Andy,
This reply is lengthy and perhaps a little inarticulate. I was initially going to PM it to you as it doesn't directly answer your question (I tried to answer your question but kept disappearing off at tangents), but here it is, in case any one else is interested.
Wherever in the world you choose, I'm sure that you will love the diving and that there will be plenty of new creatures to see.
Nic
well i like diving and i like learning and want to see as much as possible. i am not really out to make money or jump to instructor. i know my abilities and they are limited.
but a new location, working with a team, doing lots of diving at a reasonable cost in a beautiful location seems like a good thing to do. i would be more than happy if a centre didn't think i was suitable but i'm not a cowboy. a good dive centre should know when i was ready to do certain tasks. at the end of the day they don't have to sign me off.
go easy. its a great thing and i have taken to it relatively well so why not investigate further?
That's a good attitude to have towards the certification. Mine was similar; I made it clear at the outset that I was after the knowledge and experience, not the card, so if I did not meet the grade then so be it.
I would suggest you get some more dives in before going for the DM, but with the right attitude you should be fine.
I have dived with DMTs with a limited number of dives under their belts and many of them have been an embarassment to the professional dive industry... They are professional divers in training and often struggle with many of the basics.
Some advice
Your dive gear
Make sure that you have dive gear that you are familar with that is robust and appropriate. I know that there are many DMTs who hire equipment, which is, IMHO crazy foolish. This also includes owning and carrying a dsmb, torch etc. If you're not used to diving with a dsmb, then get some familiarity with it first, or at least make it known to your instructor that you're a bit rusty with its deployment.
Standards of instruction and number of trainees vary
Find an instructor based on the standard of training that you know you will receive. It is pointless of have the cert card but not the training and experience to back it up. Some instructors will go above and beyond what is required, and so they should, standards really are minimal, and you are in effect, employed by them and representing their business, if you are ****e, you reflect poorly upon them. They should be providing a challenging albeit attainable level of training.
A lot of centres are embossed, watermarked and neon-lit with the phrase 'we are not a dive factory' which probably means that they are a dive factory.
My DM course was me, just me, and I am so glad that I was lucky enough to train that way. The only time another DM would have been a help would have been for practise dives/mapping dives; to have a buddy without bothering one of the dive guides; or maybe to bounce questions off when studying.
Also tied in here is
cost
The cost of a more expensive course is usually but not always outweighed by the level of instruction.
A more pricey course can also be negated by eating local food (if SE Asia for example), living in the cheapest available accommodation, and negotiating on price (because youre there for 4 weeks), and not drinking so much alcohol (you're diving right?... so don't drink so much and set an example)
Is 4 weeks long enough?.
The longer you have, the more experience you receive.
An OW water diver taking AOW at our centre told me that he couldn't swim when he passed OW but he liked diving so he learned how to swim (good for him); he was also astonished that I was planning on training for 8 weeks, because at the dive centre he trained at the DM course took 16 days.
Towards the end of my 8 weeks, I was still way behind on mapping my dive site, which was extensive..., and had various scenarios to get officially signed off.
We then had 2 large groups of divers who took up alot more of my and the instructor's time than expected. It was not rushed, but it was a close call.
It was ...
Week 2 before I had the confidence to offer people with poor trim and/or buoyancy advice on weighting etc.
Week 6 when my instructor and I pulled apart regs and bcds and operated the compressor.
Week 4 when I had to hold the hand of a 12 year old all dive, while his nervous mother held the hand of an instructor.
Week 3/4 when my instructor started throwing himself off the dive boat, a dive guide would not surface from a dive, (prompting me to get flustered and attempt to coordinate an effective rescue)
Week 7/8 when I had to continually inflate the same girls bcd at the surface after every dive because she would spit out her regulator and forget how to float.
Week 8 when I had to ferry my own O2 cylinder across to another boat because a diver wasn't sure if they had dci or a jellyfish sting (fortunately I got the tank back and my boat could continue to dive)
Week 7/8 when I almost had to physically force a group of Nitrox divers to mark their tanks and the log. Regardless of how many times I explained how to mark the cylinder, and how to calculate the MOD (in case they had forgotten and were embarassed) they would not write on the bloody cylinder!
Week 8 when I had an intentional man over board, at night, on a boat with no rescue equipment (it was not our boat, and was not being used for diving at the time)
This wasn't training, this was an idiot.
Week 8 when I could not pull one of the dive instructors into the dive boat unassisted. If they are heavy, and do not have an bouncy buoyant exposure suit on, I now know that I have to leave them in their buoyancy jacket, while I get into the boat, then I can haul them up, ish.
Don't be encouraged by or sold on extras
useful or exciting extras that will make you more employable...like O2 Admin, equipment familiarity, compressor operation etc.
If you are keen, ask questions and assist, then you will learn these things during your spell as DM anyways.
With regards to O2 administration... this is simple, but a must have, and a good dive instructor should be able to spend a little time showing you the operation of the centre's O2 kit without charging you. It would be foolish of the centre not to ensure your familiarity with their own setup as it is an important safety feature. The assemble when required, constant flow only kit we used in the philippines was completely different to the presetup in a tube kit I am used to in the UK.
Some centres will also cite, free dives! and free personalised t-shirts!
(wooo! what is this summer camp?) you're there to be a professional diver, and will probably get a t-shirt anyways. If not, and you want a t-shirt, print your own. I bought a shirt for <£1 and a local guy printed it for... <£0.50.
Also, don't get carried away with the location and thinking about cheap free dives. The DM course should not include cheap free dives as when you are diving you have responsibility to the divers you are with. Your eye is on the divers more than it is on the whale shark or manta rays. Of course if you are guiding a dive then the divers expect flora and fauna of interest to be pointed out but always be aware of your divers.
Therefore if you are lucky enough to actually get a free dive or two, use them to clue up on the local wildlife, and practise your demo dive skills and rescue scenarios.
My instructor took me on a 'free' dive where I (we) were challenged with finding 10 species of shrimp. I think we found 8-9, but over time on that site, I added another 3-4. From that point on, all I could find were shrimp, but I could maybe only have found 3 species before our shrimpy dive.
Don't be deterred if a dive centre considers your disinterest in making money/being an instructor as a negative
... that attitude screams PADI, and they're probably just sad because you don't want to spend more money on learning how to teach people how to snorkel.
I too am not out to make the jump to instructor. I have a lot of problems with the professional dive industry and am not sure where I would slot in as a rookie DM. I do however, like you, want to be a more informed, skilled, and personally reponsible diver, who can take on planning and managerial roles within my sports club, and generally be more useful and dependable.
