Dive Instructor Training Abroad

[ScubaRambo]

Hi all Didn't know if this was the best place to put this, but who knows...

Just in case my plans for school this next year don't pan out, does anyone have any information on dive training schools abroad? I would love to head out to Thailand, and I've researched soem of them to be at around $10,000USD for the full deal. Does anybody know of any information on good schools? Any experience with these? Any cheaper ones ?

Thanks all!

 

[MauiScubaSteve]

Please read this recent thread for a preview of how this thread might turn out; and that thread was in a flame free zone!

http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/ne...ring-diving/315351-zero-hero-top-schools.html

 

[tomfcrist]

Zero to hero schools in general are not that great......However im sure some are fantastic.
10k seems like a heap of money to me.
AOW 250
Rescue 250
master 250
Divemaster 600
ITC W/ books- 3200
--------------------
$4550 through a good dive shop with a Course director on board. Probably take you 9 months part time to complete, all the while you can still go to school, work or whatever since your internship will be evenings and weekends. If you were in Virginia I'd hook you up, but look for a local shop that will suit your needs.

 

[MauiScubaSteve]

Zero to hero schools in general are not that great......However im sure some are fantastic.

Might I ask how many Instructor Factories you have first hand knowledge of to come to that conclusion? Or perhaps you personally know many lame Instructors who went to most of the Instructor Factories in the World to come up with that conclusion?

At most I'm betting all you can factually say is that you don't agree with the concept of Instructor Factories and all you've heard or read from people who similarly don't really know is that they are the spawn of hell.

 

[marinediva]

here is a link to a school I can recommend.

http://www.dive-careers.com/index.html

10,000$us will get you all your courses, and if you budget right, accommodation and your equipment as well.

 

[tomfcrist]

Might I ask how many Instructor Factories you have first hand knowledge of to come to that conclusion? Or perhaps you personally know many lame Instructors who went to most of the Instructor Factories in the World to come up with that conclusion?

At most I'm betting all you can factually say is that you don't agree with the concept of Instructor Factories and all you've heard or read from people who similarly don't really know is that they are the spawn of hell.

My opinion of instructor factorys lies with my experiance with students of such factories.....piss poor instructors. I'm not saying that all of these places are bad, however the vast majority are creating poor instructors, with poor standards. I'm tired of seeing instructor certify students that walk on the bottom, have no bouyancy skills and are hazards to every diver that they dive with.

You can become an instructor in the US, supporting your local economy (and your LDS), for significantly less money. I'm not going to try to say that there arent places in the states that will teach you to be a piss poor instructor, but at least you can shop around here and find that info out before dropping 10k on your class and 2 k on a plane ride.

 

[MauiScubaSteve]

My opinion of instructor factorys lies with my experiance with students of such factories.....piss poor instructors.

Could you please completely answer my now slightly expanded questions; how many piss poor instructors have you personally identified as piss poor, what percentage of those piss poor instructors became instructors at a Factory and how many different Factories does this sample include.

Hell, if they are really piss poor instructors why not go all the way and give everyone the intel; names of the instructors and the offending Factories.

 

[tomfcrist]

Could you please completely answer my now slightly expanded questions; how many piss poor instructors have you personally identified as piss poor, what percentage of those piss poor instructors became instructors at a Factory and how many different Factories does this sample include.

Hell, if they are really piss poor instructors why not go all the way and give everyone the intel; names of the instructors and the offending Factories.

You obviously want to turn this into a flaming rant back and forth, and im not at all interested in doing so......

Dimeing out instructors and their training facilitys isnt really something that i would suggest doing on this board, its more for the Instructors only board.....

You ask how many piss poor instructors i have PERSONNALY identified, Zero........However how many have been Identified by a hefty group of my peers in my area, 12ish.......from an assortment of agencies, 4 of which are PADI MSDT's trained at the same facility in Thailand(Yes their students LITERALLY walk on the bottom and pass.).

If someone starts a thread on this site, everyone is entitled to throw in their 2 cents, and not everyone will agree with each other.

