safety and reliability to bring all their customers safely home a life long. for both risk never is an option. 100% performance every minute on duty - 100 % focused on your job while off duty - there never can a a dive professional with a hang over going on a weekend dive trip or going to perform underwater rescue or salvage operations in cave, murky water or deep down in the ocean surrounded by sharks amidst strong currents up to 5-7 knots !!! 1 knot = 1,852 km/hrs

partying is what you do BEFORE being a dive professional and AFTER your retirement - but NEVER while having your dive business or dive jobs !! diving has so many rewards of different kind that a true dive professional never needs compensation - his life is filled with exciting adventures - every day of his professional work is different than any other day ever before.

Create your own dive jobs - see and recognize your potential dive job opportunities

based on above list of divejobs i had myself - i will give you practical examples on each to give you the idea how and where to look out yourself for dive job potentials in your own living / working / diving area. i will describe very briefly a few divejobs i got - you then look around and recognize your own potential around your present diving / living location.

UW search, recovery and light salvage

I successfully did such jobs as

• searching for deep sea fishing gear - lost in coastal waters by a sport fishermen while being drunk on his small vessel fishing.
  
• searching / recovering a mobile military own transceiver from a water ski boat operating in AFRC facility in Germany
  
• search and salvage of lost jewelry in open water beach environment in lakes - using UW metal detector
  
• recovery of lost anchors
  
• recovery of lost SCUBA equipment in open water
  
• searching and moving heavy concrete weights used to anchor the buoys used by sailing and boating clubs if they rearrange their "parking" slots in coastal waters for their yachting club members. these concrete blocks often are 500 - 1000 kg heavy and need heavy duty large UW lift bags.
  

Treasure hunting

during off season - or after regular diving operating hours - searching old public open water beach areas on lakes or ocean for lost coins, watches and jewelry .. i found many kilos gold, silver jewelry and coins.

Artifact collecting

the name of my PADI training facility "Amphora Diving School" came from my own amphora collection i found in my earlier years of SCUBA diving off the coast of Lebanon. other areas may have different artifacts or antiques that somehow can be used as rewarding gifts for your customers, friends or to be sold as artifacts to collectors to earn an extra income every now and then. i did all - give away for free and sell artifacts and antique treasures such as amphoras some 2000+ years old. amphora is OLD pottery used to store and transport wine, spices, grain, oil and other valuables in ships as well as at sea. a typical Roman shipwreck may have several thousands of amphoras - most may be broken - some may be still in perfect condition. even fragments may still be exciting and decorative for collectors

other artifacts of more recent time were port holes, ship compass, ship lights and other brass wreck artifacts. they all have been used as rewards and gifts for my diving students or customers - but also could have been sold to collectors. where and how to use a brass port hole ??

here a nice encounter i had in early nineties in a nightclub i visited weekly for my dancing fun - i saw on the wall a closed port hole.

Marine biology - research projects

once for almost 2 weeks I spent a camp in Yugoslavia with several of my more experienced divers - working / diving for a marine biology institute - it was fun, rewarding and an excellent team work for all bringing our diving expertise and experience into benefit for marine biology science.

UW repair work

another excellent and financially rewarding job has been UW repair. depending on where exactly you live - you may have small but repeated opportunities to perform repair or inspection jobs on commercial UW rigs or machinery at commercial rates per hour. one such fine and good paid job was to repair a damaged lake ventilation system - installed to pump huge quantities of air into a small dieing lake. zero visibility, freezing water, 1m and more light silt on the bottom ... some 3 days of many hours in a dry suit until job successfully done.

that particular job i got as a result of having done in a previous year a beach UW clean up of the public swimming / beach area of that small city. that first job with a group of divers was done just for fun and part of the UW environment awareness program ... the reward for that was a safer clean beach UW - free of dangerous objects, nails, broken glass, etc ... and a free dinner with the mayor of that small city for ALL divers involved.

several months later that mayor called me for help for his far more serious UW lake ventilation equipment problem. as you see, sometimes you first have to do some free community service to be known and called upon for commercial jobs as well.

