Deep sea diving can be one of the best paid jobs in the world if you can get it, it is also said to be one of the most dangerous jobs. It's a little known fact that suicide rates are among the highest throughout the world in deep sea divers.
So why do they do it? The excitement? The adventure? Some spend 4 weeks in a tiny pressure chamber just waiting to get out. Every baby diver dreams of this work though, mainly due to the pay involved at first. Rates in excess of $1500 per day are not uncommon in the North Sea and Gulf of Mexico.
This kind of diving is for those who would never go back to the 9-5 desk job. After spending years in front of a computer screen the idea of bursting ones ear drums during an uncontrolled descent or inducing decompression sickness due to uncontrolled ascent doesn't even seem that bad. The truth is that compared to most other jobs, there are a great deal of things that can go wrong - often things that are out of anyone's control.
On the other hand, you will never find a more conscientious worker than a diver left the responsibility of tending to his co-worker as they leave the underwater diving bell and feed out their lifeline. Diver's don't put themselves in these situations for money. Maybe it's for bravado, maybe it's for bragging rights - who knows, but the dangerous jobs are still important jobs and they all need to be done.
So spare a thought for that poor commercial diver down in the cold, deep, darkness. It may look like he's having fun but somebody's got to do it!
Have you a diving story to tell? Have you experienced the depths?
Ben Dixon is an HSE registered Commercial Diver and the owner and operator of Commercial Diving Magazine - an online community for scuba diving and commercial diving enthusiasts. If you want to talk about anything from scuba diving classes to commercial diving interests come along and join CDiving.com. Users are invited to contribute their own diving articles and stories to feature in Commercial Diving Magazine.
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