Divemaster Course Location/Shop Recommendations?

[sharkbite13]

Hi All,

My Friend and I are planning on taking some time during May/June (around 6 weeks total) to do our Divemaster course. I am a very experienced diver and have been diving since I was 12, I am also a scientific scuba diver and do research diving in both tropical climates and the Pacific North West. However, my friend has just started diving in the past year and is just getting her rescue certification now.

I know that everyone is going to suggest getting our DM where we would want to work eventually, but the fact is we have no idea where that might be. I don't think my friend will want to work in a cold water environment, and I am confident in my cold water abilities as I got my Scientific up on Vancouver Island in BC, so we are thinking something tropical/ sub tropical.

Our only real concerns are:

Cost - we're university students so we are hoping for the program to cost less than $2000 USD pp including books etc.

Quality of Diving/Amount of dives - Obviously we want to be in a location where the diving doesn't get old after a few weeks. Also a lot of the programs we've seen have said they only include like 12 dives, which seems a bit ridiculous to us we hope to gain lots of real-world experience handling different situation at depth, with different students etc.

Environment - We don't really want to stay in a major city/town but we do want to be able to interact with different people and enjoy ourselves while we're there. Hopefully the topside would be just as beautiful and full of adventure as it is below the surface, and the people would share similar marine biology/diving interests. We have looked at a few "all inclusive" programs like some of the ones that scuba junkie provides and really like the idea of those.

Also, we are college-age girls so our parents are concerned about the safety of the cities/countries were going to, for this reason we've ruled out the classic honduras/thailand options. I have also been diving all around the caribbean and in various parts of Mexico, so I would hope to find somewhere new for this adventure, hopefully a bit farther away from home.

Some places we've looked at so far just for comparison are: Borneo, Nusa Penida in Bali, Komodo, various locations in the Philippines, the Cook Islands, and Fiji. If anyone can recommend new places or has any insight to the others it would be greatly appreciated! and super helpful!

Thanks!

 

[decompression]

Just some general points,

Cold water trained DM's can sometimes get a preference over warm water Puppy mill DM's
DM's will be passed over for full instructors every time.
Many DM schools will have you slave like a dog
The more exotic the locale, the fewer the jobs and almost non existent amenities (wifi)
The more popular the area, the more jobs, and more people wanting to work there
Make yourself more employable with languages, boat/compressor mechanic, web design, sales experience etc.

If you can gain access to the PADI pros website, you'll see the employment opportunities section, gives you a very good idea of what's "in demand", i.e. Languages. When you are done DM school you'll have access. I've had several of my DM's go on to work in Fiji, Roatan, Mexico the UAE etc.
It's a very interesting and exciting opportunity, sadly that's what makes it so hard to accomplish.

 

[Doc]

To expand on the answer above from decompression....

With your considerable dive experience you don't fit the usual profile of the participants in a drawn-out "divemaster internship". Divers of your similar background can plow through Rescue Diver and Divemaster in two weeks with concerted effort following sufficient pre-study at home.

Most such "internships" drag on to provide dive ops a source of cheap labor. The bottom line cost/value should well be taken with thought about housing and food figured in. Many participants engage in this sometimes two month program as a prolonged vacation and party. (this dovetails in nicely with the "free" housing provided). When they present themselves at a seriously run AI/IDC, they are viewed in terms of their attitude, which is often lacking due to prior internship type experiences. The party is over. A qualified DM can then run thru the IDC in minimal time.

The way things are nowadays, the AOWs are scrapping for the jobs where DMs used to have the jobs.