Divemaster Internships

[northernone]

You did flight, lodging, food, and the entire DM course for 100 bucks??

So... was the flight around 40 bucks, 5 bucks for food, 30 bucks for lodging... and only 25 bucks for the DM course?

That sounds, in every sense of the word, "fantastic."

I apologize, thanks for drawing it to my attention. Unfortunate typo.

Agreed that would be fantastical! I do know people have worked off their training costs, paying in time instead of cash but I prefer being a paying customer.

 

[Dinlo33]

I am going to disagree with the "just dive more" advice if you are truly dedicated to your goal. If you just dive more, you will almost certainly just repeat the same dives at the same skill level while you fully and completely ingrain the bad habits you have now.

A couple years ago a brand new OW diver was assigned to me for AOW a few days after he got OW. What's the hurry, I wondered, but I taught the class. I wore my typical gear, which is often associated with technical diving, and he asked me about it. He got excited. Within 6 months he was working on both technical diving certifications and DM certification. Not much later he was both a trimix diver and an OW instructor. Not long after that he was a commercial diver earning his full income from scuba. Every now and then I get a message about his latest advance in scuba diving. He is still enthused and still growing as a diver.

If you are thinking about commercial diving, then you had better get rid of the "no cold water" mindset. You might as well get used to that early in your career. The diver mentioned in the second paragraph took Drysuit as his first post AOW certification.

Hi boulderjohn,

Thanks for the advice, it is certainly good to hear some differences in opinion! I would not say i'm against Cold Water diving per say- I would just rather live in a warmer climate and dive warmers waters while I dive recreationally! If I do come to learn Commercial diving, I will most likely train back here in the UK anyway!

 

[Dinlo33]

You'll find thousands of places catering to exactly the kind of thing you're wanting to do. Asia or the Caribbean are both popular and can be easily done in your budget. Some people would recommend training where you intent to be employed.

I did my DM training, not as an internship, in central America. All in (flight, lodging, food, rentals, training, materials, certs etc) cost me 1400 USD (unfortunate typo originally, thanks for catching it @yle ). Talking to people that was somewhat on the inexpensive side but I was an experienced traveler already.

Enjoy your diving,
Cameron

Hi Cameron,

Thank you for the reply, I am not 100% set on doing DM via the internship option, I am just looking for experiences of where (if any!) ScubaBoard members have interned themselves! I am certainly not opposed to DM training outside of an internship, I just feel like with an internship programme I would gain much more experience in the industry and it would give me much more of a rounded view of what it takes to be a full-time diver.

 

[Dinlo33]

I know people who have taken Dressel up on their free internship offer and have had good things to say and positive outcomes: Free PADI DIVEMASTER INTERNSHIP with Dressel Divers

Hi Trailboss123,

I have looked at Dressel Divers previously to starting this thread, and while it may be exactly what some people want, I just dont think it would suit me, but thank you for the reply!

 

[Dinlo33]

With the price of the DM now, you're not gonna make 2-3 month in Europe with your budget, that's for sure, but in Asia you won't have any problems.

It's the biggest place that does that, so there's a lot of different opinion, but Ban's in Koh Tao is great for learning.
Leaving in Thailand is not expensive, the food is awesome, Ban's offers you free dives for the rest of your diving life and prepars you really correctly for the IDC, the water is usually around 30°, underwater is beautiful and there's foot massage everywhere

For the highest of your budget (DM is around 1000€), you could try the Canarian Islands, the water is not super hot but still bearable with a wetsuit and the living doesn't cost a lot of money.
And it gives you a good experience as a guide, since you have to search more to find interesting things than in warmer water !

(You can PM if you wanna know my personal experience (not trying to sell you nada))

Hi Nianne,

Thanks for reading and replying!
I have been to Thailand a few times now, however I have never dived there! Of all the countries in Asia, Thailand is the only one without an appeal to me- although I STILL don't know why! I have kind of disregarded it as an area to learn, I suppose because that is where "everyone" learns to dive, but thinking more about it, there must be a reason why it is so popular- I will certainly start looking a little more into it, and I will look at Ban's too!

Thanks!

 

[Dinlo33]

Commercial diving isn't much like recreational scuba diving. You are not usually diving in warm clear water, more typically its cold and murky. Sometimes the water is polluted or toxic. And they are not paying you to dive, they are paying you to do something under water. Welding pipes, assembling or disassembling structures, scraping boat hulls, etc.

Hi KevinNM,

Thanks for the reply, its good to hear from a variety of different people. I do realise that commercial and recreational SCUBA are very different- but living the life of a recreational diver for a few months at least gives me a more realistic sense of 'diving' than working a 9-5 white collar job in the UK. I just want to be sure I'm comfortable with living in a -for lack of a better phrase- 'dive based situation' before dropping many, many £££'s on a commercial divers course!
Commercial diving for me is likely a few years off anyway!

 

[Blasto]

Commercial diving is mostly repairing, occasionally building something underwater, most often for the oil industry.

Extremely different from rec diving instruction - being a DM or SI is hospitality industry, commercial diving is blue collar labor, with diving being a particular kind of hazardous environment.

 

[EricTheDood]

Does anybody have any personal experience of Divermaster Internships across the globe? I have a goal of spending 2-3 months diving and earning at least DM, but if financially possible getting to IDC.

I'm not a DM but had planned to go down that path at one point (on indefinite hold at the moment).

After talking to many people, what I gathered was that you should absolutely plan on going through IDC as soon as you get your DM, and budget accordingly.

Some places are more desirable to live in than others, and when more people compete for a limited number of job openings, the instructors get to dive while the DMs stay on land.

 

[xmass-Eve]

It depends which kind of DM you want to do, PADI or SSI... In SSI you can go a bit further and become a dive control specialist. I think that relates to PADI assistant instructor. It takes more or less 2 months but you do learn lots. You can later still go back to PADI for your instructor but you know already more than the rest...
Manta Dive Gili Trawangan is a great option if you would go the SSI way... I used to teach there. It's always lots of fun while doing the things you love! And the water is warm too

 

[Dinlo33]

I'm not a DM but had planned to go down that path at one point (on indefinite hold at the moment).

After talking to many people, what I gathered was that you should absolutely plan on going through IDC as soon as you get your DM, and budget accordingly.

Some places are more desirable to live in than others, and when more people compete for a limited number of job openings, the instructors get to dive while the DMs stay on land.

Hi Eric,
Thanks for the advice- I have heard similar things, one of my options at present does include IDC as well as DM- at the same cost as both other option which only include DM!
Maybe this is well worth giving extra consideration to!

Many Thanks,
Will