Hi All,
I am quite new to the forum and if this is the wrong place to post, please let me know.
Background info - Couple going pro
We are a Dutch/French couple end 20s early 30s who are going to "go pro" . Our aim is to make diving our living and the focus is to do so in SEA / South-Pacific. Currently we are (nitrox) AOW-divers with (when we will start the course - early 2013) ~150 - 200 dives under the belt, with dive experience in Thailand, Indonesia, Philippines, Malaysia, Egypt, Australia, Ecuador, France, Croatia, The Netherlands (majority in SEA though).
Long-term we would like to become Instructors and eventually run a dive-resort and/or start our own.
DM-course requirements - the whole nine-yards
Short-term we want to find a place that suits our needs for a DM-course with the following requirements:
Question - where to do the course?
We made a short-list of places / countries that have our preferences and we would love to get input / opinions from people here why (not) to go to certain places and where exactly to go to
Palau
+ great diving
- Not sure if it has good non-liveaboard diving (quite essential for DM-course), Might be quite expensive
Mabul
+ We have quite some experience with Scuba-Junkie, like the crew, the place and athmosphere
- would have to look for big minus, small one is the food and the fact that it seems to be a pure UK-based clan
Indonesia (e.g. Bunaken, Ambon, Raja Ampat)
+ Beautiful diving, great locations
- Have seen little real professionalism, Visa requires us probably to leave country every 1-2 months, no work usually due to Visa limitations
I know Koh Tao is a big DM - Instructor machine, but I don't think that will be something for us.
Sorry for the length, just wanted to give you a good feel for our considerations...
I am quite new to the forum and if this is the wrong place to post, please let me know.
Background info - Couple going pro
We are a Dutch/French couple end 20s early 30s who are going to "go pro" . Our aim is to make diving our living and the focus is to do so in SEA / South-Pacific. Currently we are (nitrox) AOW-divers with (when we will start the course - early 2013) ~150 - 200 dives under the belt, with dive experience in Thailand, Indonesia, Philippines, Malaysia, Egypt, Australia, Ecuador, France, Croatia, The Netherlands (majority in SEA though).
Long-term we would like to become Instructors and eventually run a dive-resort and/or start our own.
DM-course requirements - the whole nine-yards
Short-term we want to find a place that suits our needs for a DM-course with the following requirements:
- Professionalism -- as we are aiming to become party-DMs on the occasional summer-holiday we are looking for a good professional learning school
- Beautiful diving -- the course is not only about the course, we want to enjoy diving while doing the course, therefore we are looking for a good diving spot
- Internship -- as we do not just want to pass the exam and go, but really gain experience and test and progress our new skills, we would like to stay and work for the same school for at least a couple of months
- Cost -- cost is always a point but not the main one at this point, if a course being twice the price of another one offers a better and more complete experience and includes more of our requirements, it might be worth the price
- Completeness -- as for the longer-term we want to be as autonomous as possible it would be good if the course includes or could include non-diving aspects as: gear repairs, engine repairs, compressor knowledge etc
Question - where to do the course?
We made a short-list of places / countries that have our preferences and we would love to get input / opinions from people here why (not) to go to certain places and where exactly to go to
Palau
+ great diving
- Not sure if it has good non-liveaboard diving (quite essential for DM-course), Might be quite expensive
Mabul
+ We have quite some experience with Scuba-Junkie, like the crew, the place and athmosphere
- would have to look for big minus, small one is the food and the fact that it seems to be a pure UK-based clan
Indonesia (e.g. Bunaken, Ambon, Raja Ampat)
+ Beautiful diving, great locations
- Have seen little real professionalism, Visa requires us probably to leave country every 1-2 months, no work usually due to Visa limitations
I know Koh Tao is a big DM - Instructor machine, but I don't think that will be something for us.
Sorry for the length, just wanted to give you a good feel for our considerations...