Suggestions for where to do our DM/Instructor course?

[FOX]

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

[Blonde Inside]

Originally Posted by FOX

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).

Ian

Why not rent and apartment in Hurghada, it should only cost about £120 a month for a good one, and its only a 20-25min commute

[daz]

Tenerife?

PM Scuba1 and Moray. They run IDC's and the course director they use has a 100% pass rate and comes highly recommended.

Daz

[Phoenix]

Ian,

Phuket is largely undamaged, if you want to do a proper internship you could do worse than Calypso Divers here. I did my DM with them and spent around 3 months on the course. Accomodation here is cheap, depending upon what you want obviously but at the moment. You should certainly be able to rent a 2 bedroom bungalow for around £140/month, a 1 bed place would be less.

If you want any specific info pm me and I'll get back to you.

Ian
p.s. Calypso have free Internet so you can keep up with YD FOC.

[bod]

Why not try the caribbean out? DM course over a two month period with top rate training and an extended IDC course to take you through to instructor level. The waters warm, divings fun and living is cheap depending on where you go. Utila in Honduras is probably one of the best to check out. I did courses with a couple of different shops on Utila and ended up with Deep Blue Divers. glad to help withany other Caribbean info.

Bod

[divebunnie]

I did my Divemaster course in Sharm with Ocean College, nothing like jumping in at the deep end (pardon the pun) to see what it is really like working in a busy dive centre, on busy boats, dealing with plenty of situations throughout the day.
It is great that you have plenty of time. I spent a month over there and used every single day to study, practice and learn. I was out on the boats learning the ropes during the day and studying or doing the written exams in the evenings. I had also gone out semi prepared having worked through the Knowledge workbook and Encyclopaedia of recreational diving ahead of the trip, which I would really advise.
As for expense, yes out of all the Egyptian dive towns, Sharm is possibly the most expensive, however the course standards are very high. There are also so many instructors and guides out there, that finding a spare room to rent should not be too much of an issue.
I also found the support and help from the instructors out there to be outsanding. If I needed a question answering, tips on knot tying, advice or even an ear to talk to, there was always someone near by to help me out.
I am planning to return there later this year to complete the transition and do the IDC.
Good luck wherever you decide to go.

[rooster]

Hi Ian

Utila in the Bay Islands (Honduras) would almost certainly meet your requirements.

BICD (Bay Islands Diving College) have an IDC every month I think, and do packages if you want to combine DM with IDC and get diving experience at the same time.

Living is cheap and the diving is very good in general.

If you wanted a bit of variety you could do the DM on Roatan, West End has a lot of Dive shops. Personally I thought the diving was better on Utila.

It is a small place though, you could risk island fever! (I was on Roatan for a couple of months and Utila for a few weeks and you see the same faces every day).

If you want to get more information drop me a PM - I have a good friend in Utila from my time there, he is an instructor at BICD and can give you plenty of info on costs, set up, timings.

Good luck with whatever you decide.

Regards



Rooster

[Warren_L]

I've heard lots of good things about the diving in Utila, Honduras. A friend of mine from Canada just moved down to Utila as the course director for Deep Blue Divers. He ran my IDC here in Toronto, and would highly recommend him. I can get you in touch with him if you'd like.

[BigB]

blowing my own horn here....check out www.reefdivers.co.za , I am a CD and owner of a CDC.
cya!

[fezboy]

As for blowing our own horns, I am the cd that scuba1 keeps talking about. Give Agua Tenerife Dive a bell and they can give you lots of advice .