Best Place to do become a DiveMaster in the US - Hawaii or Florida??

[hkdiver7737]

Thanks everyone for the responses. I'm gonna be honest I didn't expect this many within a day - truly a great community here. I'm definitely not planning to work as a DM - it might be fun as a sabbatical in the future but I'm aware it's becoming harder and harder to make a living even as an instructor.

@Lorenzoid and @Zef - was definitely thinking about it as the "natural progression" and since I felt like I learnt a lot during my Rescue Cert, but you gave me some food for thought and it seems to make more sense to just have some fun dives during that break instead of cramming a DM certification within a month

Cheers

 

[scubadada]

I would only progress down the professional pathway if I expected to work

 

[chrisjur]

I'm definitely not planning to work as a DM

I think you answered your own question then.

If you are mainly looking to improve your diving and have the time to blow in a nice place, do some research on good instructors or dive shops with excellent education programs and take some classes. (Horizon Divers on Key Largo is a good starting point, IMO).

If you catch the bug and want to become a DM or instructor down the road, those options will always be available to you.

 

[Bob DBF]

I think you answered your own question then.

If you are mainly looking to improve your diving and have the time to blow in a nice place, do some research on good instructors or dive shops with excellent education programs and take some classes. (Horizon Divers on Key Largo is a good starting point, IMO).

If you catch the bug and want to become a DM or instructor down the road, those options will always be available to you.

Great advice.

I would add, you needn't take a class as such, find a good instructor and pay him to evaluate your skills and discuss, and work on what is needed. A class is good if you need a particular skill, but becoming a better diver is a more nebulous question and may not be found in a traditional class.

When I started diving it was more done with mentors, rather than instructors and classes.

 

[Knockneed Man]

Hkdiver7737 -

If this is a personal goal of yours then do it. My rec would be to go to the Blue Grotto in Williston, FL and rent a cabin for the week and do your DM with the onsite instructor Kevin. He’s awesome, Blue Grotto is awesome, and you can hole up and knock it out in a very efficient way. Good luck and enjoy the journey.

 

[bassplayer]

i'd suggest planning an intro to tech course over your break and if you like it consider some further tech training

 

[grantmac]

Do PADI intro to tech or GUE fundies (if that's your jam) then Tech40 or whatever PADI calls it.

Focus on expanding your capabilities rather than just collecting cards.

 

[Capt Jim Wyatt]

Do not go to Rainbow Reef

Hah - we have this running disagreement on Rainbow Reef.

RR will provide you a PADI DM course as good as any place that does a PADI DM course over a couple of weeks.

A great DM course will take a few months and will involve "OJT" and not just a week or two in a pool and in a classroom.

 

[sheeper]

Lots of advice here. And a lot of it is bad.
Here's my take. If you want to be a DM because you want to work in the industry...cool. go for it. get the best training possible.
If you just want a cool cert card....get other ones. Expand your diving with wrecks, deep dives, tech. You'll learn as much and actually get better and varied dive experience.

I would definitely go with Florida and not the Keys.
I work with a large dive shop in South Florida (Stuart Scuba in Stuart ,Florida). Our area is much more reasonable in terms of cost of living than the Keys or south, south Florida. We train a lot of DMs and have a lot of DMs working for us as we run 3 of our own dive boats and a very, very busy shop. Can you do a DM in 3 weeks? Sure....maybe. But you better have great skills before you start. We run a tough program. I often discourage people from doing a DM class UNLESS they really intend to work in the industry (or heaven forbid, go on to be an instructor!) But no matter if you want to go DM, or instructor, or just be a great, competent diver, getting training and getting lots of varied experience is the most worthwhile thing you can do.

 

[berndo]

RR will literally rob you.

If there is an actual story behind it, say what it is. Just posting one liners over and over again about how they 'rob' people is BS.

places I can go to without a passport).

Why is that?