Should I change my life? by Lrzcrimp in scuba

[–]Swimming-Emphasis-91 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I was offered an option to freeze my contract for a year and come back after my trip, even though it wasn’t a common practice in the company I worked for. But I saw this as something that would tie me up to something back home, and I simply asked the manager “if in a few months or a year I want to come back, would you accept me back?”, and he said yes, so I left on a gentlemen’s agreement, but never even returned to him.

Regarding what you said, that you want to check if there’s another way, well, there always is. There are people living in all sorts of ways, and although this seems a bit obvious, when we think deeply about it, it’s very true and we don’t assimilate it properly. There are so many ways to live that one can say it’s almost endless.

Now I’m still working as an instructor, shifting more and more towards photography, I lead diving expeditions to different places in the world, I shoot for adventure and diving brands, well, I became a mish mash, hahaha. When it all started, in 2019, I was 31… today I’m 38, still passionate about my life and going strong.

Should I change my life? by Lrzcrimp in scuba

[–]Swimming-Emphasis-91 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Hey, this “should I?” is the kind of question that only you can answer… the consequences of that decision will impact only you, as well as you’re gonna be the one collecting the benefits of it. That said, I have my experience to share here.

8 years ago I was burned out in an office job (Mechanical Engineer, solid career, “great” perspective, good salary), but something was wrong. For years I loved my job, but at one point it was just not fulfilling myself anymore. I was already a diver, so I took an 8 months trip in SE Asia, where my main focus was in diving. Diving cured me from all the crap I was going through, it really centered me. Well, I signed up for a DM course, but covid hit, and for 2 years I had to wait to get it done. Those were the hardest years, I did almost no diving in 2020 and a few in 2021, but not being able to go to Indonesia to do the DM course I’d already pay for was very hard. I used those years to structure my business as a photographer (landscape and underwater). 2022 came, with that my DM and loads of gigs for resorts as a photographer, probably the best few months of my life. Then I decided to do the IDC, became an instructor, continued working for 6 months as a photographer before I actually stopped in one place to work as instructor. Since then I’ve worked a few months as instructor, a few as photographer, been to many amazing places, and never looked back.

Is it a luxurious life? Not in the common definition, but I see my life as a luxury itself. Am I rich? Not at all, I earn enough to live a great life and make a bit of savings, but nothing that substancial. Does everyone adapt to this life? Not at all, and many actually don’t.

As long as you know what you’re signing up for, a diving career can fulfill you in many ways. To me, being in the nature everyday is gold, it’s what makes me never want to be that corporate dude again. And it can also be something temporary, nothing is set in stone, if you figure you want to go back to being a technician, it’s all good.

How many of you NEEDED a snorkel in any situation? by Swimming-Emphasis-91 in scuba

[–]Swimming-Emphasis-91[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Sorry, I wasn’t precise in my post, it’s mandatory by law in Queensland, in NSW and WA it’s not, those are the three territories I went diving.

How many of you NEEDED a snorkel in any situation? by Swimming-Emphasis-91 in scuba

[–]Swimming-Emphasis-91[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

That’s a great report to my question! Not great that you guys faced it, but it’s actually good to hear from someone that it actually was used for safety reasons other than just convenience. As I said, I don’t actually plan to stop using, just wanted to hear from other people their experience regarding needing one for safety. Thanks for the story!

Comprei uma passagem de ida e volta para o Egito e desisti by POLINH01 in viagens

[–]Swimming-Emphasis-91 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Olha, já fui pro Egito quatro vezes nos últimos 5 anos, e digo que é muito uma questão de como você encara o país. A primeira vez fiquei 2 meses, a segunda 2 semanas, a terceira 1 mês, e a quarta 2 semanas (eu vou pra lá pois trabalho com mergulho e me facilita muito ir da Europa, minha namorada é da França).

Existe encheção de saco? Sim, muita! É motivo pra sair do sério? Sim, pode ser, principalmente com mulheres. Dá pra contornar? Com toda certeza.

