Become a Scuba Instructor

Take the next step and become a PADI Diving Professional with our Instructor internships! No matter what your experience level, we can ensure that you receive the highest quality instruction and the hands on experience needed to succeed in the diving industry.

Imagine getting paid to scuba dive! It's easier than you think and PADI Instructors are qualified to teach all over the world.

The length of your program will depend on a number of factors including your current certification level, your diving experience, personal goals and of course, your budget. Living expenses on Roatan are low, rent is usually between $300-$400 a month and walking is the preferred method of travel around town. Most of our trainees share furnished apartments or rent one bedroom's in West End and walk to work everyday. It isn't difficult to sort out your accommodations once you arrive and the staff and trainees at OC will be glad to help. To read more about what Roatan is like check out Roatan Online and our guide to West End.

Students are welcome to use our rental gear for the duration of the program. However, all students must have their own watch or dive computer in order to keep track of dive profiles and a safety marker for drift dives and training dives. We encourage students to invest in their own dive gear and we have equipment deals for Interns including regulators, BCD's and dive computers. As a PADI Instructor you will need to have your own scuba diving equipment including a full set of scuba gear (masks, fins, snorkel, BCD and regulator) as well as a timing device (watch or computer), a pocket mask, reel and safety marker before you enroll in the IDC.

Below you will find descriptions of the PADI courses and requirements in the Instructor Internship. Keep in mind the length of your internship will depend on your current certification level, your diving experience and your potential career goals as a PADI Instructor. The core aspects of the Instructor program take on average four weeks to complete. Any additional time spent working at the dive center will further prepare you to work in the dive industry, whether it be working as an Instructor or continuing your dive education and completing your Master Scuba Diver Trainer rating (MSDT).

All Instructor Internships include required PADI materials, PADI registration and exam fees. There are no additional costs associated with the program.

PADI Instructor Internship

*prerequisites include Divemaster certification

Students will begin with an orientation to the dive center and a few days to acclimatize, check out the diving and try out any new dive gear they may have purchased or need to rent for the program. Next, begin the Assistant Instructor course which is 4 days in length and will be spent learning the PADI Instructional system, orienting yourself to our training sites and fine tuning your demonstration and teaching skills in confined and open water. Once completed you will be certified to teach peak performance buoyancy, refresher courses as well as lead divers on our scheduled dive trips. For the next three weeks you will be working as an employee of the dive center and preparing for the Instructor Development Course (IDC). The IDC is 10 days in length including the two day PADI Instructor Examination. The course is conducted in neighboring West Bay, just a short boat ride from West End. After completion Instructors can go on and attain their Master Scuba Diver Trainer (MSDT) rating or begin working as a PADI Instructor.

PADI Divemaster Internship

*prerequisites include rescue diver certification

Students will begin with an orientation to the dive center, taking a few days to acclimatize, check out the diving and try out any new dive gear they may have purchased or need to use for the program. After a few days of fun diving we jump right into practicing local rescue techniques and familiarizing yourself with the local hospitals, re-compression chamber and transportation routes before beginning the divemaster program.

The PADI Divemaster course is divided into three broad sections; divemaster theory, skill development and practical application. During the program, Divemaster trainees will be instructed on a broad range of dive theory, including dive equipment, marine ecology and the physics and physiology of diving. There are eight dive theory exams to complete as well as PADI specialty courses in coral reef conservation, fish and coral identification and reef ecology.

Divemaster trainees will also develop their skills through assisting with confined and open water training for new divers and helping out the Divemaster with the daily fun dives. Your main job as a divemaster trainee is to learn how to teach refresher courses for those divers who haven't been in the water for a while and to buddy up with the more in-experienced divers on our dive trips. Divemaster trainees will also lead students on the tour portions of their training dives and assist with Rescue training and specialty courses. We begin with re-learning the 20 skills from the Open Water diver course, practice until you are comfortable and than run a few mock refresher courses with the staff before you conduct your own under supervision. The refresher course includes both shallow water training and dives on the reef focusing on buoyancy control and coral reef awareness. This course is free for any certified diver at Ocean Connections ensuring you will get a lot of "hands on" experience during your program.

DMT's will also be trained to lead dive groups of up to eight people on our regularly scheduled trips. These trips go out three times a day and we can have very diverse groups which require several divemasters to manage properly. Depending on the conditions you may be buddied up with a few Junior open water divers or lead the two most experienced of the group, every dive we do is different. Drift diving and night diving are very popular on Roatan and learning how to mark the diver's positions, judge tides and currents and navigate underwater are important skills you will learn as Dmt. At the beginning of the program you will be assisting our Divemaster with his scheduled trips and eventually work up to leading divers and organizing the dive trips independently.

These core components of the Divemaster course and PADI professional level certification take at least 4 weeks to complete (6 to 8 weeks on average). Once you are PADI certified you will be working as a PADI Divemaster for us until you gain enough experience to progress on to the Instructor program.

PADI Rescue and EFR

prerequisites include Advanced diver certification

Before starting the divemaster program students will need to have completed their PADI Rescue diver certification. This course is one of the first steps to becoming a diving professional and is one of the toughest but most rewarding PADI courses available. The course begins with Emergency First Responder (EFR), a one day course where students will learn CPR for the water, basic first aid, AED training and first aid for hazardous marine life injuries. This course is taught here at the dive center and we use our talented staff to do our best to make the scenarios as real as possible. Your course could include scenes from power tool and boat accidents, physical mishaps on the stairs, or jellyfish stings and sea urchin spines. This is followed by 3 days of Rescue training where we will learn self rescue techniques, managing panicked and tired divers, in-water rescue techniques and shore and boat rescues. On the final day, students will be put to the test with three final scenarios where they will use the skills they have learned to properly manage a number of different crisis.

PADI Advanced open water

prerequisites include open water certification

As an Open water diver the first step to becoming a Divemaster is learning techniques in the specialty areas of diving. Your advanced course includes training in 5 different areas including deep diving and underwater navigation. There is an extensive list of adventure dives available, for more information please have a look at our PADI advanced courses page.