First up, apologies for Yet Another Divemaster Thread. Hopefully I'll have a slightly different spin on it.
I'm an Australian diver, i.e. temperate water (currently ~14 degrees C). I have 45 logged dives, the first 30 of which were done in the Philippines. I'm open to moving onto my IDC after I've build up some DM experience, but I'll wait a while before tackling that problem.
Everybody says "do your DM where you want to work". I' d like to work overseas, so I probably won't train here in Melbourne, where the default way to deliver the course is to dedicate every weekend for six months at your LDS. This has the advantage of training you thoroughly, and many shops also cover service and repair skills.
I have three options with regards to overseas training on my shortlist.
1. Go to somewhere like Gili Trawangan, do an intensive 4-8 week course at well regarded, busy dive shop. Pros: easy access to dive sites = heaps of diving to hone my skills; large number of students (the shop I'm in contact with commences new OW and AOW courses almost every day) means more opportunities to assist with classes, so this option is perhaps the most beneficial for gaining teaching skills. Cons: large dive shops like this seem to have a poor reputation (people seem to hate anywhere that facilitates zero to hero courses) so it may have a detrimental effect on my employability; large numbers of students would presumably prohibit the one-on-one mentorship a smaller shop could provide.
2. Go to Komodo and train with a small dive shop as the only, or one of the few, DM candidates. Pros: notoriously challenging conditions, meaning my personal diving skills would develop considerably, AND I would become a far more proficient DM since guiding divers through ripping current is bound to be difficult; some liveaboard experience; freaking awesome dive sites. Cons: very few OW courses, so I would get minimal experience in the teaching side of things.
3. Do my DM course onboard a liveaboard vessel. My research into this avenue is limited, but I gather you knock out your training across about three separate trips of a week or so each. To me this seems a little too rushed to be really helpful in the long run, and presumably I wouldn't get any teaching experience at all, but for obvious reasons getting qualified on a luxury liveaboard in Raja Ampat has a certain allure...
I guess the question really boils down to whether it's more valuable to first learn to be a proficient diver who is good at guiding dives, or to gain as much teaching experience as possible during the DM phase.
Thoughts?
I'm an Australian diver, i.e. temperate water (currently ~14 degrees C). I have 45 logged dives, the first 30 of which were done in the Philippines. I'm open to moving onto my IDC after I've build up some DM experience, but I'll wait a while before tackling that problem.
Everybody says "do your DM where you want to work". I' d like to work overseas, so I probably won't train here in Melbourne, where the default way to deliver the course is to dedicate every weekend for six months at your LDS. This has the advantage of training you thoroughly, and many shops also cover service and repair skills.
I have three options with regards to overseas training on my shortlist.
1. Go to somewhere like Gili Trawangan, do an intensive 4-8 week course at well regarded, busy dive shop. Pros: easy access to dive sites = heaps of diving to hone my skills; large number of students (the shop I'm in contact with commences new OW and AOW courses almost every day) means more opportunities to assist with classes, so this option is perhaps the most beneficial for gaining teaching skills. Cons: large dive shops like this seem to have a poor reputation (people seem to hate anywhere that facilitates zero to hero courses) so it may have a detrimental effect on my employability; large numbers of students would presumably prohibit the one-on-one mentorship a smaller shop could provide.
2. Go to Komodo and train with a small dive shop as the only, or one of the few, DM candidates. Pros: notoriously challenging conditions, meaning my personal diving skills would develop considerably, AND I would become a far more proficient DM since guiding divers through ripping current is bound to be difficult; some liveaboard experience; freaking awesome dive sites. Cons: very few OW courses, so I would get minimal experience in the teaching side of things.
3. Do my DM course onboard a liveaboard vessel. My research into this avenue is limited, but I gather you knock out your training across about three separate trips of a week or so each. To me this seems a little too rushed to be really helpful in the long run, and presumably I wouldn't get any teaching experience at all, but for obvious reasons getting qualified on a luxury liveaboard in Raja Ampat has a certain allure...
I guess the question really boils down to whether it's more valuable to first learn to be a proficient diver who is good at guiding dives, or to gain as much teaching experience as possible during the DM phase.
Thoughts?