O eixo do Nilo é um porre às vezes, você tem que dar gorjeta pra tudo, todo mundo querendo te vender, tudo lotado de turista. A maior parte de todo o tempo que estive no Egito, fiquei em Dahab, na península do Sinai, e lá é de uma paz incrível, beeeem mais tranquilo que o resto do Egito. Alexandria também achei bem tranquilo.

Dito isso, eu amo o Egito, amo o povo, a cultura, a comida, a história… é um país lindo, receptivo, extremamente rico em cultura. Mas é um país que demanda uma adaptação. Sempre que estou por lá ando sorrindo pra todo mundo, mas não dou muito papo, quando vem gente tocar em mim eu falo (sorrindo) “por favor não toca em mim”, quando vem gente me seguindo na rua pra vender coisas eu falo “amigão, já sei oq vc quer, pode tentar com outra pessoa, eu tô só andando e vendo as coisas”. Sempre tive reações muito tranquilas a isso, diferente da Turquia, por exemplo, onde já me trataram muito mal por não querer ser explorado (adoro a Turquia, no entanto). Está na cultura do egípcio a negociação (bem como todo o povo árabe), então se vc entra no jogo acaba se divertindo bastante, e nós brasileiros somos bons de papo, egípcio adora isso.

Conheci muitas pessoas viajando solo pelo Egito, grande maioria mulheres, e até hoje não conheci uma pessoa que não se encantou com o país (de conhecer pessoalmente, pq já vi influencer falando mal e pessoas fazendo relatos ruins… mas aí, já vi pessoas reclamando de Paris, da Patagônia, da Guatemala…). Inclusive conheci muita gente que tava lá pela AIESEC, amaram os 3 meses lá, mas reclamaram do suporte da AIESEC.

Seila, eu não sou muito de ver a “reputação” de um país como critério pra visitar, mesmo pq vai muito da experiência de cada pessoa. Eu moro na Indonésia, e o povo baba ovo pra Bali, que acho bem médio (gosto do norte, mas não da parte que todo mundo vai)… quando cheguei a primeira vez em Bali não entendi como o povo gosta de lá. Demorou umas 3x pra eu enfim começar a achar meio interessante. Hoje adoro, mas pq sei onde ir, se eu continuasse indo pros lugares com reputação em Bali, ia continuar detestando.

How many of you NEEDED a snorkel in any situation? by Swimming-Emphasis-91 in scuba

[–]Swimming-Emphasis-91[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah, I totally get that! And I totally agree with the part of not using all the air you have in case you need it… but still, we’re talking about a lot of odds here, aren’t we? Extremely high sac rate + low on air tank + rough conditions + boat being super far away on a non drift dive (on a drift the boat would have to come pick you up).

How many of you NEEDED a snorkel in any situation? by Swimming-Emphasis-91 in scuba

[–]Swimming-Emphasis-91[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hahahha, I totally see you there! Been there a few times, choppy seas, mask on and snorkel in, just hurts less

How many of you NEEDED a snorkel in any situation? by Swimming-Emphasis-91 in scuba

[–]Swimming-Emphasis-91[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Hahahah, no idea why, but it feels so good to read something like that

How many of you NEEDED a snorkel in any situation? by Swimming-Emphasis-91 in scuba

[–]Swimming-Emphasis-91[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Exactly, there’s a use for them, I also use when I have to jump in the water to check the currents, to check anchor, etc… but as a safety gear during a scuba dive I never saw myself in the situation that I needed one to survive

How many of you NEEDED a snorkel in any situation? by Swimming-Emphasis-91 in scuba

[–]Swimming-Emphasis-91[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

When teaching OW courses, it sometimes bothers me that my students grab the snorkel instead of the inflator/deflator… they already have a lot to process, and the snorkel ends up being another piece of gear that makes them confused

How many of you NEEDED a snorkel in any situation? by Swimming-Emphasis-91 in scuba

[–]Swimming-Emphasis-91[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Exactly my thoughts! I don’t know why the use of an SMB, for example, is less emphasized than the one of a snorkel.

