Divemaster/Instructor/MSD

platypus

platypus

platypus

Caporegime
Joined
25 Jul 2003
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40,289
Location
FR+UK
Hoping this will get some joy in here, though might be best to ask in the sports arena...

The other half and I have been discussing a career break for a while now. One thing we both do, and love, is diving. We're looking at either a marine conservation project, or more recently we've looked at doing either a DM or Instructor internship type thing.

Any recommendations on where to go? Obviously costs vary wildly, Thailand being one of the cheapest places but we've both dived Thailand several times, and I'm really not keen on going back there if I'm honest.

Gear wise we have our own computers, bcds, snorkels, fins, regulators, but obviously we'd need more kit - and would probably purchase before hand. We are both certified to Advanced Open Water level, and I am Nitrox qualified too.

Budget isn't a real worry, we'd be looking at 6 months roughly, with an option to do more if we wanted. So far Bali looks like being my favourite, but there is a foreign office advisory against travelling there, so insurance would be a real problem so we've kinda discounted that out of hand. Somewhere in the Carribean would be my first choice, I think Fiji/Australasia for the missus.

Also any advice from the experienced divers here would be more than welcome.
 
Im currently working abroad as a dive instructor and dont have much internet access so this will be brief. I did my DM internship in thailand and had a great time, the most important part of it was a choose a great centre to do it at. Make sure you research the centre just as much as destination, if you have dived thailand already check out malaysia, perithians are supposed to be amazing and costs should be similar. Borneo could be another cheap option.

On the kit front you have everything you will need, i did my dm internship with only my own mask and computer. I cant give any advice on the dm course as it has recently changed and and havent caught up on the updates to it. Insurance can be tricky because you are doing a proffesional qualification which a lot of policies exclude so make sure you read the small print carefully.

I get back home in a week so if you remind me ill give a proper reply then.

Rhys
 
MSD is simply a title - you get qualified up to Rescue Diver, do at least 5 specialities and log 50 dives and then you are an MSD. PADI make it look special by having it on it's own on the right hand side of the courses flowchart and in a different colour - I'm just the written exam for the Rescue Diver course and 2 logged dives away, and I'm only going MSD route as it's kinda like a "free" award and I'm not interested in going DM/Instructor anyways.

Before you can become a DM (which you need to be before instructor), you'll need to pass your Rescue Diver course. For this I'd recommend you have all your own kit to use - BCDs, regs, mask and fins as a minimum - and you are 100% happy with them and can use them without thinking, nothing worse than being at 6m when your "victim" decides to pull your mask off, pull your reg out and starts unpopping your BCD clips when you have to think about were on the rented BCD is your octopus!

It's physically very demanding, but is a very good primer for DM as you start to think less about yourself and more about everyone else around you. Rescue Diver requires you to be AOW, current EFR and possibly a minimum number of logged dives, which might be the same as AOW.....which makes no sense as you have to be AOW anyways!. Most places I have seen do EFR and Rescue courses altogether in 1 go.

Main reason I'm not interested in teaching is a) it's a lot of time to dedicate to the DM process which I dont have, and b) in the UK you do it for the love, not the money! Abroad it maybe different, but sadly I'm not in a position to move abroad.

As for where to go, find somewhere with a good stream of students. No point in going to a great dive destination and with virtually no students as your DM could take you forever to do. From what I have been told, when my club was trying to get me to sign up, if you get a reasonable steady amount of students, doing 5 days a week, you should breeze DM easily in 2-3 months.

Whatever and wherever you decide, good luck!! Most of the DM's & instructors I know love what they do and seem very happy.
 
platypus said:
Hoping this will get some joy in here, though might be best to ask in the sports arena...

The other half and I have been discussing a career break for a while now. One thing we both do, and love, is diving. We're looking at either a marine conservation project, or more recently we've looked at doing either a DM or Instructor internship type thing.

Any recommendations on where to go? Obviously costs vary wildly, Thailand being one of the cheapest places but we've both dived Thailand several times, and I'm really not keen on going back there if I'm honest.

Gear wise we have our own computers, bcds, snorkels, fins, regulators, but obviously we'd need more kit - and would probably purchase before hand. We are both certified to Advanced Open Water level, and I am Nitrox qualified too.

Budget isn't a real worry, we'd be looking at 6 months roughly, with an option to do more if we wanted. So far Bali looks like being my favourite, but there is a foreign office advisory against travelling there, so insurance would be a real problem so we've kinda discounted that out of hand. Somewhere in the Carribean would be my first choice, I think Fiji/Australasia for the missus.

Also any advice from the experienced divers here would be more than welcome.
Click to expand...

Hey I would definitely say Thailand and Australia are worth looking at, there is a good Thailand diving course here http://www.realgap.co.uk/thailand-scuba-diving-courses you can get qualified right up to instructor level and as you'll know there are some beautiful dive spots in Thailand; it might be a good opportunity to start there and then travel/dive more in South East Asia once you've got certificate.
 
We've actually found a rather awesome looking DM/Instructor course in the Similans, where we've dived before; and it would be worth going again to be honest as the diving is amazing.
 
I did both DM / and ICT in thailand and has a great time. (i also worked there for quite a while)

not sure why you say you are not really keen to go back there ?
 
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