Career in scuba diving

[Koh Samui]

Originally Posted by Hally

I've been scuba diving several times on holiday and I'm thinking about giving up my 9 to 5 office job in the UK to do to a Scuba diving training intership at Mermaids scuba diving center in Pattaya Thailand. its a 6 month course which at the end you hopefully become a fully trained diving instructor! Its a huge decision to make does anyone have any advice or do you know anyone who has done similar? Cheers Craig

Hi Hally,

If you're interested in coming to Thailand, I may be able to help you, I run IDC's on Koh Samui, please have a look here http://www.idcthailand.net

[jobrooksuk]

I'd have to agree with the other comments, DONT goto Pattaya! I spent two weeks there and the diving is pretty terrible. I used Mermaids as my dive operator and although I cant fault the operator I wasnt too impressed with the dive sites (poor vis, jet ski's overhead, if I recall there was a lot of dynamite fishing in the past so the corals havent really had time to recover)and as for Pattaya town, if you like 'go-go' bars you will be fine, but even then, I'm sure there is a limit!
My second trip to Thailand was to Patong (Phuket) and we dived off a liveaboard around Surin/Similan Islands and also Phi Phi. The diving here is much more colourful, there is better vis and I also get the impression there is more choice. If it were me wanting to spend 4-6 months in Thailand diving, I know where I'd rather be.......South all the time!

[ellisn]

Originally Posted by NotDeadYet

There are a few places in Florida that do some very good OW to OWSI deals and will arrange work placements on qualifying as an instructor that might be a better choice.

Any recommendations for good centres in Florida for this sort of training?

Cheers

Neil

[Roobydoo]

Pro Dive will sort you out - worldwide connections.

It may be beneficial to you to do the resort operators course as part of your package - vary the CV so to speak

[londonsean69]

You have got to ask yourself a few questions.

Can you do 6 dives a day?
Can you always be nice?
Can you tell someone (politely), they are an @rse?
Can you go to pools, be nice to people trying to get them into the water, and still be nice when they decide that the swimming pool was good and they have no interest in diving in the sea?
Can you survive on poo poo wages if you have a crap week at said pools?
Is it nice to be able to navigate by the same rocks you have seen every morning for the past 4 months?
Physical labour - carrying umpteen cylinders is not fun!

It is rarely just diving, it is selling, maintaining, fixing, and blagging on a grand scale.

There is more, but having said all that, I still love my job, most of the time.

Sure, I get peeved with some of the ´qualified´divers I have to take in (700+ dives and climbing over the reef), but when someone turns around and says that was the best thing they have ever done then you know you made the right choice.

PS - I work full time as an instructor in Lanzarote, left a very well paid job in the UK to do it, and have no regrets, apart from one, I miss UK wreck diving

HTH

[Emily]

hi there, me and my boyfriend are planning to do exactly the same thing! we've been talking to Mermaids for a while and they seem like a decent place. where else can you do OWSIs though? we can't find anywhere but pattaya

[nigelH]

Originally Posted by Emily

where else can you do OWSIs though?

If you can dive somewhere there is probably a place that can do OWSI every ten miles or less. You can probably do it based within 10 miles of your front door.

If you haven't been diving for a couple of years I can promise that you will not stick with it. Scuba instructing is a labour of love not a job. If it suits you it's better than working for a living but most people rush in madly and give up just as quickly.

Sorry to be negative about it but we do see it a lot. The adverts look wonderful but the real world soon intrudes.

[Kieran Hatton]

Hi

I work full time as an instructor in the UK [March to Nov]. I find it a great way to earn a living and if you look around and do a good job the right rewards and some fantastic diving is available to you.

What I wouldn't do is give up everything to find out I don't like it. You say you dive occasionally on holiday, thats fine but suddenly making it a career is a huge step both in the amount you need to learn and if you can really enjoy diving day in day out. I do but I had done a lot of diving before making the step and you still have monumentally bad days.

If you decide to take the step then good luck, my recomendation would be to get up to Divemaster before giving your job up, take an internship it may take longer but you learn so much more. People pretending to be students are never the same as the real thing. If after you have done this it's still for you go for it.

As a foot note: a guy did his DM course over 5 weeks with us at the end of the season when it had quietened down, he gave up his job [35k ish] looking to make this his career, really nice guy by the end of the course had learnt a lot had a good foundation to build on but it ruined his diving. He learnt that he didn't want the responsibility the job entails, and that working beyond diving 9-5 and then working beyond was to much. he is now back looking for work in the real world and enjoying his diving again.

Hope this helps, if you would like more info on different options both local and away PM me.

Gluck

Kieran

PS i instruct because I can't spell - apologies