Like others before me, I hope this is different from the normal DM thread.
I already hold an equivalent qualification with BSAC and am part way through my BSAC OW Instructor course. While club diving is good, the persons who seek out clubs to join (rather than just diving commercial) tend to be better divers. By that I mean we most have decent consumption, weighting and trim. I enjoy mentoring these people and helping them to get improvements, and leading them into diving in the more challenging areas we have (remote sites and unpredictable currents)
So I’m looking to further my knowledge and get experience of the commercial world (I’m PADI trained to RD as well) I’m at that point where I believe I can impart knowledge and help people. I’m knocking on the door of 500 dives – all but 20 having been completed in the last 4 years and all being ocean dives.
I’ve had a couple of “moments” underwater so know how I react when things go a bit wrong. I can also show empathy to those experiencing issues with skills, I had mask clearing issues at the very start, and let it get into my head before I sought help.
It’s certainly my intention to get my instructor ticket – what I’ll actually do with it remains to be seen.
My choices are: to take the course here in Dubai, there are a number of commercial ops. The decision would be between who has the best instruction vs the most challenging clients to deal with.
Or I could go aboard… Roatan is tempting, I’ve never dived in that area and I guess it would provide the challenge of catering to vacation divers with mixed skills but high demands of service. I could get away for 5-6 weeks.
Of course I’d be to oldest student on the course by around 30 years – any guest looking for a hot divemaster would be disappointed with me!
Not sure which agency to go with, obviously PADI is the easiest, I like what I see in RAID but I assume cross over is not too painful, the same with SSI
If I took the course here, then eLearning would be the obvious way, not sure if it would be better to do the theory abroad with other students where you benefit from interaction.
Cost or the course say in Roatan or the like isn’t that important, given the cost of my flights from here (there is no way at 50 I’m doing a 16 hr direct flight in economy).
The one nagging though in my mind is funnily enough just diving AL 80’s. I haven’t dived a AL 80 as a single in years, I prefer bigger steels and so guess I’ve gotten lazy with my air consumption (it’s a mind thing) So I would expect if abroad I’d have to practice. If here I’d just take my own tank
Any thoughts, or advice or insights even.
I already hold an equivalent qualification with BSAC and am part way through my BSAC OW Instructor course. While club diving is good, the persons who seek out clubs to join (rather than just diving commercial) tend to be better divers. By that I mean we most have decent consumption, weighting and trim. I enjoy mentoring these people and helping them to get improvements, and leading them into diving in the more challenging areas we have (remote sites and unpredictable currents)
So I’m looking to further my knowledge and get experience of the commercial world (I’m PADI trained to RD as well) I’m at that point where I believe I can impart knowledge and help people. I’m knocking on the door of 500 dives – all but 20 having been completed in the last 4 years and all being ocean dives.
I’ve had a couple of “moments” underwater so know how I react when things go a bit wrong. I can also show empathy to those experiencing issues with skills, I had mask clearing issues at the very start, and let it get into my head before I sought help.
It’s certainly my intention to get my instructor ticket – what I’ll actually do with it remains to be seen.
My choices are: to take the course here in Dubai, there are a number of commercial ops. The decision would be between who has the best instruction vs the most challenging clients to deal with.
Or I could go aboard… Roatan is tempting, I’ve never dived in that area and I guess it would provide the challenge of catering to vacation divers with mixed skills but high demands of service. I could get away for 5-6 weeks.
Of course I’d be to oldest student on the course by around 30 years – any guest looking for a hot divemaster would be disappointed with me!
Not sure which agency to go with, obviously PADI is the easiest, I like what I see in RAID but I assume cross over is not too painful, the same with SSI
If I took the course here, then eLearning would be the obvious way, not sure if it would be better to do the theory abroad with other students where you benefit from interaction.
Cost or the course say in Roatan or the like isn’t that important, given the cost of my flights from here (there is no way at 50 I’m doing a 16 hr direct flight in economy).
The one nagging though in my mind is funnily enough just diving AL 80’s. I haven’t dived a AL 80 as a single in years, I prefer bigger steels and so guess I’ve gotten lazy with my air consumption (it’s a mind thing) So I would expect if abroad I’d have to practice. If here I’d just take my own tank
Any thoughts, or advice or insights even.
