Hi all, I'm in the process of planning a trip to Koh Tao to get the experience I need to get a job in the industry.
I'm currently Advanced Open Water with about 35 dives.
My main objectives are to improve my skills (especially dive leading) and make myself as employable as possible.
I am currently considering an 8 week working divemaster internship followed by the instructor course and MSDT. This is with Crystal Dive in Koh Tao. Has anyone else gone this route of a relatively crash course and found work as an instructor afterwards?
How will dive shops view this approach to gaining the qualifications? Would I be better served by doing a longer internship of just the divemaster?
I was originally thinking about doing a 6 month trip to Mexico which involved 3 months doing ecological surveys on the reefs there followed by the divemaster course and a 3 month placement in a dive shop.
I just feel that if I don't get the instructor qualifications now I will never have the time and money to do them in the future! If I can't find work instructing I will volunteer on some similar marine research projects to get my number of dives up before trying again.
All comments, criticism and encouragement really welcomed!
I'm currently Advanced Open Water with about 35 dives.
My main objectives are to improve my skills (especially dive leading) and make myself as employable as possible.
I am currently considering an 8 week working divemaster internship followed by the instructor course and MSDT. This is with Crystal Dive in Koh Tao. Has anyone else gone this route of a relatively crash course and found work as an instructor afterwards?
How will dive shops view this approach to gaining the qualifications? Would I be better served by doing a longer internship of just the divemaster?
I was originally thinking about doing a 6 month trip to Mexico which involved 3 months doing ecological surveys on the reefs there followed by the divemaster course and a 3 month placement in a dive shop.
I just feel that if I don't get the instructor qualifications now I will never have the time and money to do them in the future! If I can't find work instructing I will volunteer on some similar marine research projects to get my number of dives up before trying again.
All comments, criticism and encouragement really welcomed!