Back in the late 90s/early 2000s Scuba Diving in New Zealand was gaining popularity by leaps and bounds.
Dive shops started springing up left right and centre, as divers decided they wanted to work in a field they love recreationally, and to take advantage of this new found "Gold Rush".
Existing dive shops found that, out of blue, they had much more competition in an already slim pickings field and struggled to thing of new concepts and ideas to retain their market share.
Now Im not sure if they found this scheme somewhere else or simply created it themselves but one particular outfit decided to really sink their teeth into this with huge gusto and, certifying divers in SSI, they came out with a Zero to Hero course.
This Zero to Hero course took students from not having previously dived to an Instructor in 12-14 weeks of full time study, or part time in 36 weeks. The full time option included a month on a liveaboard in Tonga to get the requisite dives number of dives in.
Not long after another outfit, certifying divers in PADI, followed.
They had a Zero to Divemaster course which took non-certified students through to Divemaster, in 7 weeks full time or 26 weeks part time study, as well as certifying them in a whole host of specialties including deep, wreck, nitrox, navigation S&R. All up the student received around 14-16 cards.
They also had a DM to MSDT course than ran along similar timetables and included all fees to PADI and a CD to prep them for MSDT. This means that as soon as they passed their IE they were Master Scuba Diver Trainers, able to teach such specialties as Wreck, Nitrox, Deep etc.
Just too really get these courses going they applied to the New Zealand Qualifications Authority (NZQA) for registration as a tertiary training provider. NZQA accepted this application and from then on all students in these courses could get a New Zealand Government student Loan.
(The student loan system in New Zealand at the time had come into place to provide funds for students wishing to attend University or another tertiary type education. Tertiary education in New Zealand was free right up until 1993 when all of a sudden the government decided that, they having received all their education on the taxpayers of old, were not willing to put their tax money into the future generations of this country.
A student loan system was set up and accumulating at a rate of around 8% a year students could now borrow what they needed to give themselves an education. (My ex was a medical student and by the time she started her first year of working, she had a debt of around $100,000-what a great way to start ones working life)).
The word got out and past students were talking on the radio allegedly from exotic locations such as Palau, Thailand, Fiji, Vanuatu all professing how they were diving all day and getting paid STACKS of money to do so.
The rush was huge and hundreds of people were signing up to become dive professionals and the shops werent able to handle the rush so they rushed to open new stores and employ more instructors.
Most the instructors were graduates from these Zero to Hero courses, all delighted they could earn money diving at home (although allegedly nowhere near what they could earn overseas) before they headed overseas stacked with experience to earn stacks of money in the sun and meet gorgeous women.
The Instructors, who 12 weeks ago had never dived in their life, were now training the next batch of Divemasters and Instructors. Demand was escalating and courses were being taught to the bare minimum standards to push them through and make as much money as they could.
Some of those signing up for the course had a keen interest in diving, others simply had to do some kind of training course, pressured by NZ Work and Income, to enable their dole payments to continue.
A lot dropped out, some passed, some failed but there were no refunds for failure or dropping out.
For a few years it all went well, people were buzzing, dive shop owners had new cars for the first time in years, dive charters were powering ahead .and then it all went wrong.
The New Zealand public still remembers the horror as they saw the news report on TV, the helicopter circling French Pass, the police dive squad circling turbulent waters, reports of 3 divers dead and 3 more seriously injured.
Nelson Dive Centre was an enthusiastic part of this gold rush and recently certifying a student as an instructor they employed him to run the next batch of willing recruits.
A drift dive was scheduled and the 6 students, along with a boatman and instructor, motored out near DUrville Island at the top of New Zealands South Island to find a likely spot to conduct a challenging drift dive.
Coming across French Pass, a narrow and turbulent stretch of water, the instructor decided this looked like a great spot to conduct one of the dives.
The slowly motored the boat over the area and noted that the boat at one stage while idling along was sucked into a whirlpool and spun around 360 degrees. The sounder had shown depths of around 60 metres with a 90 metre hole, and 105 metre hole.
The group entered the water, believing it was slack tide (which was around 2 hours previous) encountered a 6 knot current and while drifting got sucked down in excess of 60 metres. 3 of the divers died and 3 others were seriously injured.
One of the divers owes her life to her buddy, who after being spat out of the eddy at 60 metres, noticed bubbles below and swam down to 90 metres to find his buddy lying on the bottom with her reg out of her mouth. He got her to the surface alive although both suffered serious DCI.
It was 8 hours later that the survivors finally got the recompression chamber.
Due to an inexperienced Instructor, 3 trainee Instructors died, and 3 were seriously injured.
These courses are still being run although Government funding was pulled last year. Some dive shops are still employing those they train through these courses, as thats all they seem to be able to get to do the job. The average pay in the industry is around $28k per annum, while the average wage in this country runs at around $43k.
But 101 dives, 14 weeks later and these instructors are passing on their knowledge and skills to new divers and old.
