Certification courses abroad promising Open Water to DM or Instructor?

[geordanm]

I've tried sifting through prior threads to avoid asking a possibly redundant question, but to no avail.

I'm interested in taking this year off from school and using the time to immerse myself in diving. After looking into different option I have become a little bit confused by the hierarchy between Dive Master and Instructor. Currently, I am open water certified only. So, I would like a program that has a longer time-span that ultimately progresses to one or the other, without feeling like it is just a certification factory-vacation.

Since, I am not too familiar with diving or the South Pacific it has made looking into such things on the internet quite confusing with all of the excess hits that come up. If you have any personal experience with a similar program, or suggestions I would greatly appreciate narrowing down all on the options.

I have always wanted to go backpacking through SE Asia which is why programs in the South Pacific have appealed to me, but I'm open to suggestions for any tropical region, or warm climate.

Thanks!
-G

[Ralph Capeling]

You could consider going to Belize. Belize is tropical and english speaking.
Splash Dive Shop in Placencia in southern Belize attracts a lot of back packers and can take you from your open water certification to dive master on whatever schedule interests you.
Regards
Ralph

[zaberman1]

You may want to avoid places that advertise taking you all the way to instructor/dm from open water. I understand you are looking for a long term program but I wouldn't look for a program that ultimately leads one to becoming an instructor. First, concentrate on becoming a better recreational diver by taking your time with the courses, diving on your own, and constantly critiquing/refining your skills. You need many 'fun' and challenging dives before thinking about teaching other people so that you can have your own OH SH** stories to relate to. Become a better recreational diver. Second, once you have spent years in the sport, invest in divemaster and take it from a very strict shop. You may spend months earning that certification (I did). Assume you were learning SCUBA, who would you want to learn from? Didn't mean to be presumptuous, just offering MHO.

[otterdive]

Assume you were learning SCUBA, who would you want to learn from? Didn't mean to be presumptuous, just offering MHO.

I completely agree. In my opinion, one MUST be 100% confident in their own diving in a variety of conditions. Please don't rush the steps. When you, and maybe a respected mentor, feel that you have a good, solid set of skills, then challenge yourself a bit with the supervision of more experienced divers. Then go for your adv. cert. Dive even more. When you own diving starts to become 2nd nature, then do your Rescue. I loved my Rescue class... it's there where I started to feel all the pieces falling into place. Then shadow some DMs on guided dives for a while. When you are ready, and not just when you have the required 20 dives, go for DM. Take your time with a school/shop that really cares about training. I'll be happy to suggest one in Thailand if you are thinking about going there.

Really spend some time working as a DM. Your own diving MUST be 2nd nature. Now you can care for others. You are supposed to know it all as a DM. Your knowledge of theory needs to be 2nd nature as well. In my opinion there is simply no way that someone can have that level of diving proficiency, and knowledge, and that indefinable ellement that makes some people good at caring for others with the current minimum number of dives (20) to start DM

The IDC does not teach this stuff. It's just two weeks of learning the instructional system of whatever agency you decide to go with.

I know the lure of doing a "zero-to-hero" program is strong. Take your time, and become a true diving professional. Have fun, and I wish you the best in your career!

[geordanm]

Take your time with a school/shop that really cares about training. I'll be happy to suggest one in Thailand if you are thinking about going there.


Thank you, I would really appreciate that.

All of your advice was very helpful, but my post was a little misleading. I don't want to be an instructor to others necessarily, but it seemed that those certification programs are the only ones offered, allowing me to be abroad for a longer period of time, and including accommodations.

Overall, before even considering instructing another person- I just want to know that my own life is safe with whichever program I end up deciding upon. And with my own skills.

-G

[pir8]

Why not just travel & dive?

[geordanm]

Personal reasons, but ultimately that would be something that I would like to do.

[scubadiver888]

I'm only familiar with PADI. For other agencies the terminology might be different. I think the level of training you are looking for is Rescue Diver. The highest level of non-professional in PADI is Master Diver but if you decide to go professional you can skip Master Diver.

The progression will be Open Water (OW), Advanced Open Water (AOW), Rescue Diver (RD). When you obtain the AOW you'll need to five specialties. Where you learn will often dictate which specialties you learn, e.g. you won't learn Drift Diving if the only places to dive are lakes and quarries. Which specialties you can learn is also dependent on what the instructor knows to teach.

After you obtain Rescue Diver you will be a much more confident and safe diver. The only other thing you'll need is practice, practice, practice.

If you do decide to become a professional the next step is to become a Dive Master (DM). The DM course is were you do a lot of the practical skills as well as a LOT of theory. I think that a lot of the things people touch on here will make a lot more sense if you do the DM course.

After DM is Assistant Instructor (AI) and Open Water Scuba Instructor (OWSI). This is more about the business of diving, customer service, sales, etc. It will include more practice so you can get to demonstration quality level for the skills you learned as a non-professional.

How about signing up for a DM course that take a while with the understanding that, if they are a good training facility, by the time you get to the DM portion you will be good enough to consider training other. If you are not, it is really good training. If you are, sign up for AI or OWSI.

[Bonairetrip]

I am a little confused as to what the OP is trying to accomplish. Is it a course that would permit one to be on an education visa? Is it to access some sort of scholarship or trust?

