Becoming a Scuba Instructor | Squat the Planet

Becoming a Scuba Instructor

Hudson

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So I just found a scuba school in town that will teach you how to become a PADI instructor. Im not sure how to vet these places and find out if they are legit or not.

I had a question? Has anyone here ever become or known someone who became a scuba instructor and used the information to travel?

It seems like a good idea. Im not very charismatic but you know what, I could fake it if I was scuba diving in far off places.
 
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So I just found a scuba school in town that will teach you how to become a PADI instructor. Im not sure how to vet these places and find out if they are legit or not.

I had a question? Has anyone here ever become or known someone who became a scuba instructor and used the information to travel?

It seems like a good idea. Im not very charismatic but you know what, I could fake it if I was scuba diving in far off places.

More on the trade skill side but my ex girlfriend became a union underwater welder/commercial diver in the Bay Area, a lot of work in the beginning but she's had success with it since. Another friend in the same union started out on offshore oil rigs in Louisiana, he is in California now too. The job has taken both of them to VERY VERY interesting places, and the highest pay of ALL trades probably up there with high voltage lineman because of the hazard type pay.
 
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MFB

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known someone who became a scuba instructor and used the information to travel?

Never did this myself;
But met three young americans in Belize who did scuba tours on Caye Caulker and said they did good financially. If I remember correctly they got certified or whatever down there. Something about the 'blue hole' just off the island being a huge scuba destination.

I also met a french girl in Honduras that did scuba tours off that Bay Islands seasonally, she had done a lot of cool scuba guide stuff all over the tropics that I was impressed with.

All really interesting people.

I would think it would be like any other tourist based guide gigs. Mediocre pay, shitty housing, a ton of fun when your not working. I would assume your skill would be in demand anywhere with large coral reefs. Culebra in PR was amazing. Ah, I bet you would make dope tips too!

For anyone that dont know
SCUBA---self contained underwater breathing apparatus ;)
 

Hudson

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I was looking at the commercial diving outfits for a bit they seem to be pretty expensive for schooling and as far as age goes 35 is like the highest age which is what I turn this year. After that they need a waiver.

Im just looking for an alternative career path that can get me outdoors honestly. The ocean is calling to me as well big time.
 
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I was looking at the commercial diving outfits for a bit they seem to be pretty expensive for schooling and as far as age goes 35 is like the highest age which is what I turn this year. After that they need a waiver.

Im just looking for an alternative career path that can get me outdoors honestly. The ocean is calling to me as well big time.

Yeah my ex started at age 30. Even then she felt old.
 

Hudson

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Doing something commercially would probably be beyond me. I have 12 screws and two plates in my left ankle and am now still recovering from a double surgery in my dominant shoulder. Wish I didn't treat my body so rough but I'm thankful for modern medicine.

I don't think they would even let me into the schools for commercial diving with how much alien gear is in my body.
 

Chonkthebonk

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My buddy was a dive master, he trained and lived in hondurous for a couple years then spent another couple years in the phillipines.
Sounds like a pretty banging way to do it but it’s a dying industry ya kno
 

Matt Derrick

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More on the trade skill side but my ex girlfriend became a union underwater welder/commercial diver in the Bay Area, a lot of work in the beginning but she's had success with it since. Another friend in the same union started out on offshore oil rigs in Louisiana, he is in California now too. The job has taken both of them to VERY VERY interesting places, and the highest pay of ALL trades probably up there with high voltage lineman because of the hazard type pay.

i also had some friends in new orleans that did this as well and they made ridiculous amounts of money.
 

Hudson

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It sounds like a very adventurous way to sustain yourself. Im trying to reimagine myself and what I want out of the next ten years.

It definetly isn't destroying my body through grunt labor for corporate profits anymore.
 
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Reconsider your interest unless you have some serious cheddar to blow. I'm going to explain why. This explanation is assuming that you do not hold any certification what so ever in scuba diving.

The initial cost just to get your open water certification is prohibitive. You have to pay for the course, equipment rental, and travel to and from dive sites including the dive. To give you an idea I lived off the coast and the cost of getting the intro open water certification was well in excess of $2500 USD.

Then you have to obtain the next certification which is advanced open water. This allows you to exceed your dive depth and requires that you specialize in two areas of your choosing. This could be nitrox, underwater navigation, cave diving, whatever. So you pay for the cost of the course plus your equipment rental and your dives. Expect to drop another thousand.

Are you CPR certified by the American Heart Association? You better be. That costs money too. You need that certification to get your rescue diving certification. More money on training, equipment rental, dives, etc.

Then after all that you need to log a number of dives to be eligible to hold an instructors certification. That is even more money invested. I am just estimating but expect to invest over 10 k total to even be eligible for that instructor certification. That also counts the time you need to put in to do all of these dives.

Lastly, I ask you this. Have you even gotten on indeed or other job sites and seen if just having the instructor level certification makes you eligible for a job? Or is it more likely that you need to log the minimum of something like 100 dives and be a dive master and not just an instructor? Keep in mind that part of an instructor's job is sales so there is a commission aspect to the way they make their cash. Don't be blinded by the promise of exotic locals and a decent living. That's how people get suckered into the military.

Lastly, as to your physical problems, I wouldn't worry about it. They really only DQ people from diving who have seizures or other such head problems that would leave them a danger to themselves and others while diving.
 

Hudson

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I have some money I've been saving for the past year. Quite a bit. Its either this or some kind of trade school like hvac repair. Only problem is I have a 20lb lifting limit on my dominant arm now.
 
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Most of the weight from your BCD/Tank can be distributed across the whole of your back once you get the pack on. However, as an instructor, you're going to be hauling a lot of equipment that exceeds 20 lbs. regularly. Stuff that is difficult to haul with one arm. I know a guy that scuba dives regularly and he has back/knee problems. He propels himself predominately with fin gloves, but he isn't an instructor. No way he could be with those problems. Taking this up as a rewarding hobby is something I would endorse, but as a career it might put a hell of a lot more strain on you than you realize. More than two dives a day in the open ocean wipes most people out and surface intervals in choppy water are horrible. Like, multiple people puking all over the boat in hot as hell weather horrible.

Im just looking for an alternative career path that can get me outdoors honestly.

You could get your teaching english as a foreign language cert online for dirt cheap and then go overseas to do that. In your down time you can scuba/camp all you would like. You wouldn't even need to take PADI courses to do so. It doesn't have to be this or some kind of trade school. Best of luck either way.
 

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