UW photographer

besides offering UW photography courses - i also did UW photography for hotel guests in the Maledives. using my own skills, knowledge and experience as well as a complete set of professional UW camera with strobe - i offered guests the opportunity to give me their film of choice to make one roll of film UW picture just for them. the offer was valid for participating divers as well as non-divers.

for the divers of course part of the pictures taken by me always included some pictures with them. in free time and my own leisure dives - YES i did go on fun dives if i had free time as a diving professional !! i loved my job with all my heart, soul and body day and night !!!
thousands of the UW slides taken and developed - using my own E-6 processing in my own bath room - my films and offered most of my slides to guests of the hotel as souvenirs for a honest price. thus helping me to cover the expense of UW photograpy equipment and at the same time offer a unique souvenir to guests. many happily accepted such offers.

Repair technician for Viking dry suits

diving in cold fresh water - of course even active recreational divers use more and more dry suits. i loved my Viking dry suit - except for one point. what to do if you need relief and have to piss ...

being in the water for many hours - several dives or hours of UW treasure hunting or UW work ... the bladder fills again and again.

on a picture i saw heavy duty Viking dry suits having a convenience zipper. on a sports fair - may be ISPO or SCUBA equipment accessory catalog i found a supplier for reasonably priced dry suit convenience zippers of the right length - approximately 8 inches or so and of same style and quality than the regular Viking dry suit zipper.

hence i became a dry suit surgeon on my own Viking dry suit first - made a clean horizontal cut at the right height - added the convenience zipper - and enjoyed the freedom to find relief without having to move out of the entire SCUBA gear.

i had all the perfect glue and knowledge - i did already Viking hood, neck seal and wrist seal replacement in house - first for me, then a few friends then all customers, then even customers of other shops - there was at that time no other local option to do an overnight full seal replacement on a Viking dry suit. however - once you know how to do that job - including the convenience zipper - then you have created a service hitting a market niche - such a professional job easily can be done in 24 hrs max. the alternative would have been sending to the factory and wait for some 2 weeks or sending to the equipment distributor - another many days of waiting time PLUS shipping costs.

Repair technician for Bauer compressors

As a versatile dive professional of course you may be a trained and certified Compressor repair technician - i lived and worked many years just a few hundred meters away from Bauer compressor factory and went through all the training they offered. As a learned mechanic i had all the professional skills needed.

Nowadays more and more recreational divers living in potential diving areas own a small portable breathing air compressor - a new job opportunity is to provide spare parts, breathing air filters and of course a fully qualified repair and maintenance service for compressors. an additional job / income opportunity of course might be to have one or several well maintained small breathing air compressor units for rent out to certified divers.

Repair technician for SCUBA diving equipment

Offering SCUBA diving equipment - repair can actually be a professional service of its own - and may even be offerend fully independently of any diving services offered. It is a highly demanding technical job, needing specialized training and special tools, equipment and most likely you will want to obtain equipment manufacturer's certification for all major brands used in your area. you also will have to keep hundreds of different spare parts, seals, O-rings and other components on stock for all major brands and models in use. Yet such a professional service still is a low investment compared to a full service dive resort or diving facility.

Many larger dive resorts or dive facilities offer jobs just for professional repair technicians without further dive duties. such repair may include repair for wet suits, dry suits, regulators, SCUBA tanks, hydrotesting of SCUBA tanks, sand blasting and qualified painting of tanks, BCDs / BCJs, and all the accessories such as DPVs, UW photo or video equipment housing-repair and much more.

people entering a SCUBA diving equipment repair technician career ideally are fully qualified and experienced professional mechanic from any other mechanical back ground such as car mechanic, industrial mechanic, ... etc.

Inventing and manufacturing of diving accessories in homework style

depending on your divers needs - you may lack accessories on your local market - you may face particular problems and invent solutions - and produce the small quantities needed to satisfy your local customers needs. out of my own local situation during my years working in Germany - i needed buddy lines - a different style than just a simple rope tide with a bowline to each wrist - hence i "invented" a different system with velcro closure on a industrial type nylon belt - suitable for handling in cold water by dry suit divers wearing dry suit 3-finger gloves .... and produced smaller quantities for local diveshops and rescue divers, as well as for my own customers. other small useful items created and produced in homework was a special UW treasure hunter's bag - again using velcro closure - always a special brand for true wet underwater use !!! - to drop small coins or jewelry while wearing gloves UW. different system but related to it was a key bag for the car keys to safely carry the car keys while diving UW ... many small items have been useful but inexistent by that time. local made UW slates, and many other items ... all served multiple purpose

