they aren't. the figures mentioned are true for the North Sea but lower in all other places. also being a saturation diver doesn't automatically put you on a 1400 dayrate when on leaving for a job. you get that only when you're "in the bin" which itself depends if you are the one selected for it. many other sat divers on the same job, but usually there are only 6-8 are actually in saturation the rest does support work on deck. and the time in saturation might only be 3 weeks in a 6 months project. So until you are in sat you would get the normal day rate a diver makes (150 - 200 depending on the location, contract). Project and Life Support Supervisors (LST's) are paid slightly higher. This can still be OK if you're 10 months at sea and no opportunity to spend any money during that time. But doesn't compute in 2018. As I mentioned above if the salaries cited are true they haven't changed much since the 90ies so in 2018 you'd be better off working as a software engineer ...