Best place in Florida to get DM?

[Rred]

Rick-
I'd also ask why you'd want to get a DM rating, unless you have second career plans. And also mention that if you're planning to freelance as a divemaster in some way...in this day and age, you'd want liability insurance as well, which may cost more than any benefit you'd make from being a less0than-full-time divemaster.
If it is for career plans, then I'd suggest using whichever organization you think you are most likely to work with.

 

[Roninvalhalla2015]

I dived for a few days with Stuart Scuba last year. And I met @sheeper while I was down there. The shop was great. sheeper was great to talk to. I would definitely consider doing a DM program there.

But, I am curious, Rick, why do you want to do a DM program? I mean, what do you hope to get out of the DM program and what do you plan to do with your DM certification after you get it?

Hi,

I would like to help out on dives with a company while following my passion.

 

[Roninvalhalla2015]

Hi All,

Thank you so much for you input. I am interested in becoming a DM to help out on tours or teaching after my career in law enforcement if over.

I get the feeling some of you done recommend a DM cert. If you were in my situation, what would you do?

Regards,
Rick

 

[KevinNM]

You should probably plan to eventually become an instructor if you want to do this. DM is a required step for most agencies, but very limiting in terms of employment. This is ignoring the whole "making a living teaching scuba" issue that I assume isn't a problem for you.

 

[Roninvalhalla2015]

Do you guys know of any schools out there that will take you from Rescue-Instructor? If so, what kind of monetary/time commitment would there be?

 

[cipherbreak]

Do you guys know of any schools out there that will take you from Rescue-Instructor? If so, what kind of monetary/time commitment would there be?

At Rainbow Reef (Key Largo), DM is 8 days at about $1k (must be Rescue qual'd) and instructor is 10 or 11 days at around $2.5k, without pre-reqs (CPR/First Aid) or specialty courses. Rainbow Reef's IDC is highly regarded. They have an awesome but highly competitive internship where you pay for food, books, and PADI fees, and they provide everything else to take you from AOW to MSDT for free. A true internship. It is a 6 month commitment.

GoPro Cozumel, DM w/ internship is about 6 weeks at $2.3k if you arrive as an AOW, 4 weeks at $1.5k as Rescue. Instructor is 18 days long and $2.9k. All accommodations provided and some valuable specialty courses are included (EANx instructor/O2 provider instructor). This is a good deal.

 

[Diving Dubai]

I've found the DM course to be very good. I came into it later than most, and already holding an equivalent cert with BSAC

I was previously really dismissive of the DM qual - seeing it as relevant only if you want to be an instructor, while true to a certain extent, it can be more than that.

Getting my skills to demo standard was a good challenge. They were all good and worked, but being able to do them slowly emphasising the details to demonstrate was good and interesting. My primary goal was to learn to be able to communicate better with less experienced divers, and to help them more. And it's worked. I enjoy the interaction on a boat with customers.

Learning to guide in the commercial world was interesting too. My normal diving is with a club of very experienced and knowledgeable divers, who dive as buddy pairs not as a group. With group diving you learn to have eyes in the back of your head and further develop a sixth sense - all this has translated to my fun diving too

Becoming a DM isn't a race, sure you can learn the required skills and get through the exams at a fast pace, but you don't get to develop the skills without some time and practice. it should be an adventure not a chore..

 

[Father]

I'm just about done my MSDT-prep with Rainbow Reef.
I did Rescue, DM, and IDC here.
The staff is amazing. RRDC employs a lot of veterans which is awesome. You can see if in the training, and not in a bad way.
The intern program, to the bets of my knowledge, is geared toward college-aged kids >18, <25-ish. As someone else mentioned it's a 10-month program from AOW to MSDT. I've gotten to be buddies with one of the interns here. He went through DM with me and he's a great dude. Since I'm not planning on working for a dive shop, I have no doubt he will be a better instructor than me this time next year. The volume of work that RRDC does, the instructors get mad numbers.

I'm using my Post-9/11 GI Bill and the program they have setup is the best one I found in my research.
I'll be coming back at the beginning of next year to get my TecRec instructor certs.

If you haven't already decided on a place I would highly recommend checking into Rainbow Reef.

 

[Roninvalhalla2015]

Hi Guys,

Thanks for the feedback. As I am looking into it, what do you guys think about seeking a NAUI Divemaster/Instructor? I have a PADI Rescue Cert. right now and could go either way. My end goal really is help out dive shops intentionally during their peek times. I will be retired from my full-time job and will have the time to travel. Have you guys heard anything about Halls?

Regards,

Rick