The sad truth of commercial diving

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I arrived on Labuan, a tax free island that caters to the oil industry, to meet "Alex" who had promised diving work for $500 a day. (See A surprisingly good time in KL) My first call got through to his answering service, so I left a message saying where I was and giving my contact details. My next calls over the next two days didn't even get the answering service.

I sent an email to Alex and Teresa and found that they were in the same situation and had just left the island in disgust. I waited around for another day, enjoying the cheap beer and meeting the local Filipinos but not much else - it is, after all, a port and oil town.

Back in Kota Kinabalu I caught up with Alex and Teresa and we had a chat with a local diver. It seems the going rate for fully qualified commercial divers is about $150 a day, with unqualified guys like us earning a paltry $50. Not much better than dive instructing and far more dangerous.

It seems that our friend, Azmi, was full of shite and made the whole thing up. I was always a bit sceptical (it did seem too good to be true), but I didn't see what Azmi's angle was: he wasn't asking for money, we were already friendly with him, and he had nothing to gain. I guess he was just trying to impress us with what a big shot he was ("I earn USD1000 an hour with Shell"). Amazing. I've never met anyone who will go to such lengths to impress someone with bullshit without having some ulterior motive, such as money or sex. At least he bought us dinner and some drinks.

It looks like I may have settle for the standard instructor salary of USD600 a month for the meantime!

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Comments

[Shanen]

You got a bad deal
I know many commercial offshore divers out there who do earn US$500 a day, you may not start quite at that pay without experience, but $50/day is a rip off and you just weren't talking to the right people.

[pkeusgen]

A bad deal for whom?
Yeah, I'm sure I could get a fair bit more with trimix and a level 1 underwater welding certificate, but probably not on Labuan which is dominated by Filipinos who I'm sure would be pretty happy to work for $50 a day. I'd get more in the North Sea in the UK or Norway, although I'd need about $1,000 a day to work in that miserable place!

[Alexander]

Job offers for Labuan
Hi Peter, drop me a mail with your contact details and qualification. We are on to build up some tec/commercial diving in Labuan....soon i have a job going on.

[pkeusgen]

Oh, there IS work out there!!
I have a great job at the moment, but thanks very much for the offer Alexander.

[iqbal]

Chief Diver needed
Hi Peter,anybody can help me to find a Commercial Chief Diver which is know how to use the equipment,bell,timber and give a duty to other diver. I stay at Kuala Lumpur and the location of the project at Kenyir lake. If you know can give me a call or we can meet. So we can discuss more. 0173916557 (iqbal)

[iqbal]

Chief Diver needed
Hi Peter,anybody can help me to find a Commercial Chief Diver which is know how to use the equipment,bell,timber and give a duty to other diver. I stay at Kuala Lumpur and the location of the project at Kenyir lake. If you know can give me a call or we can meet. So we can discuss more. 0173916557 (iqbal)

[izwan]

peter buddy so sorry
peter buddy ,i'm so sorry when reading your bad experiance.i'm not divers.but i really want to be a divers.your friends azmi just left bad name for malaysian people.hope u can get best deal after this in malaysian .just make sure u check the company first buddy.

[Hafidzul Ariff]

commercial diver jon in malaysia
Hi all. Maybe you can try this company Sigur Ros Sdn. Bhd. this is the web page http://www.sgrsb.com/services/ and this is the contact details: Sigur Ros Sdn. Bhd. Human Resaurces Department, 5C, Jalan Diplomatik 2, Presint 15, 62050 W.P Putrajaya, Malaysia. Email: [e-mail] Telephone: [phone] Fax: [phone] Hoping this will help you guys out there.

[Commercial diver 77]

Commercial Diver
looks like you got suckered...but I highly doubt that you make 1000$USD an hour maybe 1300$ a day or 2275$(north sea rate) ...I guess this is a case of takes one to know one mate.

[Francois]

Hi Peter I'm currently in Thailand a great place to be but getting a diving job here is a beatch Alexander, Iqbal drop me a line if you hear any thing about work on this side of the world [e-mail] any help would be greatly appreciated.