Any help for a littlin

[Childofwu]

Hey all,

I'm looking into getting back into diving to get me away from my daily 9-5 office grind! I did a PA.D.I Open Water course, but haven't been diving for over ten years. I was wondering if anyone can help me with a few question?

1) Would I have to take a refreshers course, or start all over again?

2) I'm currently living in China around Shenzhen and was wondering if anyone has any experiance in the waters over here, if so I'd like to hear about it.

3) Has anyone here trained around China/Shenzhen, if so do you know any good dive shops?

4) If I wanted to go alot further with diving, is it diffficult to get a job within this field? (I'm really toying with the idea of getting away from these dull desk jobs) What types of jobs can you go for apart from an instructor?

If anyone can help me with any of these questions or just give me any info that may be of interest to a newbie, it would be very much appreciated

All the Best,

Johnny

 

[Wildcard]

You just need to do a refresher but the whole class may be in order. Inst/DM and working in a shop are about it and the pay is crap. But it has to be better than being in an office.

 

[imaswfan]

After 10 years away, I would recommend taking the full open water course. For one it is pretty simple to complete, especially after having gone through it before, and two, after 10 years it would probably do you some real good to review all of the material and not just the skills.

 

[tparrent]

I have dived in China but not near Shenzhen. I was down in Hainan and the diving was putrid! Now there may be some good diving around and I only went out once but it was really bad. No visibility and no marine life.

I would not want to dive very close to Shenshen either just becaue the pollution is so bad. If I were you, I'd hop a flight to Thailand and take either the refresher or (preferably) the full course and do some fun diving in gorgeous water.

If you jump in the Pearl River Delta you may either 1) never get out (!) or 2) never want to get back in. If you hit the water in Phuket, you may never return to your desk job

 

[Childofwu]

Cheers for the replies guys, well appreciated!!

WILDCARD- Yes your right, even milking yaks for living beats sitting in an office. Crap pay is not an issue with me, I'm used to it.

IMASWFAN- Good sound advise. I have already pulled out the good ol hand book and gone through that, but I think starting again is probably a good idea. After reading that quote on Jacques Cousteau I had to float in a bath for several hours!

TPARRENT- I fully understand what you mean about Shenzhen and pollution! It singes my nostrol hair every day and burns my lungs. I have been swimming at the beach and every stroke of me arm brought up several bags of rubbish. Thailand is only a stones throw away, good idea!!

Anyhow thanks again for the replies, if anyone else has anything to add even if it's just a good time story about diving, it's all good.

All the best,

Johnny

 

[RikRaeder]

I'll have to agree about taking the full course again. I had a twenty year hiatus and boy have things changed. Invest the dough and take the class again. In my case, it was well worth it. If you find a way to make a decent living at diving, do let me know (pm me, don't let these other guys in on it). Also, if you find a cool dive spot in China, let us all know. I'm planning on heading over there next year for vacation, but if I could get in some diving as well....well........

 

[BrianV]

Yeah things have changed in 10 years and if you frequently rent gear it's probably worth knowing what the new things are.

 

[Childofwu]

I'll have to agree about taking the full course again. I had a twenty year hiatus and boy have things changed. Invest the dough and take the class again. In my case, it was well worth it. If you find a way to make a decent living at diving, do let me know (pm me, don't let these other guys in on it). Also, if you find a cool dive spot in China, let us all know. I'm planning on heading over there next year for vacation, but if I could get in some diving as well....well........

I see your based in Japan, I've always wanted to go there! But I've heard it will cost you an arm and a leg in living expenses. Is this true?

Yes I've decided to take the full course again! It was quite easy the first time so I'm hoping that it hasn't got that much more difficult. By the few responses it seems that there isn't really that much money to be made. Could anyone give me a average salary (monthly or yearly) for an instructor? Obviously this must depend on experiance, but an estimate will do.

I'll definatly try and find a cool dive spot in China, and will let you all know. As for a making decent living diving, I'll be happy as larry if it makes enough to get by doing something fun for a living! No more computer screen!!!! Zzzzzz.......

All the best,

Johnny

 

[K9trnr]

I can't give you an average salary, but I can tell you most instructors either have another full time job, work the store, or own the store. That being said, you CAN make a living as an instructor, and you'll likely get rich, but it will be riches in the form of friendships, experiences, education, doing what you love, etc. rather than monetary wealth.

The pay can be comparable to what you could make for unskilled labor despite having spent thousands of dollars for training; needing to become a skilled public speaker, teacher, leader--for a variety of ages and backgrounds; and you may have to mop floors, clean the pool, fill tanks, etc.

It beats sitting in a cubicle in an office wishing you were out there teaching diving.

 

[hopeitsapar]

You only have to do a refresher course, I decided to do the whole thing all over again, I was glad I did, so my first dives were checkout dives, and I could reestablish that comfort level with the instructor there. Just the way I did it