Love to Scuba as Much as You Love to Teach English? Do Both!

One of my favorite things to do when traveling is scuba dive. I’ve been certified for several years and my next trip (in December) will be to Bonaire, a Dutch island in the Caribbean known for its diving. If I was deciding where to teach English abroad, I would be sure to choose a place where I could get underwater and see some unique things! Here’s a list of a few places that could be most interesting to the TEFL diver:

Playa del Carmen, Mexico – Opportunities to teach in Mexico are plentiful and it’s possible to live and even save a little on a TEFL salary, something that isn’t always true in Latin America. It’s important here because you’ll want extra money to spend on diving along the Rivera Maya, which is home to some of the most remarkable cave diving in the world. The Cave of Sleeping Sharks is an experience I wouldn’t miss for anything.

Thailand – A great place to dive with whale sharks – a rare opportunity – Thailand is also a great place to teach English because of its people, who are known for being friendly, accommodating, and kind. It isn’t called the Land of Smiles for nothing, and I’m sure I would be grinning from ear to ear every time I got back to the surface from another amazing dive.

Indonesia – This is another TEFL location where teachers often earn more than their living expenses, making it possible to afford what can be an expensive scuba diving lifestyle. The diving here is amazing due to the incredible diversity of wildlife under the waves – thousands of species of fish and hundreds of species of coral. There are also plenty of opportunities for the more adventurous diver, such as shipwrecks and underwater volcanoes.