Advice needed to complete training

[Mhcatl]

Hello! I’m an advanced PADI diver with about 350 dives, most of them in TCI but I’ve been to Bonaire, Curacao, Aruba, Grand Cayman, Belize, Bahamas, etc.

I would like to take the next step by completing the rescue course as well as divemaster (or possible master diver) one after the other.

I have been assuming I would do the training in Curacao or Bonaire, mostly because they are my favorite dive destinations. Does anyone have any advice about how long this would take, overall cost of training and/or lodging?

If I did the training at a specific resort (e.g., buddy dive), would it be common to get a discount at the resort for the lodging or would most people get a one month apartment off-site?

Any experience or advice would be appreciated including recommendations for where to do the training. I suppose I could go to key largo as well so I could consider that as well.

Thanks for any advice or insight.

 

[ermaclob]

The answer to most of the stuff your asking is "it depends".

I never been to those spots. So i have no recommendations. I will say if i where planing to do such a trip, i would be making alot of phone calls and research to get the best deals and and have all the info to plan accordingly. I dont think rescue and master diver are that long of classes you can probably knock them out in a hand full of days. But again it depends on the instructor and quality of training.

 

[Mhcatl]

Thanks. I have really just decided in the past couple of weeks to finally do this after years of thinking about it. Gonna try to shoot for April or May.

 

[tbone1004]

@Mhcatl so why do you think you want to do this courses? What are they going to do for you with your diving?

 

[ermaclob]

@Mhcatl so why do you think you want to do this courses? What are they going to do for you with your diving?

This is true. Rescue is a cool class dont get me wrong. But if i personally didnt see a benefit to taking them other then just cuz, id spend my money on more dives

 

[Marie13]

Rescue is one thing. Why DM? Do you want to teach, herd cats (excuse me, OW students), what exactly? I say this because some people have got it into their head I should do DM in a few years. I don't want to teach or herd cats, the liability issue is a huge minus in my book, and I'd much rather be diving Great Lakes wrecks than herding students at the quarry. I don't buy the line from some that it makes you a better diver.

 

[ScubaWithTurk]

I can't speak to where you should train but I can say the Rescue course is good for all divers IMO. As for DM, I don't see a world in which you need that unless you plan on working as a such.

 

[JBFG]

I took my PADI rescue course last fall.
There’s an online portion that takes about 48 hours of study to completed. After that I spent 2 days diving (well mostly at the surface) to complete the qualification. This again will depend on the shop. They may want you to do pool session before the 2 open water ish dives

 

[TMHeimer]

Well, this touches on several oft discussed (and recently) SB topics. Most comments I've read over the years say Rescue is a great course for everybody (I agree for sure, but recently found out that some basic rescue skills are taught in the NAUI OW course and are required). Divemaster--IMO not a big help at all for your personal diving, but something you do if you want to teach (assist, mainly, or as a stepping stone to Instructor). But, you have to polish your "20 basic skills" (or whatever the number is now) to "demonstration level". So, while there are better courses to take to improve your diving, DM helps with the skills for sure. No one's mentioned Master Diver yet (wish I could do that popcorn eating thing). And OMG--comparing MSD programs.............................
I guess it depends on two things--
1. What do you want to do, and more importantly,
2. Do you have the $ or want to spend it doing that?

 

[ScubaWithTurk]

Well, this touches on several oft discussed (and recently) SB topics. Most comments I've read over the years say Rescue is a great course for everybody (I agree for sure, but recently found out that some basic rescue skills are taught in the NAUI OW course and are required). Divemaster--IMO not a big help at all for your personal diving, but something you do if you want to teach (assist, mainly, or as a stepping stone to Instructor). But, you have to polish your "20 basic skills" (or whatever the number is now) to "demonstration level". No one's mentioned Master Diver yet (wish I could do that popcorn eating thing) .

RAID also has rescue material in the OW course and then goes into greater detail in the Advanced course. Now that I have done PADI and RAID, I see a huge benefit to adding the rescue information and skills from the start. (Added the popcorn thing for you)