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This indeed a bit cheaper. Dive master here at Belgium costs about 400-450 EUR.

I did my open water and advanced on the Philippines but I learned diving back in Belgium by joining a dive club and train skills in training. These 3-day courses are rushed too much in contrast with diving in Belgium were the conditions are much harder.

But it was a good way to get your certification in a cheap way :-)

yeah for sure PADI is just for recreational holiday diving!
diving for the british navy for example takes maybe a year to complete and you need to be super fit to even get selected!
400-450euro is expensive wow
i did my open water in borneo that was cool and really cheap too!

it takes 2-3 weeks they are quite flexible you don't have to do it intensivley, you just need to jum through the hoops, (thats what my advanced teacher was telling me)
i also spoke to a girl that did an internship for the company so firstly she worked on the boats helping out with the gear got to know the dive sites and had a promise of a job, at the end which she got!
not sure if the internship gave her the course for free may of done