Home / Adventure / SCUBA vs Commercial Diving: What You Need to Know

SCUBA vs Commercial Diving: What You Need to Know

Rebecca Ziegler May 16, 2018 Adventure, Featured, North America, Safety, Scuba Diving 1 Comment 1,618 Views

Diver covered in algae. Photo courtesy of Richard Smindak.

When someone asks you “What do you do for a living” and your response is “I’m a commercial diver” the odds of getting a blank stare are about 9 out of 10 times.  That being said, it makes a great conversation starter on a first date!

So what is commercial diving? How is it different than regular SCUBA diving?

In SCUBA diving you bring your air with you (Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus). There are two different types of SCUBA diving- recreational and technical. Recreational diving is what you see people do on their once-in-a-life-time trip to Fiji or their yearly cruise to Hawaii. Generally you only have one tank of air on your back that will last about 45 minutes to an hour. It is where we all start when being introduced to the underwater world. Technical diving on the other hand is the next step in SCUBA. In technical diving you bring more air with you, have a specialized air “mix”, or reuse your air with specially designed equipment. This let’s you go deeper or stay at certain depths longer. Technical diving isn’t for everyone and requires extensive training in order to use the equipment needed and to know your limits to keep yourself safe.

Now there are different specialities within recreational and technical diving you can achieve. Also you can do work while on SCUBA (i.e. conducting research surveys and sampling, filming or photographing a wreck/site/animal behavior for National Geographic, or teaching others how to dive), but in SCUBA diving you are mainly enjoying your time underwater with no obligation other than staying within your limits.

Dam inspection diving. Photo courtesy of Rick Smindak.

Commercial diving takes things up a notch. Instead of floating neutrally through the water column enjoying the marine life, commercial divers have a specified task at hand and they are usually weighted to sink. Instead of carrying their main source of air with them, commercial divers are tethered to the surface with their air constantly being delivered to them by umbilicals. Also in place of a regulator that a SCUBA diver holds in their mouth, a commercial diver’s full face or even head will be covered in a mask or dive helmet. This allows the diver to communicate back and forth to his team on the surface. Constant communication with the surface team is extremely important. This is because the work a commercial diver does can kill him/her if they do not have contact with the surface. Commercial divers also usually deal with heavy equipment that is either hydraulically (water/oil) or pneumatically (air) powered. Occasionally a commercial diver even handles electricity in the water (welding). Depending on the depth or duration of a dive a commercial diver is working at they can also have a special mix of gases delivered to them.

So what can you do as a commercial diver? A lot actually! Especially if you don’t mind long hours, hard work, potential for near constant travel, and a hierarchal system of “breaking out” as a diver after you do your time in other roles as surface support.

Sometimes even as a diver you have dry work to do. Photo courtesy of Chris Corley.

Most commercial dive jobs are categorized as either off shore or inland. Off shore is just what is sounds like. These are the rough and tough oil rig and saturation divers- the ones you don’t pick a bar fight with. These guys spend weeks to months on oil rigs or even up to a month at the bottom of the ocean fixing and inspecting pipelines. Inland divers have a bit more of a variety of work. Bridges, dams, water towers, piers or other manmade features in the water need to be inspected or even built. While an ROV (remotely operated vehicle) can do some visual inspections, only a diver can do more extensive inspections that go beyond looking at the visible structure by also conducting non-destructive testing (NDT) inspection dives that determine if the actual structure of an object is solid or needs replacing. Inland divers can also find jobs in ship husbandry, salvage, search and recovery, and inspection and maintenance.

Commercial divers are a special breed. They can do the same work underwater as most people do on the surface. Sound like the career for you? Check out the two regulatory agencies that set the bar for what it takes to become a commercial diver- ADCI and IMCA. There are dive schools all across the United States as well as several internationally that you can attend to make your underwater dream reality.

 

Aquarium inspection is one of the many facets for commercial dive jobs. Photo Courtesy of Rebecca Ziegler.

 

 

**This article takes a broad snapshot look at the differences of recreational and commercial diving. There are many different specialties within diving that require specialized training and equipment that may have not been mentioned.**

Tags

About Rebecca Ziegler

mm
Rebecca currently works for the Mouse (Disney) in Orlando as a commercial diver. She holds Bachelor’s in Marine Science and Communication from the University of Hawaii at Hilo as well as her commercial dive certification from the International Diving Institute. When not working underwater, Rebecca can be found exploring her new home in the Sunshine State.

