Dont be in any major rush to the Gulf till you have at least 1200+ hours. It'll still be there next year.
I went down to PHI with 1800 of instruction and ENG and found things tough. Its a very steep learning curve going from an R22 instructing, to an L model flying six pax 100 miles offshore in bad weather. If you start as a co pilot that curve is vertical... if you start as a p1 its very stressfull too. I can honestly say that I barely slept for my first few weeks on the job.. which didnt help much either. Of course its fairly straight forward once you know it, but untill you do, dont be in any mad rush.