iamrushman
Contributor
it is because these people care.......not that they are mean or elitist...but working in the scuba diving field is a lifestyle not an occupation.....
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That looks really good. Can you recommend anything like that maybe cheaper?
Utila Dive Center (www.goproutila.com) sees a more or less a continual stream of people arriving on the island, learning to dive, then progressing up through divemaster and even instructor, over the course of, say, six months or a year. Utila and Roatan in Honduras--of the so-called Bay Islands--are one of a few regions in the world known for this kind of training. What they charge is as cheap as it gets in our hemisphere. If you want to venture further afield, say, to Thailand, you can find something similar that may cost less. In the end, the cost of the training will be the least of your costs. You need lodging, food, etc., for six months or a year or more before you have even a remote chance of getting paid as an instructor. In Thailand, maybe you could get a job on the side teaching English or something. As others have mentioned, having some other skill that might be of value to the dive industry, such as being able to repair regulators or diesel engines or something like that might help. However, in some places foreigners are not permitted to take certain jobs, such as boat captain--those are reserved for locals. A "boating cert" as you referred to it won't do you any good in such places.
I will put my cynicism and skepticism aside in favor of an anecdote. A friend of mine quit his day job to do what you're considering and ended up spending several years as an instructor, living the dream in a rented house by the water's edge on a tropical island. It CAN be done. Living on a shoestring budget, eating ramen noodles, hoping a need for major medical care doesn't arise, digging into your savings now and then to deal with the unexpected. Last I heard, my friend has since moved on to a more conventional career. If this is what you dream of doing, then go for it. Show up on, say, Utila or Roatan, rent a room somewhere, enroll in the basic course, and you're on your way. You'll know soon enough if this is for you.
Thanks for being an encouragement to a newcomer to your sport. Every sport has those people who view themselves as elitist within that sport, and belittle someone's efforts to get into the sport instead of encouraging them. So again, thanks for being that guy. If you have something useful as to HOW to make this happen, instead of WHY it won't work, please write that here.