Best country for Dive Master

[wilson7561681]

Hello Everyone,
I am looking for some advice for doing my Dive Master in Central America. I am 23 years old with a little over 100 dives under my belt. I am looking to get into the industry and am ready for the Dive Master course. I was wondering what country you would suggest to have the most diverse experience through the course. I am not looking for a 3 week rush through course. I want a place/shop with very diverse diving that will assure me the best education and skills. I could spend as much as 3 months in a given area. Please let me know where you would recommend, and some prices would be helpful too. Thanks again for all of your help.

 

[Lorenzoid]

Utila, Honduras is ground zero for training people like you. You can stay there for months. Utila Dive Center (UDC) is one that is frequently mentioned. I liked what I saw there.

 

[muzikbiz22]

I want a place/shop with very diverse diving that will assure me the best education and skills. .

My first piece of advice would be to get more dives & experience under your belt before you become a DM. My second piece of advice ties right in with "your request"; Southern California would "assure you the best education & skills". Dive here, and you can dive ANYWHERE in the world. We have it all here Just my 2 cents.

 

[DeputyDan]

You need to do your DM in the same environment that you plan to be working in.
You owe that to the divers your employer expects you to be in charge of.

 

[Lorenzoid]

Oh, DeputyDan, you're being practical. I don't know about the OP's situation, but many young DMs have no idea where they plan to be working. Some people go to a fun, tropical place like Utila just to do a DM course and end up staying (and working) for a year or more.

 

[diversteve]

Or Roatan - here's one option: PADI Divemaster | Scuba Diving | Roatan, Bay Islands, Honduras | PADI The course takes a minimum of 6 weeks, you can stay in their shared house and the West End is afffordable. There must be at least a dozen other DM courses in that area also.

Roatan is a lot bigger than Utila also for other things to do. In the worst situation, there's a chamber at Anthony's Key. Some friends went there for DM and stayed thru Instructor. Direct flights from U.S. cities also, not the case with Utila. In fact one way to get to Utila is thru Roatan. There's also useful things like multiple food stores, ATM's and much more nightlife than you'll find on Utila. There's even a Mares factory store on Roatan. West Bay beach 2 miles away is called one of the nicer beaches in the Caribbean.

Utila is also very pleasant. If you go in the spring there's a good chance to snorkel with Whale Sharks. Either island requires a lot of DEET.

 

[Lorenzoid]

diversteve is right, Roatan is the other good option--a sister island to Utila. I'm biased because my impression of the two was that Utila had a bigger focus on dive education--more divers seemed to be at UDC for education than for vacation--while Roatan had a bigger focus on vacation diving. However, someone who was doing the DM course at Anthony's Key Resort pointed out to me that he perceived an advantage in doing DM at a true resort over an, ahem, "education mill" like some ops on Utila: the opportunity to learn how to serve a well-heeled dive-vacationing clientele of the type who go to resorts. The DM trainees at UDC seemed to be helping out on boats that were often full of students doing OW, AOW, etc. rather than on boats full of dive vacationers. I have no idea if that's really an advantage, but I thought it was an interesting perspective.

I opted not to continue on with my original plan of doing DM on Utila or Roatan and ended up leaving the islands shortly after I did the Rescue course at UDC. But it seemed to me like an ideal place to do it, especially if you're young and looking for a bit of adventure.

 

[wilson7561681]

Both of these places sound like what I am looking for. Thanks diversteve for the link. From the looks of it, I will be able to get the experience that I want, and it will be on the cheaper side. I have spend a lot of time in SE Asia diving, and that experience is what sparked my interest in going professional with the sport. Do any of you have any knowledge on the similarities and differences between the two places? I obviously understand that they are on different sides of the world, but do you find that island life is similar? With Central America being a lot closer to home, I think it would be a better choice.

 

[Lorenzoid]

Both of these places sound like what I am looking for. Thanks diversteve for the link. From the looks of it, I will be able to get the experience that I want, and it will be on the cheaper side. I have spend a lot of time in SE Asia diving, and that experience is what sparked my interest in going professional with the sport. Do any of you have any knowledge on the similarities and differences between the two places? I obviously understand that they are on different sides of the world, but do you find that island life is similar? With Central America being a lot closer to home, I think it would be a better choice.

I've dived in SE Asia, but never in one of those places known for cranking out new DMs and instructors. My only experience with that has been Utila and Roatan. I suspect that some places in SE Asia have more room to roam, more nightlife, and far greater topside options for your time off. Utila is small. Although the average age of DM trainees and instructors was, well, young, and they partied a good bit, all in all I would have to say they seemed fairly focused on their "mission"--dive training. Most nights of the week, people would not stay up all night but rather would socialize for a while then head home in preparation for the next day's diving. (Heck, until not TOO many years ago, the island's electricity didn't run all night.) Weekends there was some major partying, if I recall. To me, the small size of the island resulted in a lot of camaraderie among the dive crowd--a feeling of community. If I were in your position, I wouldn't hesitate for a minute to choose Utila (or Roatan), unless of course you have money and time to travel and consider traveling to SE Asia for this as no major hurdle. SE Asia is amazing, but to me, it's an expensive trip.

 

[robint]

Roatan Divemaster Internship at Dockside Dive Center, Western Caribbean
CocoView resort, Roatan has a great program. We were just there last month and a guy was going through it, said it was amazing and heck of a deal price wise.