Good morning, I just joined this forum and have a very specific question about what level of cert I need and how quickly I could attain this level.
The situation:
I work in the private yacht crew industry. A past captain I worked for is taking on a new boat and wants me as First Mate. The owner doesn't care who he hires as long as that person can teach his children how to dive and to take the family diving as they travel around the Caribbean.
So my question is do I need to get my instructor certification or can I do this type of stuff with just Divemaster or some other level?
How long will it take to get the required level of certification. I currently have no dive cert. ( I have taken a resort course, and have used scuba gear quite a bit to clean the bottom of the yachts I've worked on in the past, which of course means nothing.)
Thanks!
Kevin
Hello Kevin ...
As others have stated, this isn't something you can attain quickly ... and the quickest methods are both expensive and somewhat risky.
You need to be an instructor to certify people. Furthermore, if you're planning to teach kids, you should really be an EXPERIENCED instructor, because kids have a tendency to do off-the-wall things that adults would never attempt. There is a lot of additional responsibility involved when teaching children how to dive. Therefore you need not just the teaching skills, but enough experience to have ... as the saying goes ... "grown eyes in the back of your head" to anticipate and prevent them from doing foolish things that would cause them harm. Kids can be fun to teach but the responsibility is daunting, and not to be taken lightly. A "quickie" route to instructor level isn't something I'd contemplate as a safe way to approach it.
Furthermore, have you considered the expense and liability issies? Dive instructors are required to carry liability insurance for a reason. The insurance runs about $650 a year ... and that will be on top of the costs of courses you will need to take and membership dues to the certifying agency. You should expect to spend ... at a minimum ... about $5,000 to reach instructor level. And that doesn't include the cost of gear and teaching props that you will need to buy. Unless you can afford to do this at a loss (or your client is willing to pay you very well), you will not make enough money to cover the costs of the certification. So make sure you're willing to do this for the right reasons.
FWIW - I've worked with a few of the "zero-to-hero" scuba instructors, and I don't think highly of that approach. Sure, you'll learn all the requisite skills (although mostly you'll learn how to perform them while kneeling on the bottom, which isn't how one scuba dives) ... and you'll learn all the requisite academics. But what you'll be missing is the experience needed to develop the "intangible" skills needed to be a responsible dive instructor. Those include the ability to maintain an awareness of what's going on around you while you're busy doing something (a necessary skill if you're teaching more than one student at a time), and the ability to anticipate problems and head them off before they become a bigger problem (a necessary skill anytime you're in the water with someone who's learning how to dive because they tend to do unpredictable things).
I can appreciate that this looks like a wonderful opportunity ... but the reality is that becoming a dive instructor is an expensive proposition ... and while you can become an instructor in just a few months, if you want to be a GOOD instructor, you should be a diver first ... develop all your in-water skills ... and THEN begin your DM and instructor training.
... Bob (Grateful Diver)
