Well it is great to see some ladies in the industry. I have a friend in New York that wanted to join the industry but was afraid of getting no job. Pity. Stay in touch and you stay safe out there. Where are you working now? Who for? Talk soon

Thats great. You have really been hitting it hard this last few years. What does the hubby think of all the away time? I have been working in west africa for last 3 years now. From Ivory coast, nigeria,ghana,EG,Cameroon, gabon and angola. Do you have some inspection certificates? We sometime have inspection jobs in Angola which is kinda close on rigs and stuff. Short jobs and we always looking for inspection divers with tickets.
The girl I know is small and petite so she was afraid it might come against her but I would hire her cause she is tough and dont quit but she felt she would not get a fair shot at it. You have done well and you are petit so i think brain over brawn works for alot of things. The Arabs are not exactly the best and I think it is getting worse. I know 2 supervisors that have come back from saudi after living there for years cause they said the arabs dont want foreners there anymore. So Diamond diving- well that is a tough way to make a few bucks. So what else you been up to. What you do for winding down. Cant have been too much in the middle east. Have you got your IMCA supervisor ticket now? I am waiting to get chance to do the exam for it but not had time really. When I am on off time I try spend it with my family and friends but the way it works out I end up seeing some friends on a 2 year cycle. Sad I know. Anyway talk soon. Be safe

Bonita,
You do have a busy schedule and hat off to both you and your hubby cause it cant be easy but ye have made it work and that is csomething that is hard in commerial diving. You should give it a go again for to get the IMCA ticket cause it will open another door to you.
As for the 3.1 in fort william I have to explain it and hope I do it right. You may know this but it p***** me off that fort william dont tell divers this straight out before they come and do the course.
TWI is basically the owners of the CSWIP system so they own the 3.1 and 3.2 divers cerification system. They are backlogged serious in courses so fort william have taken it on themselves to do the 3.1 course. They dont have access to the latest syllabus and only get their info from students that have done it. They charge more than TWI for the course and in fort william you dont get an exam. You still have to arrange to attend TWI to do the exam completely seperate and at extra cost to you. If a company was to sponser you then no worries cause its their bucks but if you think you would like to do it say late next year get onto them now cause that waiting list is a year long. I am all doom and glom but I have researched it plenty and have experience with fort william charging me for courses and then going bust so money gone and then reopening 6 weks later. If you want I can dig out the TWI website address and I have the syllabus on 3.1 form a couple of years ago but I pob could not email it cause its very large but might be able to mail it on CDs when I get home in mid august. I think all us guys AND Gals:) must watch out for each other.
So hope this has helped some bit.
Talk soon and be safe out there

No Worries. I think the real winners over the last 5 years and prob over last 20years are schools. I have to say that Grants school was good to me when I needed help and I will always promote him for that. Fort William has the big name and the training is not bad I guess but its a business first and a school second. I will get you the web address and email of the person to talk to in TWI later today and mail it to you on here. If you need anymore info and I have it no worries just ask and I will pass on to you. Have a good one today and stay safe out there

Hi Bonita, How are you? Im still new to all of this im heading to WCCDS in September. I was wondering what is it like diving for diamonds and how is the money? Its nice to see a woman in the industry. Keep safe

Thank you for that very interesting reply. I was just wondering as I was born in South Africa but now live in Ireland, and was looking for maybe some freelance work when I get out of dive school. I really don't mind hard work just my maths is a bit s***e. HA HA do you get paid in Rand or Dollars? It will be abit s***e if it's in rand and it's not alot as the exchange rate at the moment is about €100/R1000. But thank you for your reply and I hope you stay safe, Cheers Scott

Thank you again for that Bonita. I'm so looking forward to the course, I'm planning on going cage diving with great whites when i'm in Cape Town that will be awesome can't wait. Thanks for all thar info on the diamond diving i'll stay clear of that. Be safe

Hi Bonita, I have a question for you. When you finished your course did you do inshore work or did you go offshore?

Heya Bonita, I hope I can get work after the course as i know how hard it is at the moment. I hate to be out of work any work will do as long as i can prove myself and to keep busy. Sounds like you are having a great time?

have you worked in s. africa the wh*** time?

sounds like you've done quite a bit over there. i never would have thought there would be that much comm diving happening in places like that. how would someone get into the scene you're in over there? i assume you'd need the imca cert. is it easy to get hired on?

first off, thanks so much for all that info. the pay rates are a little less over there than in the gom. i work for cal dive and as a breakout diver i'm at $21 an hour plus depth pay. i get 12 hours a day with the 1st 8 at normal rate and the last 4 at time and a half. anything over 40 hours in a 7 day period is time and a half too. depth pay is:
0-100ft: $1 a foot
100-150ft: $2 a foot
150-200ft: $3 a foot
200-250ft: $4 a foot
250-300ft: $5 a foot

and we get paid for double dips, not that it happens alot, but it does happen. i've mainly worked on construction jobs but have done a little inspection. i still want to work in the gom but want to travel and work in other parts of the world to say i've done it and have the experience of it all. do you have a house and all that in SA where you're from? or do you just find a place each time you come back? how does all that work for you?