Generally speaking, you have four paths in front of you:
a) Becoming a better recreational diver. AOW and then Rescue diver come to mind. There are also speciality classes you can take. And getting lots of dives in during varied conditions is also a great way to learn.
b) After (a), you can progress to a dive master, assistant instructor and instructor. These classes are most often taken if you want to teach and/or guide dives.
c) Technical type training. Examples might be things like the DIR Fundies, IANTD deco or tri-mix, rebreathers, etc.
d) Commercial diver training.

[DivinDusty]

I'll be happy to suggest one in Thailand if you are thinking about going there.


So you do not suggest doing this program, I have been doing a lot of research into it and sounds pretty good but I do see the downsides as well.I believe strongly in having a fun but safe time with scuba and I just want the best education possible so I may pass that down to my students. I was wondering as a newer diver if the Thailand one is any better? That is the program I was going to go with, Or do you suggest just doing the classes through my local DS. Another question for any dive shop operators out there is if I do go through with the learn-in-asia program am I going to have a harder time getting employed? As I have seen through my online research there are a lot of options out there and I would like some help picking the best one.
-cheers

[scubadiver888]

So you do not suggest doing this program, I have been doing a lot of research into it and sounds pretty good but I do see the downsides as well.I believe strongly in having a fun but safe time with scuba and I just want the best education possible so I may pass that down to my students. I was wondering as a newer diver if the Thailand one is any better? That is the program I was going to go with, Or do you suggest just doing the classes through my local DS. Another question for any dive shop operators out there is if I do go through with the learn-in-asia program am I going to have a harder time getting employed? As I have seen through my online research there are a lot of options out there and I would like some help picking the best one.
-cheers

If you get trained in Thailand and try to find work in North Carolina you will probably have a harder time then if you were trained in NC. The dive conditions can be quite different. I know that the shop I am with would not hire me as an instructor if I got my certification in the Caribbean. Basically, being a new instructor with little practical experience would make it hard enough to find work if there are plenty of solid instructors with years of experience. Getting trained outside the local environment is just one more negative.

On the other hand, there are places were there is more demand than good instructors. If you live in such an area, where you were trained would not matter.

You could talk to local dive shops and feel them out for their opinion on instructors from Asia coming to work for them. If they think there is no way they'd hire an instructor trained in Asia then you have your answer.

[otterdive]

So you do not suggest doing this program, I have been doing a lot of research into it and sounds pretty good but I do see the downsides as well.I believe strongly in having a fun but safe time with scuba and I just want the best education possible so I may pass that down to my students. I was wondering as a newer diver if the Thailand one is any better? That is the program I was going to go with, Or do you suggest just doing the classes through my local DS. Another question for any dive shop operators out there is if I do go through with the learn-in-asia program am I going to have a harder time getting employed? As I have seen through my online research there are a lot of options out there and I would like some help picking the best one.
-cheers

I was just suggesting a very good dive school in Thailand to geodanm. The one I suggested does not offer an OWD-Instructor per se, and they really don't suggest people do it that way. geordanm mentioned that he might want to travel in SE Asia. Did he share my link with you? There may be good "zero-to-hero" programs out there, I'm just not aware of them. It's purely my opinion, but I think it would be pretty rare to see a truly qualified Instructor emerge from those programs after doing the bare minimum numbers of dives. Some of the DM programs in Thailand just have the candidates do as many 20 minute dives as possible just to get the candidate up to the required 60 dives. It's pretty shocking, Someone is qualified to be a DM with only 60 total dives?!?! That's not thorough training IMO.

Sounds like you care a great deal about getting the best training. You are correct that there are loads of choices out there. Send Nick and Michael an email and talk it over with them. info@chaloklum-diving.com Chaloklum Diving - Koh Phangan (http://www.chaloklum-diving.com) They will give some good advice, with no sales pressure, no matter where you decide to go.

Enjoy the adventure!

[pir8]

I would recommend doing your training where ever you plan on doing your teaching. Then you are more familiar with your working environment

[CamG]

Greetings geordanm and welcome to Scuba Board! It sounds very interesting your plans to travel abroad. And I would like to commend you on your interest in diving. I think you will find what you are looking for with a few contacts but be very careful to check references here on Scuba Board. I would be very hesitant to pay ahead any more than air fair. I am just a believe it when I see it kind of guy.
Are you confident in your 18 basic skills? This is a very important consideration when considering a trip like this. There could be times and probably would be when you will need to be confident and able to handle issues on your own. This is very important when traveling abroad. I am not trying to discourage you by any means just offering advice, self examination is a good tool to determine what our abilities actually are and what they should be.
As far as training is concerned when I became interested in diving or assisting dive training I went to my OW instructor for advice. His words led me to choose a quite different coarse of action. I chose to take my time and gain valuable experience in the water and progressing at a good pace. Then when the assisting began I really took time to learn the ropes. Good and bad, I learned more in this dive season than I ever dreamed. About myself, about others and most of all how to help students!
It totally changed my direction as a evolving diver and lead me into areas of diving that I never dreamed of.
Find your balance and and move forward! Life is to short to never step out and try something. Just be well prepared and safe. Common sense is still around if we look hard enough for it!
You can earn college credit for some programs you might want to explore those options. Your year off could be a credit earning time of diving and personal growth.
Good luck and keep us posted. If you have any further questions please ask or PM me.
CamG Keep diving....keep training....keep learning!