how long to become a cave/tech instructor??
not that I am looking to become one any time soon. but how long would it take some one to go from divemaster up to cave/tech instructor. and for those of you who are.. could you make a living off of it as say a retirement job. I am think post military service. I love teaching at the navy base and figure teaching tech/cave diving is the closest I can come do that when I get out
DON"T DO IT!!! take it from a guy that QUIT teaching in 1982, it ain't worth it. A wise old friend told me "divers dive, instructors instruct" and he was correct. You can only tell people how to clear their mask so many times before you go nuts and start hacking away with your z knife.Originally Posted by adam0321
Learn to throw 3 card Monty, sell used cars, become a part time pimp, learn to be a street mime, sell your blood....anything but this!
"Have you ever noticed
When you're feeling really good
There's always a pigeon
That'll come shiat on your hood?" John Prine 4-7-2020
"Into the blue again; in the silent water
Under the rocks, and stones; there is water underground" Talking Heads
ok so one vote for no i take it
A good friend of mine once told me "It's tough to make a living off somebody's hobby".
Personally, I do not see myself ever becoming an instructor (not that anyone would want me to instruct them on anything)...
I became an instructor to finance my diving habit and all it finances is being an instructor. With all the fees and insurance and gear maintenance I barely break even.
But I know people who make a living on teaching.
That's kind of what I thought
But I only do it part time and don't really have a steady student throughput. If you had a steady student flow and supplemental income (read: military retirement check) you could make a living at it. But you would prob go insane from all the students and monotony of teaching the same classes over and over. Some one on here posted a while ago that you have to have a good ratio of training dives to personal dives to keep your sanity.
if i remember correctly for the nss-cds and nacd you must be at a minimum an open h20 instructor with at least 25 certs. your going to intern for each level, cavern, intro, apprentice, and full with something like 3 instructors to learn teaching techniques ect. you also have to attend some sort of check out after they deem you worthy to be considered a cave instructor for that level. AND THEN you must be approved by the board of that organization. obviously you must be a full cave diver. you will also need to have completed 100 cave dives after the full cave level and be able to show logs. as for tec instruction that depends greatly on the agency you would like to teach for, but they all have similar minimums like having so many logged dives beyond recreational limits, interning with classes, taking an instructor level class and exam and so on. a friend of mine rocked through his tec instructor with normoxic and hypoxic trimix in a month. he has certs through both DSAT and TDI at those levels.
and I am sure you would have to teach for years to break even on the cost of all those certs
Carl needs to chime in here. If he doesn't, I'll spout his buzz phrase after a bit.
Land of Enchantment -- not so great for cave diving, but mighty scenic!
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