[Digger]

Well, I reckon you *could* do it, but I think you'd be ill-advised to do it, and I'd also be a bit wary of a centre that would try and pressure you into doing it. Certainly most of our guys jus wouldn't have let you go that fast. Trouble is, you end up with some dick like Darren's encountered, and then the next question is "Where did you train?" at which point I'd be adding that dive centre to the list of places I will never dive with. I'll also be looking out for people who trained with them, too.

I think it would be very useful to have the CD's name on the instructor card. Maybe that way they would be working a little harder to produce instructors to be proud of.

You can't go from AOW to instructor in one foul swoop. You'll miss all of what DMing is about, and you'll probably become one of those instructors who doesn't realise the value of a good DM either. They always seem to have just had an easy day, not realising it was the DM getting all the gear ready, helping students out and generally going above and beyond that made it that way.

After having gone through the PADI DM in 3 months, I thought I knew everything about diving. Then I did a few more dives and realised I had a lot more left to learn. Without coming back to the UK and doing the dives I'm doing now, I would have been one of those instructors that give PADI a reputation as being a card-collecting agency.

I've also been teaching in the pool with the BSAC club, and it scares me that a mate can go from Ocean Diver in a couple of months into a fast-track Sports Diver course, and a non-assessed IFC, into teaching in the pool with total novices. We won't let him do it as a club, and he's going to get slowed down a bit before all that. In the PADI system, you've not got the club around you to keep your feet on the floor, however.

Do the Rescue and DM as soon as, spend a year or two (this is my third year as a DM now) DMing, and you'll be on for the easiest IDC possible. You'll have seen hundreds of demonstration quality courses, and you'll have gained all the best bits. Then all you have to do is learn how to be a good instructor, and you're sorted. Great route to becoming a valued and skilled instructor in a centre.