• to enhance diving comfort and diving safety and thus increasing divers fun while diving
  
• to meet a real need by some of the divers, customers or local diving communities
  
• to provide additional work and thus additional income for me during the lesser active diving months of the cold winter season
  
• to provide a challenge for me to be creative and productive during off season times
  

Another future dive job opportunity or dive "industry" is mariculture or UW farming

when looking for dive jobs - keep in mind the growing industry of mariculture - the commercial underwater farming of fish, lobster, crabs, oysters, mussels ... such divejobs offer a great opportunity to do something useful and challenging at the same time. growing and providing valuable fresh sea food for millions of people may turn more and more fishermen around the world into "sea-farmers" and may increase the need of qualified divers assisting in mariculture projects.

A good old friend of mine - with the same first name - also used very successfully venture into writing travel guides for dive locations and even more successfully into commercial UW movie / TV documentary production as a camera man.

the opportunities are manifold. you need to develop a sense of potential needs to be met by you - you need to look at all lakes, rivers, ocean coastal waters and see what service or products you as a professional diver with a wide variety of qualifications and hudreds or thousands of UW hours and dives can offer.

grow as you gain additional diving experience - the beginning may be as simple as a diving assistant or divemaster in a local dive store or dive resort to gain a few hundred hours more diving experience among hundreds of different divers from different countries ....

keep on learning and improving all your skills and knowledge - continuing education is the key to professional advancement in your UW career. invest substantial amounts of time, resources, efforts and money to become a truly and fully qualified recreational diving professional or turn your love for diving into a heavy duty commercial diving career - at least for a while, as long as you enjoy such commercial diving jobs offered by oil industry and other potential employers.

May God bless you on your path of life

hans

ex (retired) PADI MI 11580

6:53 AM - 10/6/2005 - comments {2} - post comment

What are the Different Types of Scuba Diving Jobs?

Different types of scuba diving jobs are determined by the level of certification achieved by a diver, what kind of work environment they enjoy, and whether they want a full-time or seasonal career. Those certified as professional divers can lead recreational diving excursions, own a scuba equipment store, assist science researchers in collecting data, help in rescue efforts, or teach others how to scuba dive. The most popular locations for year-round scuba diving jobs are tropical vacation destinations such as the Caribbean, Australia, or Mexico.

Most scuba divers start with a certificate from the Professional Association of Diving Instruction (PADI), an internationally recognized agency. Then they can step through increasingly difficult certification programs, from an open-water private diver to rescue diver, divemaster, assistant instructor, instructor, and master instructor. Each level opens up more opportunities for scuba diving jobs. Some divers might specialize in one area, such as deep-sea diving or underwater photography, or combine diving with other skills, such as sailing a ship or owning a small business.

One of many scuba diving jobs is owning or working at a dive shop. This is a full-time career, in a coastal location, that combines knowledge about equipment with enthusiastic customer service and dedication to helping people of all skill levels. Often, dive shops provide limited scuba diving instruction on the weekends. Aside from getting benefits and a steady salary, employees get to test out new equipment and organize their own small excursions.

Popular scuba diving jobs are as scuba diving instructors. These people direct and conduct courses for the general public, or professional scuba divers, to teach them how to use their equipment, proper underwater safety, and how best to enjoy their trips. Often, instructors teach a quick course at the beginning of a vacation, on a cruise ship or at a resort, and then accompany a small group on a recreational dive. Dive masters know how to navigate, check water conditions, and assist divers with faulty equipment.

Researchers in oceanography and marine biology create scuba diving jobs to assist them in collecting data. This type of diver might have additional schooling that allows him or her to identify and collect species, make detailed habitat observations, measure current and temperature, etc. In marine science, field workers might study endangered tortoises or coral populations. In environmental science, they can work to protect ocean ecology or better understand global warming.

6:46 AM - 10/6/2005 - comments {0} - post comment

Choosing a Different Destiny.

10:11 PM - 10/3/2005 - comments {1} - post comment