Clients ask me all sorts of strange questions. One of the most common, and also the most annoying, is "So when are you going to get a real job?" Admittedly, dive instruction doesn't make a person rich, but there are benefits to diving professionally other than making buckets of money. Just looking out my window at the flat, sparkling ocean reminds me why I dive for a living - happiness.
What is it about a life of diving that makes me so happy? For one, I get to go on adventures for a living. Every dive is a new experience. I never know what the day will bring me underwater. The ocean is vast, and full of surprises. One day, a whale shark passed within twenty feet of my dive group, out of season. The next week I found a tiny baby box fish bouncing around a cranny in my home reef. When did he get there? Even the cenotes that I dive change with season, the hour, and the quality of light. I feel like a child wandering through a magical world, encountering new wonders each day.
Diving brings me in contact with fascinating people. I love teaching diving because I introduce these people to a part of the world they have never seen. Every time I surface from a dive with an astonished new diver, my job is worth all the sacrifices I make. Learning to dive changes people lives, and I feel honored to be a part it. For me, there is nothing more satisfying than teaching people an activity that they will use to explore new places for the rest of their lives. I get to introduce divers to their inner adventurers!
I never become bored with diving and instructing. It is true that some instructors teach for fun for a few years, and then move on to do other things. However, for people like me diving is a profession! As well as a career, scuba diving has become an obsession, a compulsion, and a lifestyle choice. I couldn't give it up because, simply put, diving is what I do. Sometimes it is hard, and sometimes I have days or dives that I don't like, but the good times outweigh the bad and I love my job. When am I going to grow up and get a "real" job. Never! I wish people would stop asking. Maybe they are just jealous.
Speak Up! What is the best thing about scuba diving for you?
Image copyright istockphoto.com, richcarey
Comments
Every time I read something like that I want to quit my job. I really love my job but the last few things when people were getting laid-off I kind of was wishing that my name would be on the last so I could try a life as a dive professional.
People also think it is strange that I work at a job 50-60 hours a week and then spend all weekend working at a dive shop. I am taking off tomorrow from my normal job so I can run the dive shop while he is out of town.
Maybe I can make enough money from my day job to retire young and try to enjoy the crazy adventure of being a spoiled rotten diver living in the Caribbean.
I highly encourage Natalie to enjoy her career choice and life to the fullest. It is people like her that we can all point to and say “She’s a true professional”. She is constantly increasing her knowledge of diving and the sea and someone we can count on for accurate information…and trust underwater to do what’s right and safe.
ahhh, Dad, you’re so cute!
Nat,
That’s why I always come back to dive in Mexico — you are a true professional — and fun to dive with!!
George
Well said Ron….and way to be supportive!
People ask me that annoying question too (ahem MY dad) about getting a real job. I say, if a real job is one where I’m rich but miserable, then I’m perfectly happy with my “non-real” profession.
Miss you nat and keep up the good work doing what makes you happy. You only live once right?
Funny I had a similar conversation with my Bahamian cave guide last week, her parents keep asking her the same question