Now you may be someone who’s spent a lot of their time in the water diving. You might have completed many hours of diving and spending your time getting certified. You’re basically someone who loves to dive and lives to dive.
Now how about taking it to the next level? What about becoming a divemaster? An instructor who could help to train the next generation of diving enthusiasts? You could become a leader who helps to motivate other divers.
Gain extensive dive knowledge, ability to supervise in the water, and turn into a benchmark for divers around the world. Do these things interest you? Well, then the PADI Dive Master Certification is for you.
Diving is not an easy task. It takes a lot of time, effort, and hard work to get it right. Getting small things wrong, panicking underwater, and making the wrong decisions can lead to a bad experience underwater. It is very important that divers have a very good instructor with them.
The importance of a good diving instructor can never be understated. While taking junior divers out on dives, being able to lead them and keep them calm is very crucial. So if you think you have the aptitude to teach and to help other divers learn, this might be the way forward for you.
If you’ve learned enough about diving, give teaching a go.
What is the course like?
To start out with your divemaster certification, you will assist with Scuba diving classes and help to supervise Scuba diving activities.
The PADI Dive Master course is the very first step you will take on your road to becoming an accomplished diving instructor.
The topics that would be covered in the course include:
- Understanding, the role, and duties of a PADI, certified Dive Master
- Supervising dives, associated activities and assisting junior divers
- Understanding diver safety and diver risk management
- Learning special skills and attending programs by other Dive Masters
- Understanding the business of diving
- Your career in diving
- Gaining awareness of the diving environment
- Setting up and managing dives
- Mapping an open water site
- Conducting and organizing dive briefings
- Organising Search and Recovery projects and conducting deep dives
There are two more courses that you could opt for in sync with your PADI Dive Master certification course. Let’s have a look at what they are:
PADI Deep Diver Certification
In this specialty course, you will learn to dive up to depths of 130 feet. You will learn to manage your air supply, learn diving buddy contact procedures, and perfect your buoyancy control techniques.
Some of the things that you will learn in this course include:
- Highly specialized deep diving equipment
- Planning deep dives, buddy procedures, and advanced safety techniques
- Managing gas supply and understanding how to deal with gas narcosis
You can use the first dive of this course as one of the adventure dives you need to complete for your Master Scuba Diver Certification, as well.
Requirements: The diver must be at least 15 years old. The diver must possess the Adventure Dive Certification. The time commitment is about 2 hours.
Equipment: Along with your basic Scuba gear, you will need a dive computer and a dive light.
Search and Recovery Diver Certification
Here, you will learn to retrieve all the items that are lost and have fallen overboard or off the docks. You will learn to optimize your movement with an effective swimming pattern. Also, you will be trained in using a lift bag to carry heavy objects.
Very often, people will lose things while scuba diving, drop things off the side of boats and near the docks, etc. Learn how to find things underwater with much higher efficiency. This is a challenging skill to acquire, but it becomes a lot of fun when you’re good at it.
Some of the things that you will learn in the duration of this course are:
- Using your compass and natural navigation to perfect swimming search patterns
- Using search patterns to locate various large and small objects
- Using lift bags to carry heavy objects up to the surface of the water
- Planning search operations based on facts gathered before a dive
Requirements: The diver must be at least 12 years old. The diver must have Advanced Open Water or Junior Advanced Open Water Diver certification.
Equipment: Apart from your basic Scuba gear, you will also require a compass as well as an underwater slate.
These are the two optional courses you could take to specialize further as a dive instructor.
Requirements: The diver must be at least 18 years old. The diver must possess Rescue Diver certification, CPR, and First Aid Certification (within 24 months) and gain medical clearance to dive.
Equipment: Along with your basic Scuba gear, you will also be equipped with a dive knife, a dive computer, and a minimum of two surface signaling devices. While practicing your practical skills, you will have a compass, floats, markers, buoys, lift bags, and slates.
While gaining your Dive Master certification, you can also specialize in certain instruction types. This is based on the kind of instruction that appeals to you. Some of the options are:
1. Open Water Scuba Instructor
2. Speciality Instructor
3. Master Scuba Diver Instructor
4. IDC Staff Instructor
These are additional certifications that you could take, which open up a lot more career options for you. Once you go through them, you will be able to identify the ones that really appeal to you and pursue them.
If you are a professional diver with a lot of experience, then you will gain a lot of satisfaction from becoming a dive instructor. With this certification in hand, you can travel the world and take up jobs at different diving spots across the world.
Endnotes
Your PADI Dive Master certification is valid across the world. It is recognized by the large majority of diving institutions, resorts, and other locations. Holding your certification is the key to unlocking many doors in the world of diving.
You get to see the world, not to mention the underwater world, in different spots across the world. You get to experience different underwater ecosystems and see thousands of different marine species. All while helping other young, inexperienced divers to cut their teeth.
With the right resources in place, you could even open up your very own diving school. Imagine that. Having your very own school where aspiring divers come to learn from you. Getting your PADI Dive Master certification could be the start of something great in your life. All the very best!
