Scuba Diving Instructor Salary - How much do scuba instructors make
Scuba Diving Instructor Salary, is it enough money to live on? A Scuba Diving Instructor Job is one of the best careers you can get. Knowing your scuba diving instructor salary is important before you invest your money in all the courses you need to become a scuba diving instructor.
Is it worth it to become a scuba diving instructor? Yes! Imagine traveling all over the world, scuba dive every day, and teach people a life-changing experience. This job is worth it and with a good scuba diving instructor salary, you can not only enjoy the diving lifestyle but have extra money on the side for life besides diving.
Is it worth it to become a scuba diving instructor? Yes! Imagine traveling all over the world, scuba dive every day, and teach people a life-changing experience. This job is worth it and with a good scuba diving instructor salary, you can not only enjoy the diving lifestyle but have extra money on the side for life besides diving.
In this article, I will explain the different factors that influence your scuba diving instructor's salary. This is important as a dive instructor's salary differs between dive instructors.
Some scuba diving instructors only make 500 USD, while others can make up to 4000 USD and others make anything in between. Depending on the different factors that I discuss in this article the average scuba diving instructor salary is 2000 USD per month.
Some scuba diving instructors only make 500 USD, while others can make up to 4000 USD and others make anything in between. Depending on the different factors that I discuss in this article the average scuba diving instructor salary is 2000 USD per month.
Commission based or fixed scuba diving instructor salary
Most scuba diving instructor salaries are commission-based. This means that you paid a commission (usually 20% of the course price) per student or fun diver.
This is great if you work in a place where you can get a lot of scuba diving students, but not so good if you work at a dive shop that only has a few students per month.
If you do get a lot of students then a commission-based scuba diving instructor salary usually pays more than a fixed salary.
This is great if you work in a place where you can get a lot of scuba diving students, but not so good if you work at a dive shop that only has a few students per month.
If you do get a lot of students then a commission-based scuba diving instructor salary usually pays more than a fixed salary.
A fixed scuba diving instructor salary usually pays less than commission-based, but it is steady and you can rely on an income even if it might be less busy at the dive shop that month. The average fixed scuba diving instructor salary is around 1500 USD per month.
In most cases, you can increase the commission-based or fixed salary by increasing sales as a scuba diving instructor with upselling more scuba diving courses, dive equipment, snorkeling trips, or other excursions. This truly set’s diving instructors apart in how much money they earn per month.
Check out this YouTube video where I explain a scuba diving instructor salary in detail:
In most cases, you can increase the commission-based or fixed salary by increasing sales as a scuba diving instructor with upselling more scuba diving courses, dive equipment, snorkeling trips, or other excursions. This truly set’s diving instructors apart in how much money they earn per month.
Check out this YouTube video where I explain a scuba diving instructor salary in detail:
A scuba diving instructor salary is higher for people with a good attitude
Most people that complain they don’t earn enough money as a scuba diving instructor are usually people that can work on their attitude. This can be hard as people with bad attitudes usually don’t know they have them.
Scuba diving instructors with a great attitude earn more salary, usually find work much easier, keep their scuba jobs, and move up the ranks to higher positions later. But most importantly their students love the way they teach and now want to invest more money to stay with them on other courses, and are more willing to buy scuba equipment or trust their advice for other excursions, etc. These upselling commissions can increase a dive instructor's salary significantly at the end of the month.
Sometimes we see scuba diving instructors with great attitudes still not earning a lot of money. This is because they are working in the wrong location or for a badly managed dive shop. However, if they never get a good scuba diving instructor salary, then it usually is because they need to get a better attitude for their customers to be willing to spend more money on their advice.
The location makes all the difference in a scuba diving instructor salary
Some places in the world are more popular to learn scuba diving than others. We also see that some places are very popular for fun diving, but not to learn how to dive. As a dive instructor your main job is to teach people diving, therefore choosing the right location makes all the difference in a scuba diving instructor's salary.
Some scuba diving instructors choose to work where there is pristine diving. These places however are usually more challenging and more suited for experienced divers and don’t attract many beginner divers that are just starting. These dive instructors now find less work teaching and more work leading fun divers, which is fun but doesn’t pay as well as teaching students.
Try to find work in locations that are popular for people to learn to scuba dive, like Koh Tao, the Gili’s, Cairns to name a few. Once you are in one of these locations then try to find the most popular dive shops to increase your chances to be able to teach many students. Even a small dive shop with not many other instructors can give you a steady supply of students in these locations.
Try to find work in locations that are popular for people to learn to scuba dive, like Koh Tao, the Gili’s, Cairns to name a few. Once you are in one of these locations then try to find the most popular dive shops to increase your chances to be able to teach many students. Even a small dive shop with not many other instructors can give you a steady supply of students in these locations.
Working on cruise ships, Liveaboards and superyachts can also increase your scuba diving instructor salary.
I know that some scuba diving instructors now complain that they want to be in the most beautiful locations and it should not be only about money, but just remember that this is still a job, a fun job, but still a job.
I know that some scuba diving instructors now complain that they want to be in the most beautiful locations and it should not be only about money, but just remember that this is still a job, a fun job, but still a job.
Having extra skills can increase your scuba diving instructor salary
This is not the most important factor, but it can help if you have extra skills besides scuba diving. For example, if you can design websites then you can help your dive shop by building or upgrading their websites. This can give you extra commissions, you are more employable, and can greatly increase your scuba diving salary. Other extra skills could be marketing, accounting, working behind the bar, mechanics, and more.
You can also increase your scuba diving instructor salary by doing extra jobs besides diving. You can for example teach scuba diving 2 weeks a month and the other 2 weeks teach yoga, have a shop, or work online.
Conclusion
I hope that these tips helped you understand why a scuba diving instructor's salary is very different from person to person. My advice is not to consider yourself to become rich, but also don’t listen to the haters that never made a good scuba diving instructor salary.
If you have a good attitude, work hard, love scuba diving, care about your students, choose the right education and location to work then you should make an average of 2500 USD per month and you can only increase that with extra sales.
If you have a good attitude, work hard, love scuba diving, care about your students, choose the right education and location to work then you should make an average of 2500 USD per month and you can only increase that with extra sales.
I teach monthly PADI IDC Courses where I focus a lot on giving all the tips to help people succeed with their future scuba diving instructor jobs. If you are also interested in becoming a dive instructor and you would like to do your PADI IDC Course with me on Koh Tao, then please contact me and I would love to chat about your future.
Marcel van den Berg
PADI Platinum Course Director
PADI Platinum Course Director
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Disclaimer
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
All content on this website and URL are owned by Sairee Cottage Diving PADI 5-Star IDC Center S-36452
Copyright 2017 - 2025 | All Rights Reserved