Commercial Diving.

[Rob Meddes]

Hiya guys.
Does anyone have any experience of commercial diving?
I'm in the forces & due to leave in 4 years time when i get a grant to take any courses i wish to aid the career of my choice in civvy street.
I watched a program on Discovery the other week in which a team of commercial saturation divers extracted the fuel oil from a wreck off the coast of California & became interested in it.
What are the age & financial concerns of saturation diving? How much are the courses for saturation diving & how much are the wages? I only plan to do this for a few years. I will be 40 when i leave & although i'm not a marathon runner i'm still relativly fit.
I do have a prolaps disk & a bulging disk in my lower back which sometimes gives me grief but not much & not often & doesn't affect my diving at the mo, although i have had aches when decompressing for over 40 mins in the horizontal position with twin 15's on. Would this preclude me from this career?
Cheers from any advice guys.
Rob

[keith_henson]

speak to andy the commie - he is your man

Keith

[Andy the Coastie]

Originally Posted by keith_henson

speak to andy the commie - he is your man

Keith

NO , i'm not ,,,,,,,,


I'm gonna tell him to spend his well earnt pension and grants on a LONGGGGG holiday in the sun ............

[toby.s]

I would give the whole idea a miss, it takes awhile before you can do your sat which is around £7500 to £8000. I know quite a few sat divers and they do get odd jobs here and there, and somtimes in the north sea on good money. To really get lots of well paid work in sat you'll have to be bloody good friends with someone who picks the teams or just hold there kids/wife for ransom.

[londonsean69]

Why not search the forums, there is a whole heap of info on exactly this, from forces/ex-forces/commies.

IMHO learn as many medical skills as you can, get paramedic qualified if poss then move into remote medicine. Use these grants etc. and get med trained up to the hilt, you should be able to leave overqualified for most jobs, and being in the mob you are used to working in adverse conditions/situations.
Opening money is better than an air diver and the work is probably more interesting (and only slightly less dangerous)

OR, become a PADI instructor then spend the rest of your days working on a beach somewhere, much better than 55m in the North Sea.

Take a look at the HSE website and find out about the back problem, it may be a contraindication to a commie medical (required to be paid for any dive work in the UK)

[Compressor Dude]

Roy

Have a gander at The Commercial Diving Directory

This is a professional divers website run by a longtime SAT diver/superintendent and has a worldwide following. Questions such as yours are regularly received and commented upon by guys who have been diving since the early North Sea days. Be prepared for some sound truths -
it is a hard game to break into. Most guys start off shellfish diving and then progress to fish farm and civils work (piss poor pay and conditions). To get offshore these days usually means the Middle East - again diabolical pay and conditions but guys put up with to get work experience and the log book filled up.

Cheers
Bernard

[Compressor Dude]

Sorry ROB - spelling error

[Rob Meddes]

C
Thanks for the help guys.
I'm already a PADI/BSAC instructor but was looking at something a bit more involved & a bit more challenging. I also don't believe i'm the medical type. You need to be a certain type of person to go into the medical field & i'm not one of them. Also when you say the pay isn't up to much, how does this compare with a standard PADI instructor annually?? I can't imagine they're comparable.
Cheers again.
Rob

[londonsean69]

Originally Posted by Rob Meddes

when you say the pay isn't up to much, how does this compare with a standard PADI instructor annually?? I can't imagine they're comparable.

They are not comparable in the slightest, although you are almost guaranteed work as a PADI inst., not so as a Newly Qualified Commie.
Then again, the working conditions are incomparable too (25m vis vs diving by braille, 4c water vs 24c, underwater labourer vs diveguide)

Then again, if you really want to do something involving water and still make a packet, why not become a plumber? Probably earn more than a commie anyway.

[Compressor Dude]

Rob
Saw your entry on Longstreath this morning - best of luck.

Bernard