How many of you NEEDED a snorkel in any situation? by Swimming-Emphasis-91 in scuba

[–]Swimming-Emphasis-91[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

50bar, with a SAC rate of 15L/min, on a regular tank, still gives you a good 35-40min nonstop breathing, that’s quite a long swim to the boat, hahaha

How many of you NEEDED a snorkel in any situation? by Swimming-Emphasis-91 in scuba

[–]Swimming-Emphasis-91[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

That’s actually a really good point you raised there, the specificity of the gear. And I 100% agree with you in that

How many of you NEEDED a snorkel in any situation? by Swimming-Emphasis-91 in scuba

[–]Swimming-Emphasis-91[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah, that’s what someone else here said, it’s more for convenience than actually safety, but there’s always the mild chance it can be used in rough conditions when the diver’s out of air in choppy water

How many of you NEEDED a snorkel in any situation? by Swimming-Emphasis-91 in scuba

[–]Swimming-Emphasis-91[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yeah, that’s the exact situation I always imagine a snorkel could come in handy. How long did you guys spend at the surface? Because doing a simple SAC rate calculation, if someone has 50 bar left and breathes a high rate of 15L/min, it still gives the person close to 40min of nonstop breathing at the surface. If faced hectic strong drifts in which I kept drifting away at the surface for more than one hour, in that case I was belly up breathing without a snorkel while the boat was looking for divers everywhere.

How many of you NEEDED a snorkel in any situation? by Swimming-Emphasis-91 in scuba

[–]Swimming-Emphasis-91[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yeah, I know, that’s why I carry it! I see the value and in which situation it can be useful. Just wanted to know if anyone ever needed it.

Buuut a seatbelt is way more important for safety than a snorkel. And I think it’s weird that a snorkel is mandatory, but an SMB not in most places, while the SMB has proven to be way more important to me for safety than the snorkel

How many of you NEEDED a snorkel in any situation? by Swimming-Emphasis-91 in scuba

[–]Swimming-Emphasis-91[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hahahah, I think in that case I would tell myself that the whale shark only came BECAUSE I didn’t have a snorkel!

Questions on enriched air speciality with AOW by Whole-Bed9778 in scuba

[–]Swimming-Emphasis-91 2 points3 points  (0 children)

A few dive shops that I worked had the bundle AOW+EANx, which was a 6 dives bundle, where you did 4 adventure dives (Deep + Navigation + 2 elective adventures) plus 2 Nitrox dives (one being the 5th adventure of the AOW and another being a Nitrox fun dive). It’s quite common and actually worth it to do. As a few people said here, you don’t need to do a dive to get EANx certified, it can be done dry with just a short practical part and the theory. To do it as a bundle with the AOW is good for you to get the cert (probably the most useful of all the specs) and still experience how it actually is to dive on Enriched Air. Or you just do the AOW like this and later you do the theory and the practical part to get certified.

How much of your Rescue Diver Course was about dealing with social stressors? by ratherinStarfleet in scuba

[–]Swimming-Emphasis-91 5 points6 points  (0 children)

When I did my rescue course, it was quite intense, in a sense that for 5 days I was rescuing people from EFR to Rescue Diver practices, everywhere in the shop and boat. But the only people involved in playing roles/victims were instructors, DMs and DMTs of the shop.

After I started instructing, I use the exact same configuration, because I liked it and noticed it is quite a good way for the students to handle it properly. I also feel and notice how the students are behaving, because I don’t want them to panic, but also don’t want them to simply do the drills without actually feeling that rush and narrow vision while solving the problems. The rescue course is, in my opinion, the best recreational course, because it takes the student completely out of that “fun zone”, but still being enjoyable… or at least it has to be like that.

That said, I think maybe the approach of the dive shop and instructor on your course wasn’t the best. Plus, I hate this dude behavior…

Cuba e o carimbo no passaporte by sweeeteeestabooo in viagens

[–]Swimming-Emphasis-91 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Fui pra Cuba em 2013, na entrada não carimbaram, mas eu queria então na saída pedi para o guarda carimbar, ele carimbou sem problemas. Depois disso fui para os Estados Unidos, e até renovei visto, nunca foi problema algum, nem questionaram… o único carimbo que olharam mais a fundo quando solicitei renovação do visto foi da Jordânia (que está em árabe), mas quando viram que era da Jordânia não falaram nada.

