scuba diving instructor training

Scuba Dive Training Finance???

Im new to the scuba world but just looking for a little help. I have seen many sites (Mexico, DR, Thailand etc..) about internships with companies that take you from zero dives to Instructor level with PADI in 6 months or so. Some of them you can “Finance” by working for them while you are there. Now I live in MI but am very serious about this as a career and have been looking into a few of these companies, being Dive College of Mexico and Dressel Dives. They both look interesting but I have heard a few bad things about Dressel. Has anyone done any of these programs? Are they legit? I want to be in a warm tropical area (Mexico, Florida, I dont care..) and as of now dont have the finances to just throw out the money to get certified. Dive College of Mexico looks real good and I have been in contact with Eric, but he requires all money payed before you start. Are there any other ‘internships’ available that you know of or maybe have taken that could help me get started?!

I work at a dive shop in Florida for extra cash to finish college and trust me, you don’t want to do this as a career… at least if you want to get paid good money (> $15k per year). At my scuba shop the owner barely makes enough money to get through life ( and this is in florida… dive capital of the world!). Yes it would be a great job – teaching scuba diving for a living, but this is why it doesn’t really pay well. Anyone would love to teach scuba, but it is really a hobby not a career. Its like teaching little kids baseball for a living… it might be fun, but it doesn’t pay much at all. Teaching scuba is something you either do as an owner of a shop or as a hobby you do on the side of your real job.

In terms of financing, it doens’t cost that much to become a scuba instructor in the first place. Three months of waiting tables and your pretty much set in terms of paying for it. My brother is currently working to get his instructors cert at a local dive shop. If I were you I would get some experience first. Then go to a dive shop and ask to work for them to pay for the cost of advance training… then move to where you want to live and start teaching at a local dive store.

Those of us who know something about diving aren’t very fond of PADI, but they do seem to attract a lot of unskilled instructors and students. I knew a student who didn’t pass the open water dive test at my shop ( not very comfortable in the water)… went straight to a padi dive shop and bamm! certified.

I knew a person that was a dive instructor in jamaica, and she was NOT a very good diver. I wouldn’t personally trust a scuba instructor who was trained outside of the US, so maybe other people wouldn’t either. So I would say move to Florida and start living and diving there.

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