Dive Master and Overall Diving GC

[phoenix31tt]

Hi all,

I'm planning a long trip to the Cayman Islands, considering doing my dive master certification there.
Who would you guys recommend?

Also what are your recommendations for general diving

-M

 

[Alex777]

My recommendation may seem odd to some, but I would suggest a dive op that caters to cruise ship divers. You will learn more in a day by "taking care" of them than you would in a week with an experienced group. Therefore, I suggest: Don Foster's or Divers Down. There are probably others who take lots of cruise shippers also. I assume, of course, that you are doing an internship course.

As for "general diving", what makes you think you will have time for it?

 

[diversteve]

In keeping with what Alex suggested - Red Sail is the other cruise operator of note. They also run operations at Tortuga Divers which is on the grounds of the big Morritt's timeshare resort in the East End. So maybe there's some crossover so you could dive both ends.

Red Sail Sports is one of the premier training facilities on Grand Cayman, with air-conditioned classrooms, training pools and custom-built dive boats. We offer all levels of scuba diving certification from Open Water to Dive Master, and many specialties. Red Sail Sports is affiliated with PADI and the Universal Referral Program.

Divers Down other affiliated business is the Cayman Diving College. Cayman Diving College PADI Professional Courses

It makes less sense to DM somewhere like Divetech where the average diver will likely have hundreds more dives than you do. Although there you might get more exposure to other things since they also do tech diving, rebreather training etc. - some of that could be interesting. Since Cobalt Coast is one of the two AI dive resorts on Cayman there's a built-in set of willing subjects to train on - assuming the resort is busy. If not, it's 15mins. from anything. Also more likely to be blown out in the winter months.

my .02

 

[Alex777]

Although there you might get more exposure to other things since they also do tech diving, rebreather training etc. - some of that could be interesting.

There is a Discover Rebreathers Course (1/2 day) which I think many divers would find interesting.

 

[Ambassador Divers]

We offer a free DM internship program. Contact ambassadordivers@candw.ky for info

Happy Diving!

 

[phoenix31tt]

yea i meant internship and ok that makes sense @ the cruise ship shops...

and i asked about general diving in case i'm not doing the DM ...

thanks for the responses thus far

 

[billinwilliamston]

My wife did her DM at Sunset House. She learned a lot about all aspects of the business and thought it really prepared her well for her OWI, but it's my understanding that most (if not all) of the staff has changed since then.

 

[zf2nt]

Browsing through the above posts makes it clear that the first question you need to answer is what you want to do with that DM certification after you have completed it. Do you really want to spend your time taking cruise ship passengers on DSD's or are you planning on going on to OWSI? I'm sure this reveals my own prejudices, but I can't imagine a harder way to make a living than running DSD's. The risk factor is just too high. OTOH, teaching diving has always given me immense satisfaction.

 

[phoenix31tt]

well my island isn't really known for its diving so there wont be many cruise ship dsd's. Currently when i'm home i hang around classes and assist where i can etc so it will be more like assisting instructors. I already have my full time job so DM isn't a career path. When i go over to Tobago where there are more tourists i'll probably help out with the shop that i usually dive with etc kinda thing...

so maybe the cruise ship dsd dive master will be good for the training, but no i wouldn't be doing that much.