Diving Instructor
A yacht diving instructor runs everything that happens below the surface. You teach guests, guide them on dives, look after the compressor and the kit, and answer to the captain for their safety. The full-time post is found on larger yachts that cruise to dive destinations. Most people get there by working first as a deckhand who also holds instructor qualifications.
The jobWhat fills the day
The job covers the whole dive operation. You plan dive sites with the captain and officers and brief guests. You teach courses from Discover Scuba up to Advanced and Nitrox, then lead the dives. Behind that is the routine kit work: servicing regulators and BCDs, filling cylinders, running the compressor and logging air quality tests. You keep training records, guest medical forms and the yacht's dive procedures up to date. If anything goes wrong in the water, you are the first person responsible for dealing with it.
With guests aboard the days are long and depend on the weather, the tides and what the guests want to do. You might take a nervous beginner into the shallows at 0900 and a group of experienced divers onto a reef wall at 1500. When there are no guests you are on deck, washing down, varnishing and driving tenders like the rest of the deck team. On yachts under 60m the role is almost always combined with deckhand duties. Dedicated dive staff are normal on 80m+ explorers working the Maldives, Indonesia, the Red Sea or French Polynesia.
Captains want an active PADI or SSI instructor with a few hundred logged dives, preferably including some guiding in a resort. You also need STCW and an ENG1. Owners and charter guests want someone patient and calm who can read when a guest is uneasy. Tender driving tickets and the ability to maintain compressors matter as much as the teaching cards. Extra specialties such as rebreather, Nitrox instructor, technical diving or underwater photography help you stand out for the bigger expedition yachts.
There are two usual routes onward. Some instructors stay on the specialist side and move to larger yachts or expedition programmes, where they run a team of dive staff and own the water toys budget. Others use the deck experience to collect sea time and take their Yachtmaster Offshore and OOW 3000gt, moving up through lead deckhand and bosun to officer. Watersports and tender skills carry over to either route. A strong reference from a well-known expedition yacht is worth a great deal.
Skills captains look for
- PADI or SSI instruction
- Dive planning and briefing
- Compressor and air quality
- Regulator and BCD servicing
- Rescue and oxygen first aid
- Tender driving
- Calm guest handling
A day aboardGuest day, 75m expedition yacht, Raja Ampat, Indonesia
Check the compressor, take a CO reading on the filled cylinders and set up kit on the swim platform.
Go over the morning dive with the chief officer: current, entry point, tender pick-up and emergency plan.
Brief four guests, then lead a drift dive along the reef with a deckhand following in the tender.
Rinse and stow the kit, refill the cylinders and write up the dive log and guest records.
Crew lunch and a short rest in the cabin before the afternoon session.
Take the owner's teenage son through confined water skills for the third part of his Open Water course.
Help the deck team recover tenders and toys, then service a regulator that was free-flowing.
Dinner in the crew mess. Off duty once tomorrow's sites are agreed with the bridge.
Guide a short night dive off the stern for two experienced guests, then rinse kit and close up the dive locker.
Pay by yacht sizeMonthly, before tips. Estimates. Bars share one scale.
Charter tips of 10-15% of the charter fee are shared across the crew and can add several thousand a month in a busy season. Freelance instructors hired for a single trip are paid a day rate, often USD 250-400 plus flights. See the Bosun & Deckhand salary guide for figures from live adverts.
Tickets and visas
Must have
- STCW Basic Safety Training
- ENG1 medical
- PADI OWSI or SSI/BSAC instructor equivalent, current
- EFR Instructor or equivalent first aid
Gets you hired
- RYA Powerboat Level 2
- DAN Oxygen Provider
- Nitrox or rebreather instructor
- PDSD
- RYA PWC
Visas
- US B1/B2
- Schengen right to work
- Seaman's book
Where it leadsA typical career path
Diving Instructor jobsOpen now on SuperyachtRoles.com
Questions crew ask
Can I get a yacht job as a dive instructor with no yachting experience?
Sometimes, mostly on expedition yachts that need strong diving credentials more than deck experience. Most first jobs are combined deckhand and instructor posts, so get STCW and an ENG1 and be ready to do deck work too. Experience guiding at a resort counts for a lot.
How many logged dives do I need?
Most captains want at least 300 to 500 logged dives, with some guiding or teaching in a commercial setting. Experience in currents, on drift dives and at remote sites will put you ahead of instructors who have only taught in pools or calm bays.
Who is responsible if a guest gets hurt?
The captain carries overall responsibility. You are responsible for following the yacht's dive procedures, checking medical forms and running safe dives. Your agency instructor insurance has to be current, and the yacht's P&I cover should state that diving is an approved activity on board.
Will I dive every day?
Only when guests want to. On some trips you dive twice a day, and on others nobody uses the kit and you work as a deckhand. On the deck side, expect to wash down, drive tenders and keep watches.