Pay as little as possible for your air card. When you graduate you are only a tender, you wont be considered a diver anywhere period ( as a new graduate). When I worked as a tender diver offshore at global divers in louisiana they had an excellent wet welding school. In other words, they will train you their way. The so called speciatlties are scams to get more money out of you. If you arent prepared to spend a minimum of 250 days a year offshore dont plan on breaking out as a diver in the gulf. The gulf crowd is a tough bunch and when the day is over you are generally sleeping in close qtrs with the same crowd. I remember being asked to write a letter home for a co worker that was illiterate. It doesnt take rocket scientists to do most work on a rig. Just looking out. Pm me if you want to talk about it more or i can hook you up with a few working divers before you spend a bunch of money! Not trying to talk you out of it, i had a lot of fun, just be forewarned.