PADI Divemaster

Diving has kind of become your life,  you´ve gained valuable experience and you want to be able to pass some of this experience on.

You also what to help those learning to dive and help them become excellent divers.

Well the PADI Divemaster course could be for you.

What is it?

The PADI Divemaster course, is your first steps on the PADI professional route.  You will learn to put the experience and knowlesge you have gained to good use by helping student and certified divers alike.

What do you do?

The PADI Divemaster course is the most indepth and demanding courses of the PADI portfolio.  The course is split into the usual academic, confined and open water session, with continual assesment by your instructor mentor to ensure you get the most from the course:

• Academic: As with all PADI courses the PADI Divemaster course is based on self study.  However you are now expected to gain your information from several different sources, such as the Divemaster Manual, the Encylopidea of recreational scuba diving, among others. This will give you the grounding you need to grasp the theory and concepts that are required for this course.
  
  Knowledge reviews are still an important part of the PADI Divemaster course, and you will have to complete each knowledge review from the Divemaster manual and return to your insturctor for assesment.
  
  Your knowledge of dive theory will also be tested through a serise of 8 exams (pass rate 75%), these are:
  
  -Physics
  -Physiology
  -Assisiting with studen divers
  -Supervising certified divers
  -Decompression theory and the RDP
  -General skills and environment
  -Equipment
  -Divemaster conducted programmes
  
  These areas are also supported by instructor lead knowledge development sessions, allowing you time with a subject if you require.
  
  You will also be expected to provided a detailed emergency assistance plan for a dive site of your choosing, along with a mapping project to demonstrate dive site skills to your instructor.
  
• Confined Water: An important part of any PADI programme will be confined water session.  The Divemaster course is no different and this course contains several confined water session voering many aspects of the DM course.
  
  As a PADI Divemaster you are now expected to exhibit excellent water skills, to this end you will be asked to perform 4 timed stamina exersices, 400m swim, 800m snorkel, 100m tiered diver tow, 15 minute survival float.  These skills will be scored and you must achieve a minimum of 12
  
  Your diving skills must also be polished and to a demonstration level.  As part of one confined water session you will demonstrate all the skills found in the PADI Open Water Diver course to your instructor who will score them, a minimum of 68 points must be achieved.  Also you will under-go a rescue assessment to ensure your rescue skills are to standard.
  
  Equipment exhange is a task loading skill that you will be asked to perform.  In this assessment you and a buddy will exhange equipment (BDC, Fins and Mask) while buddy breathing.
  
  The final aspect of the Confined water sessions will be actual assessment sessions with an instructor where you will assist on PADI Diving programmes such as a PADI Open Water Diver course with real students.  You have a total of 5 assesments to achieve a passing grade on (you can choose your best 5).  These assessments are the core of teh DM course as you will gain valuable experience with student and certified divers alike.
  
• Open Water Session:  The open water sessions of a PADI divermaster course are not as extensive as the confined water session but are not less important.  As with the confied water sessions you have various skills and assessments to complete.
  
  You must complete a Divemaster conducted programmes assessment, with you instructors and other Divemasters to assess your problem solving and issue management skills.
  
  Certified Divers Tour, during this assessment you will lead certified divers on a tour of a dive site.  This dive will be conducted by yourself from start to finish, including brieifn and de-briefing.
  
  As with the confined water sessions you will also under go a serise of assessments while working with real PADI programmes, giving you more valuable experience of PADI programmes.
  
• Professionalism: You will also be assessed on your overall professionalism and deminour toward students and instructors alike.

How long does it last?

As mentioned the PADI Divemaster course is the most intense course in the PADI portfolio.  to this end Scubafish cannot give a set time fot eh Divemaster course.  The time taken is entirely down to the amount of work you put in as a Divemaster Candidate, however as a ball park figure expect the Divemaster course to take between 3 and 6 months.

How much does it cost?

The PADI Divemaster course costs £350, and additional PADI application fee will be paid directly to PADI on completion of the course