Best up and coming scuba destination to work & dive?

[Pam and Stella]

Hia!

I'm researching places to move, work, someplace large enough to have a career, not just a job. Some new, up and coming, large growth potential? Turks & Caicos? Some town in OZ? Cairns? Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated!!

 

[lazyturtle]

I use to live in Turks and Caicos. It's small. Really small. When I lived there (I lived on Provo) there were quite a few dive operators, I didn't really see room for more operations. You must also have a local partner there, which could be tricky.
But the diving rules. If you want to work for another company there there's quite a few, and long term jobs are not unusal there (I know an expat that's worked at the same shop for 10+ years). The biggest problem is dealing with the small towniness of the place. If that's your cup of tea then it's a perfect place.

 

[RJP]

NEW JERSEY

Hey, don't laugh! I'm not kidding.

Great area to dive. More wrecks off the coast than any other state in the US. We dive here pretty much from March-December.

The best part is that the dive industry is woefully underserved here. There's a waiting list on every boat, every weekend.

More divers than spots on the boats = untapped opportunity

Also, the combination of being the most densely populated state and having the highest per capita income = lots of money here.

Maybe not as cool or glamorous to live here vs Turks and Caicos, but that's not what you asked for when you said "up and coming, large growth potential."

 

[www.scubamazing.com]

NEW JERSEY

Hey, don't laugh! I'm not kidding.

Great area to dive. More wrecks off the coast than any other state in the US. We dive here pretty much from March-December.

The best part is that the dive industry is woefully underserved here. There's a waiting list on every boat, every weekend.

More divers than spots on the boats = untapped opportunity

Also, the combination of being the most densely populated state and having the highest per capita income = lots of money here.

Maybe not as cool or glamorous to live here vs Turks and Caicos, but that's not what you asked for when you said "up and coming, large growth potential."

I don't think you lack any confidence in saying this, but you defend your comments once in a while, so I just thought I'd let you know that I think you offered a lot of insite in this.

How is the wreck-diving in NJ? What kind of exposure suits do you guys have to wear?

 

[Divingdon]

If you fancy something really emerging, but not making a lot of money, Tanzania, Madagascar, Sudan, seem to be emerging at the moment. From down south I hear of people seeing 5 mantas on a dive and 7 whalesharks on a dive. sounds like diving heaven. from what I know the market has started to grow in the last few years. I doubt (but i could be wrong) that there is any money to be made, but it's defo one of the emerging resorts.

 

[RJP]

How is the wreck-diving in NJ? What kind of exposure suits do you guys have to wear?

Well, like I said there are a FEW wrecks here. This map shows just the major ones of the more than 2,000 reported wrecks.

Something for everyone!

Artificial reef sinkings like the 460ft USS Algol which provides great multilevel diving from the superstructure at 70' to the main deck at 100' down to the sand at 140'

Freighters sunk by open water collisions like the Stolt Dagali which was cut in two when she collided with the Israeli Passenger Liner Shalom during a cold evening in November of 1964:

Like wooden stuff? How about the Vizcaya & Cornelius Hargraves which collided in 1890 and sunk 300 yards apart:

Vizcaya

Cornelius Hargraves

How about WWII action? There's the San Saba which was sunk by the German submarine U-117, which also sunk the Chappara.

Or the Gulf Trade, torpedoed by U-588

Or the R.P. Resor which was torpedoed by the U-578 in 1942. Though she sunk nearly 35 miles offshore the massive explosion and fireball ignited by her fuel cargo could be seen by people on the boardwalks and beaches for many miles.

Don't like shipwrecks? How about platforms? The tragedy of Texas Tower #4 - nicknamed "Old Shaky." One of three offshore radar installations (#1 was never built) intended to provide advance warning of enemy air attacks in the 50s. Suffered damage by several hurricanes and less than four years after it began operation another storm hit and Texas Tower #4 disappeared from a rescue ship's radar screen and collapsed into the sea, killing all aboard.

You can even read about one of our more famous wrecks in a book that seems to be widely read...

 

[Sveta]

Cairns and Port Douglas in Queensland are great. Tons of tour operators and they are always booked a few weeks (if not months) in advance. But make sure all your legal papers are in order.
Good luck.

 

[Lake Mead Tony]

What about Vegas! Lake Mead is only 1/2 hour away and Mohave is only 1 hour away and if you like salt, the ocoan is only 3 hours down Hwy 15 or 5 hours to San Diego. Now if you want to talk about a job market, the help wanted adds are 50+ pages long and 100 pages in the sunday paper. The climate is hot in the summer and mild in the winter. It did rain twice last year and if you like to snow ski, thats only a 1 hour drive to mount Charleston. We dive all year long with the winter being the best time to dive. Now if you are addicted to gambling, this is not the place for you.

 

[namabiru]

Now is it right that if you want to get into good solid wreck diving/tech diving, the US East Coast is where it's at?

 

[evensplit]

Pensacola