A Career in Underwater Exploration : Is it for You?

Underwater technology has advanced tremendously over a short span of time. As the treasures from beneath the sea and ocean continue to dazzle the world, more and more people are being drawn to a career in underwater exploration. A mixture of thrill, adventure, and great learning opportunity in every dive, this is the new hot career on the block.

Underwater explorers help us find the hidden truths and understand our planet much better. But this is not all that a career in this field offers you.

Who can choose this career?

The beauty of underwater careers is that is covers a lot of aspects of marine technology. It does not matter if you are from a technical background or more into living sciences, there are always some underwater careers that you can be a part of.

Underwater careers are for anyone who can swim, and like it. If you fancy a career related to marine world then undersea exploration is your field. This is a special science in itself since it needs you to be several meters below water for extended periods. You can join an undersea exploration project on various accounts. Example:

- Underwater researcher

- Underwater cameraman

- Marine archeologists

- Oceanographers

- Marine biologists

- Underwater photography

- Underwater welding

- Underwater construction

- Military regiment

Underwater explorations cover every field- biology, engineering, history and marine geography. As such, choosing any of these fields can ‘land’ you up in an opportunity for a career in underwater exploration.

What are prerequisites for this career?

For anyone to be part of field of undersea exploration, you’d need a legal qualification that allows you to do so. Depending on the country, these qualifications can be obtained from different bodies. There is no special degree you would need to obtain excluding the extensive training from a professional diving school.

This is followed by a license from a government body which authorizes a person for undersea explorations. If such a qualifying degree has been obtained from a foreign country, it must meet the standards of the country where the exploration is supposed to begin from. In most cases, you can obtain such a license from an authorized diving training school. However, it is necessary that such a school has been certified by an internationally recognized certifying agency. In America, American Academy of underwater Sciences is responsible for regulation of such licenses. Military underwater explorers would need to go through further training and obtain authorization from specific military body.

Why choose an undersea exploration career?

The benefits of being a part of diving team are many. It is not like another job. The dreads of monotony are non-existent in this field. And for anyone who loves the sea, this could be a dream come true. But if you are still looking incentives for being a part of this fraternity, take a look at these.

Well paying job: Underwater exploration jobs offer a good salary. The entire field is well paying industry but the specific nature of your job can affect your pay scale. While an underwater photographer can earn a mean average salary of around $25,000 to $35,000, other careers like underwater constructor may earn around $68,000.

Thrilling : Thrill is one of the biggest incentives in this job. No one day is similar to another. Hence, you never have to worry about being bored of monotonous meetings and rugged working hours.

Part of new revelations: Underwater explorers have been part of the biggest revelations from time to time.

If you wish to be part of the history, making new findings for world to enjoy, this career offers you great opportunity to do so.

Traveling: There couldn’t be a better paying job for someone who loves travel. Visiting new and exquisite places frequently, both above and below water would be a part of your job profile.

Unconventional: For people who look for an unconventional career, working regularly several feet below water is as unconventional as it gets.

Major Undersea Exploration Projects

With help of underwater technology that has been tremendously upgraded since the time of its inception, many undersea exploration projects have been undertaken over past several decades. The earliest example of notable underwater explorers would be Charles Darwin who, on his ship HMS Beagle, travelled through Galapagos Islands and discovered secrets. Ever since that, many exploration projects have been carried out.

Robert Ballard who discovered Titanic wreck and Jacques Piccard who discovered the Marine Trench are notable undersea explorers. Bermuda Deep water caves project, Maritime Maya 2011 Project, Thunder Bay 2010, Inspire Chile Margin 2010, Extended Continental Shelf Project are some of the notable projects of recent past. NEEMO 14 is the most recent underwater exploration project, undertaken by NASA in May, 2011.