Help Pleas-Cheap Dive Spot-Training Questions

[tndash]

Hello, everyone, I am new to this forum and am looking for some advice. I apologize if I haven’t posted this in the correct category. Over my life I have found that information that could have been had at the beginning of a project WOULD have been much more helpful than when I actually gained the knowledge (at the end of the project). So, I am now looking for some insight before I go further.
I am interested in becoming a dive instructor. I was wondering if all of you can give a newbie some advice. Here's a little background. I am NOT certified. Long story short, I have gone through PADI open water training a decade ago, but am NOT certified. I have about 50 dives. Please don’t ask how-lived in the Carib for awhile. None of which are logged. I suppose I can go back, look at the various videos and date some of them and try to remember where I was(but there would be no instructor signature). However, I don’t even know if this would be beneficial.
I am looking to go from beginner through whatever would qualify me to teach at a resort/dive shop. I believe that is the PADI OWSI. I have seemed to gather that PADI qualifies me in more places than others(as opposed to NAUI,SSI,etc), so I believe I will attempt that.
First off, where should I go through all this training? In other words the cheapest dive spots on the planet. It used to be ffice:smarttags" />Honduras, but it looks like there prices now are higher than Thailand and the lace w:st="on">Philippineslace>. Any thoughts-please somewhere warm- I hate the full body suits and cant imagine taking them off and on ALL the time for 3-6 months. Additionally, I believe that one prerequisite for the OWSI is that you have been certified diver fro 6 months and 100 dives (maybe 150-I get confused). Would it be advisable that I get the open water diver cert NOW and at a later date go hardcore and dive everyday for 3 months so I can meet the 6 month requirement before I go abroad?
Would it be cheaper for me to get a NAUI Divemaster or something similar and than convert it to a PADI course?
Any info would help this potential diver-Thanks all in advance.
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To recap:
Would my former non-logged, non instructed dives count if I get a logbook and record them now?
Where is the cheapest place to Dive?
Do I need to meet a 6 month requirement?(and therefore get certified now?)
Is it cheaper to get NAUI or something similar and then convert to PADI?

[DiveDevil1966]

Here we go.
You have a lot of questions, which are very good, but then at the same time there are some concerns. Before I am answering your questions I would like to say, that I would not focus on CHEAP for what you want to do, as QUALITY is so much more important. There is many places in the world where you can do what you want to achieve. Look for value for money and in particular for good quality training. I am in the industry for a long time and worked at all levels and I have seen so many instructors which are just not worth the plastic their credential are written on.
But let’s start:
It is correct that you must be a qualified diver for at least six months before you can attend a PADI Instructor Course. This means that you should be this done NOW, or at least as soon as possible. From the day you are certified the six months start to count down.
The 50 or so dives you have already completed are good experience and there is no problem to have them logged, but will not credit to your diving courses, but can easily be logged and show the amount of dives you have completed overall.
There is many training associations and it depends a bit of your demographic area on which one you want to go with. For example SSI is far bigger than PADI in Italy. However PADI is the world largest training agency and if you intend to work as a diving instructor anywhere in the world then I suggest going the PADI route. I started with another training agency and climbed the ladder with them, and then just came to the point where I had to do the cross over to PADI to ensure flexibility on destinations and job's available.
It is easily possible to cross over from one training agency to the other to safe some time, but I am not sure whether this is beneficial. It does not change anything as far as the six months are concerned. As soon as you start to get to the Dive Master and instructor level, I think it is important to understand the system you are training with. This will make you a well rounded professional, and will also make it much easier at these levels. I think you should start with one agency and go all the way. Do some research in your area and which agency is big there and then contact a few people and see what they have on offer.
Let me know in which area you life and I might be able to get you in touch with a good diving centre or I might even be able to explain to you what we are doing in cases like yours :-)
Please let me know if I can be of any further assistance, and I am happy to answer any questions you may have.
Remember QUALITY OF TRAINING is more important than CHEAP.
Always safe diving
DiveDevil

[tndash]

Thank you for your reply. I am actually now in the process of getting my OW (this weekend). I decided to go with PADI all the way. As for logging them to count for OWSI- I realized it wont matter because anywhere I go the packages seem to incorporate unlimited dives, so might as well get a couple hundred more AFTER Im certified. As for the quality of instruction- I agree. I am first trying to find a cheap overall location and then get info on the few I have chosen to get a vibe about the quality. So far, I have contacted shops in ffice:smarttags" />Australia, New Zealand, Honduras, Bali and the lace w:st="on">Philippineslace>. Still waiting to hear back from them all and do some price shopping. I live on the West Coast of the lace w:st="on">USlace>, but will definitely not be doing anything more than my OW here. If you know of any dive internships that would allow me to work while I dive, please let me know. Thank you.

[DiveDevil1966]

Cool, sounds good to me. I am on the other side of the world to you, so there is not too much I can do. I have quite a few good contacts in Mexico, Kenya, Cyprus, South Africa and the US. Not so much in the Australia , Bali area. Sorry.
In these areas I am sure you will find some good IDC Centres to complete the training you require.
I wish you well and have a great time in completing your Open Water Diver Course and then Happy Travelling.
Take care and keep us posted on your progress.
All the best and always safe diving
DiveDevil