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A Day on the Job: Tom McCollum, Dive foreman
By JOHN REINAN TOM McCOLLUM, 30 DIVE FOREMAN SCUBA CLEAN INC., ST. PETERSBURG How long have you been doing this?Since 1991. What exactly do you do?The bulk of our work is underwater marine maintenance. We clean the bottoms of the boats and we do inspections. If there's a problem, we let the owner know. We can also pull and install propellers, but the bulk of our work is cleaning and inspections. As you've seen, we do our work with the boat still in the water. How did you get into this?I love the water and I love diving. I grew up in Florida, and my family always had boats and I've always had a boat. One day I saw an ad in the newspaper for a diver, and I thought I'd give it a try. And here I am 11 years later, still loving it. What kind of training do you have?I went through the regular open water diving course. It's a standard course; it usually takes two weeks to complete. But most of the knowledge here is on-the-job training. You can't get it anywhere else. What's your favorite thing about this job?It would have to be the outdoor environment, working in the water. If you spend six to eight hours a day in the water, you have to love it. I've seen all kinds of fish; I've had alligators swim alongside me. I've seen manatees give birth. But let's face it, the water in a marina can be pretty yucky.Oh, yeah. There are places we jump into and it's mud up to our thighs. And obviously when there's a Red Tide or dead fish floating around, it's unpleasant. You have to tune out those things and focus on the work. You must look like a prune after eight hours in the water.Actually, not. I think saltwater's good for the skin. I do put sunscreen on and take those kinds of precautions, but I haven't had any problems. What's your least favorite thing about the job?At certain times, the visibility can be pretty bad. It's frustrating trying to do a good job for the customer when you can't see what you're doing. Have you ever felt like you're in danger?Really, the only accidents we have are cuts and scrapes from the rocks and pilings. I've never been aggressively approached by marine life. The alligators swim right alongside us and they don't pay us one bit of attention. What kind of money do you make?The full-time dive cleaners average $600 to $800 a week. I'm right in that range. This work must keep you in pretty good shape.It's a workout, that's for sure. One good health benefit is that, being in zero gravity, you get no pounding -- there's no weight on your joints. I had a bad back once, but it didn't bother me at all at work. Do you spend a lot of your free time on the water, too?Yes. I have a sailboat, and I enjoy sailing, fishing and water-skiing. You should have been born with gills.No kidding. You're still a young man, but how long do you think you can keep doing this?At some point, Scuba Clean wants to get me out of the water and doing some administrative work. I've been fighting it. I may do some of that kind of work eventually, but I still want to spend a good chunk of my time in the water. That's what I enjoy doing. What advice would you give to someone who wanted to do this job?Work hard and stick with it at the beginning. Like any job, it can be frustrating and overwhelming in the beginning. It's a real love-it-or-hate-it position.
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