Hi All,
Sarah F and I are planning to take a break from our respective work commitments to do the DM (and possibly instructor) course(s) abroad somewhere.
Our criteria is as follows:
-Take our time doing the courses to gain experience (around 3mnths)
-Inexpensive cost of living
-Warm
-Good Diving
-Cheap
We have a friend in Egypt (El Gouna) with whom we can do the courses over a 3 month period but my initial enquiries with regard to accom are not too promising, ranging from £130 per week for a studio upwards, which could easily put the kybosh on our plans! (any suggestions for accom in El Gouna? most seem to be holiday lets & too expensive).
With this in mind i'm fishing for an alternative, my first thought was Thailand but what with the recent disaster would it be better to look elsewhere? I know that the East side was unaffected but i believe that the better diving is in the west. Also, from my initial web search it would appear that dive schools would rather get you qualified and out of the door, but we'd be looking for a bit of a mini internship type thing.
Can anyone suggest a location, school, accom etc...?
We don't want to limit our options to just Egypt or Thailand, just the above criteria, so think outside the box guys!! Carribean? Honduras? Belize? Maldives?
local knowledge from anyone out there would be great!
Many Thanks
Ian