From what I'm seeing of your personality, no matter what anybody says, if you dont agree with it 100% you are going to try to ridicule them, and thats your buisiness.......I'm on this site to help people, not to start pissing contests with people like you. If you dont like what i have to say, or my opinion on a subject, send me a message personally, and we can discuss it offline.....This aint the place for it.

 

[MauiScubaSteve]

Zero to hero schools in general are not that great......

My opinion of instructor factorys lies with my experiance with students of such factories.....piss poor instructors.

Could you please completely answer my now slightly expanded questions; how many piss poor instructors have you personally identified as piss poor, what percentage of those piss poor instructors became instructors at a Factory and how many different Factories does this sample include.

You ask how many piss poor instructors i have PERSONNALY identified, Zero........However how many have been Identified by a hefty group of my peers in my area, 12ish.......from an assortment of agencies, 4 of which are PADI MSDT's trained at the same facility in Thailand(Yes their students LITERALLY walk on the bottom and pass.).

My goal on SB, for quite some time, has been to sort through the flames and bias for the facts. When I see something questionable I usually ask pertinent questions to clear up any confusion. Often the questions cause heated debate but usually the facts are uncovered.

You first state that Instructor Factories are "generally not that great", then you say your "opinion" is due "your experiance with students of such factories.....piss poor instructors" yet now you seem to admit that you have not personally identified any piss poor instructors.

So a hefty number of your peers have decided that there are 12-ish piss poor instructors in your area, from an assortment of agencies. Well since there are very few non PADI Instructor Factories, and since you seem to only definitely identify 4 of the 12-ish piss poor instructors as being Instructor Factory products with all of them coming from the same Instructor Factory....

A third or less of the piss poor instructors you have only heard of are from the only Instructor Factory you have ever heard of instructors coming from? So two thirds or more of the piss poor instructors you have only heard of are traditional instructors?

I'm on this site to help people

 

[tomfcrist]

My goal on SB, for quite some time, has been to sort through the flames and bias for the facts. When I see something questionable I usually ask pertinent questions to clear up any confusion. Often the questions cause heated debate but usually the facts are uncovered.

You first state that Instructor Factories are "generally not that great", then you say your "opinion" is due "your experiance with students of such factories.....piss poor instructors" yet now you seem to admit that you have not personally identified any piss poor instructors.

So a hefty number of your peers have decided that there are 12-ish piss poor instructors in your area, from an assortment of agencies. Well since there are very few non PADI Instructor Factories, and since you seem to only definitely identify 4 of the 12-ish piss poor instructors as being Instructor Factory products with all of them coming from the same Instructor Factory....

A third or less of the piss poor instructors you have only heard of are from the only Instructor Factory you have ever heard of instructors coming from? So two thirds or more of the piss poor instructors you have only heard of are traditional instructors?

The fact that i have not personally identified them lies with the fact that it is not my sole opinion......I have seen them teach and im not impressed, neither are my peers.

Of the horrible instructors that i know of in my area 7 are PADI, 2 are SSI, 1 NAUI, and im not positive on the other 2's affiliation as i dont know them that well.....There are other C-Card factory instructors in the area, and im not to fond of them either. The reason being is that when I take a dive trip for my own personal enjoyment, I dont like dealing with "Kinda" scuba divers that are a danger to all persons on board including themselves.

Yes there are some Instructors trained through traditional methods that are sub-par, however this in my experiance is the result of the shops they work thruogh and the pay rendered to the instructor.......There is in general a direct correlation between the quality of instruction and the pay scale of the instructor. This isnt always true, but it is evident in this area.

Once again I'm not here to bash PADI, as my first cert was PADI....I believe that every organization has good and bad points, but if i wouldnt trust my kids to be trained by an instructor, then in my opinion they are piss poor.
PADI has standards that are supposed to be met, and often they are not. Even once a complaint has been filed, many times nothing is done about standards violations. This is why companys have their Instructor mills in foreign lands, where standards take a back seat to profits.