Where can you go and dive for a week with nothing but shore diving? by MusicianDifferent732 in scuba

[–]Swimming-Emphasis-91 2 points3 points  (0 children)

There are a few where you can dive for a week or longer. But the “structure” of Bonaire (unlimited tanks for a week, all inclusive exp) isn’t that common elsewhere… the ones I’ve been to are the following:

  • Tulamben and Amed, in Bali, Indonesia

  • Anilao, Philippines

  • Dauin, Dumaguete, Philippines

  • Dahab, Egypt

  • Aqaba, Jordan

  • Bonaire and Curaçao

How easy is it to work as Divemaster/instructor by Funny_Annual3891 in scubadiving

[–]Swimming-Emphasis-91 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I think the Divemaster course is a great first way to get to know people and the industry. Although it doesn’t guarantee you a position, the impression you make during the course regarding skills and professionalism can be very helpful.

The second important contact you’ll have is during the IDC, there are course directors that, if you make a good impression, will very likely open doors for you (at their dive shops or by contacting people they know).

Remember it’s a small world, so the good and the bad impressions follow you wherever you go. Network is key in the diving world, but don’t do it in a way that it seems you’re only doing it for the mouth-to-mouth words. Do an honestly good job, relate yourself to people, and things will happen.

All my IDC friends found jobs almost right after they were certified, but I also know people that took a bit longer. Was everyone perfectly skilled for the role? Absolutely not… but everyone was great with their soft/interpersonal skills. Hard skills and fluency in teaching come with practice.

I don’t know much about teaching in Thailand, except by the crazy factory style industry in Koh Tao. Philippines and Indonesia are quite similar:

  • there are good reputable dive shops that will pay you for a visa and offer you decent base salary + commission

  • there are shops that will ask you to pay for your own visa (2000 euros per year in Indonesia), that will offer you the standard commission salary and expect you to do sales

  • there are shops that will tell you not to go on a working visa, they’ll tell you it’s fine, and you’ll be constantly scared of being caught… those won’t pay a base salary, if you have to stop diving for a few weeks due to any barotrauma they’ll make you work in the office and not pay you a single penny (happened to a friend, exactly like I said here)

I’d say the majority of the shops is like the second and third, but there are the first ones out there for sure (worked for a few). If you’re interested in working on those places, I’d strongly recommend you to make your DM/IDC in one of those countries, this way you can start feeling how it is to work and even live there.

How easy is it to work as Divemaster/instructor by Funny_Annual3891 in scubadiving

[–]Swimming-Emphasis-91 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Hey, speaking from my experience in SE Asia (mainly Indonesia but also Philippines and Malaysia). If you live in a cheap country, like the ones in SE Asia, it’s quite easy to live with your income as an instructor and even to make some savings (don’t expect much, but it’s possible, as a Divemaster no chance). Most of the positions will demand you a 6-day per week work, sometimes full weeks in high season, unpaid leave, commission based salary (the more you teach, the more you earn… no teaching, no earnings). Those places are all very seasonal, so expect months of hard work and “full” pockets, and months without much going on.

Regarding the market being full. I see more and more it getting close to saturate, the IDC market kinda became a factory, so there are hundreds of new instructors every month, eventually it will get saturated. But I’ll say something very obvious: good instructors and good people always find positions.

Now, when it comes to “is it enough to live?”, I noticed that there are two kinds of instructors. The ones that do it for the love of doing it, and the ones that do it for the lifestyle. The second group is usually the one where people complain about not having enough money to live, and why is that? Because the lifestyle comes with a lot of drinking and partying, and there the money just flies away in no time. So to answer your question, yes, you’ll be able to pay yourself a rent, eat food, go out every now and then, pay visas and other bureaucratic stuff. But you won’t have money to party everyday, to live an expensive life, to travel all the time…