What does a DM make

[James R]

Anyway, just curious why people don't go all the way to instructor?

Personally, I don't want to be an instructor - at least not right now. I'm having fun being a DM on the charter at our local lake and (rarely) helping w/a class or two.

I want to do some tec diving courses and more trips, too.

I've no idea what a DM makes, but two weeks ago, our little group of divers in Roatan (Fantasy Island) had a discussion about how much to tip our DM. We were typically doing 3 boat dives per day, and our DM was doing a fine job making sure everyone (6 - 10 divers) was safe and happy. The consensus was that a tip of $10.00 per person per day was about right.

That's pretty low, IMO.
Edit: To clarify, I mean I would personally tip more than 10 bucks for a three tank charter w/good service.


By the way, it's been my experience that instructors are consistently the worst tippers. I can recall an instructor tipping me ONE time in the 50 to 60 charters I've worked.

 

[Divedaily]

I made about 250,- euro's a month working in Thailand,and that left me with enough money to spare to have a hell of a good time
And about hitting the jackpot: what about working as head of online marketing for a diveshop annex diveschool, making good money, using shopgear for free, paying only the taxes on all the personal gear I want to own, handling and thus learning to get to know all different kinds of gear (from regs and wet/drysuits to scooters, rebreathers etc.), tankfills & divetrips for free and being able to work as a freelance instructor at that same diveshop as wel?

P.s:
@ James R: Getting tipped 100,-$ a day for a multiple day period is "pretty low, IMO"?? You must have been working one some damn fine 50/60 charters m8......

 

[James R]

@ James R: Getting tipped 100,-$ a day for a multiple day period is "pretty low, IMO"?? You must have been working one some damn fine 50/60 charters m8......

Um, I meant that's low, IMO, in that I would personally tip more than that to a good DM in Roatan.


Truth be told, if I make $10 total on one of our local charters it's been a good day. I'm not in it for the money, clearly.

 

[Divedaily]

Been there, that's why I was wondering

 

[scubadada]

I pay about $10 per day per tank. I don't really care where the money goes but hope it goes to all the crew equally. I pay in cash at the end of every day in an attempt to make sure it goes to the right folks.

Good diving, Craig

 

[scubadada]

I wouldn't be cheap on foreign trips. Reasonble tipping may have postive ramifications anywhere.

C

 

[Al Mialkovsky]

In Roatan the DM's make between 10-20 dollars a day so tipping that much is pretty good money for them.

 

[Cruisin Home]

it only pays if you have rich clientele. Other than that it's like playing guitar on the streets " you get do do something you enjoy and make a little tip money"

On other hand I was a commercial sheelffish diver between ages of 15 and 21. Made good money but worked my butt off and had to dive alone in all kinds of weather, deal with pirates, deal with the monotony of it all.

Advice: dont let it be your day job

 

[Herk_Man]

it only pays if you have rich clientele. Other than that it's like playing guitar on the streets " you get do do something you enjoy and make a little tip money"

On other hand I was a commercial sheelffish diver between ages of 15 and 21. Made good money but worked my butt off and had to dive alone in all kinds of weather, deal with pirates, deal with the monotony of it all.

Advice: dont let it be your day job

Pirates??? :shocked2:

 

[Brian Sharpe]

My point is that this "deductible" thing is a myth. When you have an income from something then the money that you spend to create that income becomes deductible. But if you have no income stream from that activity, then you have no deduction.

Unless you show a non-capital loss for that year, in Canada you can get away with it for a couple of years (as long as the amounts aren't outrageous) and offset the non-capital loss against other sources of income.

Eventually CRA (our version of the IRS) may want to have a conversation about "reasonable expectation of profit". If you're on the path to instructor that buys you a couple more years of modest losses.

But, as I tell my clients, to claim an expense you have to spend the money and it doesn't make any sense to spend $1.00 to save $0.30 in taxes (something people might want to keep in mind when being lured by the prospect of tax deductible mortgage interest - but that's a rant for another day)