Time to become....

[Kontakt Lauren]

Howzit everyone.

So... I live in South Africa. Currently In Durban. I have my advanced. With 11 dives. I'm a super water babbbyyy. I want to now go up to dive masters. Like an internship. I'm keen to go over seas. Anywhere. BUT... I don't have alot of cash. I have money for a plane ticket/food and possibly accommodation. Is there a place that is not dodgy that does this. I'll help out in the dive shop etc etc.

Aweh!
Lauren xxx

 

[beester]

Don't want to piss on your parade, but some things to consider:

- You have not enough experience to become professional (dm). You don't want to follow a zero to hero course and then find out that you are really out of your depth and don't know what you are doing.
- Internships cost money.
- Being the low ranking bottle monkey without experience is not a lot of fun. Besides those ranks are easily filled with locals.

If you really really want to do this (and maybe read the thread on Instructors making absolutely no money), I'd keep diving for now, just enjoying the experience. Then slowly invest in dives to broaden your experience, start talking to a local shop were you can hang out and learn more. Help out at the shop and learn skills that will increase your appeal to diveshops (ie: filling and mixing tanks, boat skills, regulator servicing, etc). Then do your DM and follow that up with an OWSI.

Enjoy ;-)

 

[RyanT]

100% agree with beester.

 

[Diver0001]

Howzit everyone.

So... I live in South Africa. Currently In Durban. I have my advanced. With 11 dives. I'm a super water babbbyyy. I want to now go up to dive masters. Like an internship. I'm keen to go over seas. Anywhere. BUT... I don't have alot of cash. I have money for a plane ticket/food and possibly accommodation. Is there a place that is not dodgy that does this. I'll help out in the dive shop etc etc.

Aweh!
Lauren xxx

Why don't you contact local shops and ask what they can do to help you along with this dream?

R..

 

[DevonDiver]

If you have something non-diving related to offer a dive center, then you could approach them for training on a payment-in-kind basis.

11 dives and AOW isn't really anything from a dive professional perspective. It's just a single weekend's worth of work for a DM in some parts of the world.

Enthusiasm is awesome, but it's hard to sustain when you're up at 5am on a monsoon morning pumping and lugging tanks. . .

 

[ajduplessis]

Howzit everyone.

So... I live in South Africa. Currently In Durban. I have my advanced. With 11 dives. I'm a super water babbbyyy. I want to now go up to dive masters. Like an internship. I'm keen to go over seas. Anywhere. BUT... I don't have alot of cash. I have money for a plane ticket/food and possibly accommodation. Is there a place that is not dodgy that does this. I'll help out in the dive shop etc etc.

Aweh!
Lauren xxx

Why don't you take an internship in Sodwana, no need for costly travel internationally. PM if interested, I can point you in right direction.

 

[yle]

Hi Lauren,

To answer your question "Is there a place that is not dodgy that does this.",

Yes, there is. And I'm sure there are more than one. Check out Rainbow Reef Dive Center in Key Largo, Florida. Their internship program has been running strong for at least six years (probably much longer... I've only known them for six years.) They take in people in exactly your situation, sometimes with no experience. Over a period of six months they train their interns in all aspects of working the dive operation (working in the shop and then later on the boats).

All courses (through instructor) and lodging in apartments (at the shop) are provided in exchange for your work. The only money out of pocket for the interns is for food and other living expenses. When working on the boats, the interns earn tips (but until that point, money is kind of tight. Fortunately the interns are all in the same boat, so to speak, so they tend to take care of each other.)

That's about all the info I have. Google them, find their website and contact them, see if they're what you're looking for.

Good luck!