Probably everyone on a dive trip has considered it at least for a moment. Wouldn't it be great to switch places with that divemaster? Bask in the sun and get paid to be in the water all day. Sounds great right?

Well, a lot of other people are thinking the same thing, so be ready to work hard if you want to make it as a professional diver.

 First things first, you obviously need a minimum of some level of professional/instruction certification through whatever agency you hope to work with (Divemaster/Dive Guide/Assistant Instructor or the like). Now really that's not going to be enough. Even though certification as a divemaster (to use PADI as an example) technically allows you to assist with classes and lead dives, most shops will want full instructor certification to do those same tasks. That means you're going to be putting a lot of money into classtime before can even think about making any back.

For divers in New England, March is an exciting month, because it's time for Boston Sea Rovers, the longest running consumer dive show in the United States. This year, Sea Rovers was kicked off with the usual assortment of technical workshops, including cylinder inspection training and DAN O2 Provider courses. The new addition to the lineup was a rebreather workshop run by representatives from four different closed-circuit rebreather manufacturers (Dive Rite, Hollis, rEvo, and Silent Diving). For those looking to move beyond open circuit or those of us just interested in the technology, it was a great opportunity to get in the pool and try out the different rigs. I think all of us came out of it with an appreciation for the different buoyancy skills needed for rebreather diving.

Anyone looking to try their hand at SCUBA diving is likely to be faced with an alphabet soup of agencies to choose from. NAUI, PADI, SSI, SDI, BSAC, and more are all options for the first-time diver. Now, as a new diver this is surely a difficult landscape to be entering into. What can you do to make sense of it all?

Clear waters with high visibility, swarms of colorful fish, an interesting coral covered drop-off – these are what make for a successful dive. Certainly no diver jumps in hoping to see plastic bags floating by and rubbish strewn across the ocean floor. Yet the oceans have long been treated as the world’s garbage dump and this laissez-faire attitude is starting to take its toll. Fortunately, conservation groups, communities, and individuals are taking matters into their own hands by organizing cleanups around the world to keep dive sites beautiful for years to come.

Rodney Light Reports:

Excellent experience diving with Nick Rolle at Sunn Odyssey on Grand Bahama Island. Divemaster was very knowledgable, experienced and appropriately firm about safety......

......The reefs were in good condition and wrecks shallow and maturing into artificial reefs. Enough large pelagics to offer excitement ( black tip sharks, eagle rays, cudas). Variety of corals was good. Lots of colorful small reef fish. Interesting garden of eels....Read Full Report

Coby Reports:

This was the most amazing Scuba diving experience I've ever had! The red sea is one of the most colourful and exotic oceans in the the word!

On one side you've got the crumpled dried out desert mountains of Eilat (on border of the Sinai, Egypt) and on the other side you've got the ever-ultra marine stunning sea, with endless colourful glittering corals and al types of weird colourful & beautiful fish......Read Full Report...