Wanna take a wreck course with one of these guys?
Dive shops started springing up left right and centre, as divers decided they wanted to work in a field they love recreationally, and to take advantage of this new found "Gold Rush".
Existing dive shops found that, out of blue, they had much more competition in an already slim pickings field and struggled to thing of new concepts and ideas to retain their market share.
Now Im not sure if they found this scheme somewhere else or simply created it themselves but one particular outfit decided to really sink their teeth into this with huge gusto and, certifying divers in SSI, they came out with a Zero to Hero course.
This Zero to Hero course took students from not having previously dived to an Instructor in 12-14 weeks of full time study, or part time in 36 weeks. The full time option included a month on a liveaboard in Tonga to get the requisite dives number of dives in.
Not long after another outfit, certifying divers in PADI, followed.
They had a Zero to Divemaster course which took non-certified students through to Divemaster, in 7 weeks full time or 26 weeks part time study, as well as certifying them in a whole host of specialties including deep, wreck, nitrox, navigation S&R. All up the student received around 14-16 cards.
They also had a DM to MSDT course than ran along similar timetables and included all fees to PADI and a CD to prep them for MSDT. This means that as soon as they passed their IE they were Master Scuba Diver Trainers, able to teach such specialties as Wreck, Nitrox, Deep etc.
Just too really get these courses going they applied to the New Zealand Qualifications Authority (NZQA) for registration as a tertiary training provider. NZQA accepted this application and from then on all students in these courses could get a New Zealand Government student Loan.
(The student loan system in New Zealand at the time had come into place to provide funds for students wishing to attend University or another tertiary type education. Tertiary education in New Zealand was free right up until 1993 when all of a sudden the government decided that, they having received all their education on the taxpayers of old, were not willing to put their tax money into the future generations of this country.
A student loan system was set up and accumulating at a rate of around 8% a year students could now borrow what they needed to give themselves an education. (My ex was a medical student and by the time she started her first year of working, she had a debt of around $100,000-what a great way to start ones working life)).
The word got out and past students were talking on the radio allegedly from exotic locations such as Palau, Thailand, Fiji, Vanuatu all professing how they were diving all day and getting paid STACKS of money to do so.
The rush was huge and hundreds of people were signing up to become dive professionals and the shops werent able to handle the rush so they rushed to open new stores and employ more instructors.
Most the instructors were graduates from these Zero to Hero courses, all delighted they could earn money diving at home (although allegedly nowhere near what they could earn overseas) before they headed overseas stacked with experience to earn stacks of money in the sun and meet gorgeous women.
The Instructors, who 12 weeks ago had never dived in their life, were now training the next batch of Divemasters and Instructors. Demand was escalating and courses were being taught to the bare minimum standards to push them through and make as much money as they could.
Some of those signing up for the course had a keen interest in diving, others simply had to do some kind of training course, pressured by NZ Work and Income, to enable their dole payments to continue.
A lot dropped out, some passed, some failed but there were no refunds for failure or dropping out.
For a few years it all went well, people were buzzing, dive shop owners had new cars for the first time in years, dive charters were powering ahead .and then it all went wrong.
The New Zealand public still remembers the horror as they saw the news report on TV, the helicopter circling French Pass, the police dive squad circling turbulent waters, reports of 3 divers dead and 3 more seriously injured.
Nelson Dive Centre was an enthusiastic part of this gold rush and recently certifying a student as an instructor they employed him to run the next batch of willing recruits.
A drift dive was scheduled and the 6 students, along with a boatman and instructor, motored out near DUrville Island at the top of New Zealands South Island to find a likely spot to conduct a challenging drift dive.
Coming across French Pass, a narrow and turbulent stretch of water, the instructor decided this looked like a great spot to conduct one of the dives.
The slowly motored the boat over the area and noted that the boat at one stage while idling along was sucked into a whirlpool and spun around 360 degrees. The sounder had shown depths of around 60 metres with a 90 metre hole, and 105 metre hole.
The group entered the water, believing it was slack tide (which was around 2 hours previous) encountered a 6 knot current and while drifting got sucked down in excess of 60 metres. 3 of the divers died and 3 others were seriously injured.
One of the divers owes her life to her buddy, who after being spat out of the eddy at 60 metres, noticed bubbles below and swam down to 90 metres to find his buddy lying on the bottom with her reg out of her mouth. He got her to the surface alive although both suffered serious DCI.
It was 8 hours later that the survivors finally got the recompression chamber.
Due to an inexperienced Instructor, 3 trainee Instructors died, and 3 were seriously injured.
These courses are still being run although Government funding was pulled last year. Some dive shops are still employing those they train through these courses, as thats all they seem to be able to get to do the job. The average pay in the industry is around $28k per annum, while the average wage in this country runs at around $43k.
But 101 dives, 14 weeks later and these instructors are passing on their knowledge and skills to new divers and old.
Wanna take a wreck course with one of these guys?