Check Also

Don’t Wait to Be Inspired

There are times when I sit and stare at my computer thinking, “what the f*ck …

One comment

  1. Maritime Opinions
    March 20, 2019 at 1:36 pm

    This blog is very perfect and usefully information

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Terms and Conditions

Legal and General Terms and Condition

Unless otherwise indicated, this Web Site and its contents are the sole and separate property of Travel Bloggers Tales, LLC, a California Limited Liability Company (TBT). The copyright and all other intellectual property rights in the material contained on this Web Site belongs to exclusively to TBT. The trademarks appearing on this Web Site are protected by the laws of the United States and international trademark laws.

In accessing this Web Site, you agree that the Web Site is made available for your personal, non-commercial use only. Unless you have TBT’s prior written permission, you are not permitted to copy, broadcast, make available to the public, download, store (in any medium), transmit, show or play in public, adapt or change in any way the material (or any part of it) contained on this Web Site for any purpose whatsoever.

THIS WEB SITE AND ITS CONTENT IS PROVIDED FOR USE “AS IS”. TBT MAKES NO REPRESENTATIONS OR WARRANTIES WITH RESPECT TO THIS WEB SITE OR ITS CONTENTS, ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF SATISFACTORY QUALITY AND FITNESS FOR PURPOSE RELATING TO THIS WEB SITE AND/OR ITS CONTENT AND/OR ANY WEB SITE TO WHICH IS LINKED ARE HEREBY TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW EXCLUDED. NO REPRESENTATIONS OR WARRANTIES ARE GIVEN AS TO THE ACCURACY OR COMPLETENESS OF THE INFORMATION PROVIDED ON THIS WEB SITE, OR ANY WEB SITE TO WHICH IT IS LINKED.

In no event shall TBT or its owners, employees, agents, suppliers, or contractors be liable for any damages of any nature, including without limitation any consequential loss, loss of income or profit, loss of or damage to property, claims of third parties, or any other loss, cost, claim or expense of any kind or character arising out of or in connection with the use of this Web Site, its content or any Web Site with which it is linked. This exclusion and limitation only applies to the extent permitted by law.

Access to this Site is permitted on a temporary basis and TBT reserves the right to withdraw or amend the service TBT provides on the Site or part of the Site without notice. TBT will not be liable or responsible if for any reason the Site is unavailable at any time or for any period.

You may view (and, where applicable, listen to and/or watch) the content and applications available on the Site for your own private non-commercial use. You must not use or allow others to access or use, all or any part of our Site or the contents and/or applications on it for commercial purposes without our permission. Use of all or any part of any Site or the contents and/or applications on it for commercial purposes shall be subject to separate terms and conditions and may be subject to a fee.

You may occasionally print individual pages of any Site for your private non-commercial use, provided that such printing is not substantial or systematic and our trade marks, copyright notices and trade mark notices are not removed.

You must not (whether directly or indirectly) (a) distribute, transmit, syndicate, sell or offer to sell or otherwise make available all or any part of any Site or in any way seek to commercialize all or part of the combination of materials which together constitute the Site, (b) distribute, transmit, syndicate, sell or offer to sell or otherwise make available any content, files, feeds or data from a Site, whether publically available or not, except as specifically permitted by that Site and in compliance with any applicable conditions or restrictions or (c) copy, download, or store any content, files, feeds or data from any Site, whether publically available or not, to make or populate a database or publication of any kind whatsoever unless is it is copying of an insubstantial part of any such material for your personal use.

If you are required to register to use the Site, it is your responsibility to provide accurate and complete registration details and to keep such details up to date. We are entitled to rely on any such registration details you provide to us.

Your registration with the Site must be in your own real, name, not under any false or assumed name and not with any other person’s identity. You must not pretend to be a different person. You must provide a valid email address when you register for any Site. If you provide an email address to us then you warrant to us that you are entitled to receive email to such email address.

If you are required to register to use the Site, you are responsible for everything done using your registration details. You must not disclose your login details to any other person. If you think that another person may have access to, or be using, your registration details, you must inform us immediately.

TBT may suspend, terminate or prevent your account and/or your access to any or all Site(s) at its sole discretion. Where TBT suspends, terminates or prevents your registration, you must not attempt to re-register or submit any content, material or applications without our prior written consent.

TBT may suspend, terminate or prevent your account and/or your access to TBT’s at its sole discretion. Where TBT suspends, terminates or prevents your registration, you must not attempt to re-register or submit any content, material or applications without our prior written consent.

Any dispute or claim arising out of or in connection with them or their subject matter or formation (including non-contractual disputes or claims), shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of California and you agree to submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts located in Los Angeles County, California. In the event of any legal action arising from or relating to these Terms of Use or your use of any Site, you hereby waive the right to a jury trial.

Should you have questions concerning this legal statement, our web site, or encounter any problems with this web site, please contact us.

All Rights Reserved
© Copyright 2021, Travel Blogger Tales