Step One

Once I set my mind to becoming a SCUBA instructor I needed to decide where I was going to take my classes.

My first inclination as to how to start this process was to choose a location and work from there. My first choice of location was the Philippines. I have always wanted to dive in the Pacific Ocean, particularly the Ring of Fire. However, I knew that leaving the country for a few months to SCUBA dive was not on the top of the list for approved post graduation activities and traveling half way around the world dropped it even lower. So I decided to look for a location in the Caribbean a little closer to home.

I chose Puerto Rico and began searching for a dive shop to do all of my courses through. As I was looking at the dive shops, I realized that most places just offered the courses and then left you on your own. I was hoping to find a place to pick up experience as well as the certifications. So I changed my search tactic to searching for dive internships. There are a lot of them out there.

Each internship offers pricing based on different criteria so make sure you take into account what is included in the price. The prices that are the lowest, in my experience, only included the cost of the course. You still needed to buy the course material, certification and testing fees, equipment, and housing for the duration of the course. When I started adding up the additional costs, I found that most offerings were all running about the same price. I chose Divearth.com , in the Bay Islands, Honduras. They were the most responsive to my emails and questions and their package included all costs except for food for the duration of the training. It is nice to know that I already have a placed lined up to stay while going through the training.

Once I lined up the dive shop and registered with them, I knew that I was going to Honduras to become a SCUBA instructor. I was going to get to do something not many people do: go after their dream.