PADI MASTER SCUBA DIVER TRAINER

(Please visit PADI's page on MSDT to learn more.)

That nice lady in the photo above is T.J. Staples, pictured at her desk in Grand Cayman. If you've ever seen the PADI "Go Pro" video, you've heard T.J. talk about her career as a dive professional. No, she is not a paid actor, and there is nothing phony about anything in the video production. T.J was a classmate of mine during the Course Director Training Course at Newport Beach, CA during July, 2008. I can assure you she loves her job just as much in real life as she states during the video. And why shouldn't she?

So the question which has to be in your mind is,

"So how do I get a job like T.J. has?"

And the short answer is...

It's not easy, but it can be done.

How??? There are lots of new Open Water Scuba Instructors out there, many of them avidly following postings on the PADI jobs board and firing off resumes in the mail as soon as a good job posting appears. How do you make yourself stand out from the rest of the crowd?

The best thing you can do to show that you are serious about your career as a dive professional is to take the next step beyond OWSI and become a MASTER SCUBA DIVER TRAINER. To do that, you'll need to gain some experience teaching. The basic requirements are to have issued 25 PADI certifications and to have been certified to teach 5 different PADI specialties beyond the 3 that come with OWSI.

If you want to use Method 2 (direct application to PADI) to obtain certification as a Specialty Instructor, you'll have to wait until you've completed your first 25 certifications. But those 25 will be hard to gain if you can't teach any specialties; in order to get your certification count up, you need to be able to teach specialties. It sounds kind of like a chicken and egg problem, doesn't it?

The answer is to use Method 1 and take a course as a SPECIALTY INSTRUCTOR from a PADI Course Director. To make this easy for you, Aquarius Dive Shop will offer a MSDT PREPARATION COURSE at the conclusion of each IDC. We can offer 5 SPECIALTY INSTRUCTOR courses for the price of 4 (normally, $500 total) and get you on your way toward MSDT quickly! The choice of what specialties you take is yours, but we do need to plan in advance. Our suggestion, based on the demand we have seen in the Monterey area, is to focus on the following specialties:

Enriched Air
Dry Suit Diver
Emergency Oxygen Provider
Underwater Navigator
Digital Underwater Photographer
Deep Diver
Night Diver
Underwater Naturalist

We can work with you on others if you are interested, but experience has shown that these are the most commonly requested specialties.

Cost: In order to help you along the way to MSDT, we offer a MSDT Preparation Course twice a year, after each Monterey IE. This course consists of 5 Specialty Instructor courses for the price of 4--a $625 value for $500. Which courses do you want? The choice is yours; just let us know in advance so we can plan ahead.

Schedule: For 2009, the Monterey IE dates are May 9/10 and September 12/13. We'll give you a couple of weeks to celebrate after the IE, then start MSDT Prep. at 6 p.m. on Monday, May 25 and again at 6 p.m. on Monday, September 25.

Come talk with us and tell us what you would like to do. Together, we can get you on your way toward completing the requirements for MASTER SCUBA DIVER TRAINER. And that's going to give you a big leg up toward getting a dream job like T.J. Staples has!