LowDrag
Contributor
I would follow the BSAC advice given if I were you. I wish I had a BSAC type organization over here to connect with. Everything I have read about them is good.
Thinking about getting the Divemaster certification
- Thread starter Chris Holt
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I would follow the BSAC advice given if I were you. I wish I had a BSAC type organization over here to connect with. Everything I have read about them is good.
There has already been some great advice but I have a slightly different angle. If you can afford to go abroad for 8 weeks to become a DM, do a couple of the prerequisits (as has been mentioned) such as Buouyancy and Deep and then go abroad to a couple of different places to get some dive experience. A dive resort for a week and a liveaboard for another. You will get a bit of a crash course in diving as well as spending a couple weeks watching what divemasters do. Then come back and do some more training and re-evaluate what or how you want to dive. If you still want to continue, another year won't matter other than you will be more experienced when you do become a DM.
In any case, enjoy your diving!!
In any case, enjoy your diving!!
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- Location
- Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia
- # of dives
- I just don't log dives
Hi Chris
Welcome to the dive lifestyle!
There are countless world-class dive destinations that offer high standards of quality dive training! You won’t regret any choice that you make because it’s diving in whatever capacity!
Firstly, to introduce myself: my name is Liz and I’m one of the full time PADI IDC Staff Instructors of Downbelow Marine & Wildlife Adventures’ Go PRO team based in Sabah, Borneo.
Downbelow's Go PRO Instructor Development Team | Diving Sabah? Dive Downbelow!
If your dive experience has been exclusively in the UK, you’ll easily find diving in Borneo pleasant, to say the least!
The tropical waters are never a cooler temperature than 24oC and Sabah is in the northernmost part of Borneo – within the ‘coral triangle’, an area of spectacular biodiversity of coral reef and fish species!
All of our practical dive training for recreational and professional PADI courses and programs are conducted on Gaya Island at our premier PADI 5 Star IDC Dive Centre in Tunku Abdul Rahman Park. The protected area consists of 49 dive sites and our operations conduct 3 boat dives a day, every single day of the year, and if you prefer we also have jetty and shore diving facilities too.
Learn to Dive - PADI 5 Star Dive & Adventure Centre on Gaya Island | Diving Sabah? Dive Downbelow!
For professional dive training, we suggest for our clients to undertake one of our very successful Go PRO internship programs. They are inclusive of a lot of attractive benefits, such as private en-suite city centre accommodation, van transport and boat transfers between your accommodation and our Gaya Island beach, a buffet lunch at the Dive Centre everyday and more!
Click on the link below to get more details on our PADI Divemaster internship:
PADI Divemaster | IDC Asia
Practical training of the course can be completed in 10 days, but our internship program is a month to offer you the valuable real dive experience to develop your confidence as a diver and dive leader.
Also to give you time to take advantage of the UNLIMITED scuba diving that’s included!
So Chris, the best impression you will have of the experiences you could have at our dive operations you will find through our variety of blogs and various social media networking communities:
Blogs:
News | Diving Sabah? Dive Downbelow!
News & Events | IDC Asia
Instructor Development Blog | Instructor Development Course IDC Malaysia, Asia
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/divedownbelow
Twitter: https://twitter.com/divedownbelow
Pinterest: Downbelow Marine & Wildlife Adventures on Pinterest
Tumblr: http://divedownbelow.tumblr.com
Chris, if you have any questions don’t hesitate to ask me, or our Head Office, and we will organize a suitable itinerary for you to have an unforgettable Borneo adventure, both on land and underwater!
You will learn a very great deal from a mentor(s) and experience, England has a very active dive club scene and fantastically many neat and fascinating places to dive. I suspect you can find clubs even where you live and very likely also inland places to practice. The club can also be a way to find friends for trips to the coast or abroad. Diving in England you will learn a great deal about tides, boats bouncing on the waves, getting a RIB thru the surf, cold water, low vis and not being excessively fussed by any of it -because it will all be normal diving to you. That's excellent experience and great diving.
BSAC, NAUI, SSI and probably have programs centered on improving and developing you as a diver, not so much on starting you down the road to being an instructor. As others have mention private coaching and some intro tech classes are also options. You need to already be a pretty capable diver to take the Fundies" class, but as others have mentioned that would be a five star experience for you.
BTW, when judging options be careful to also talk to some people who have nothing to sell you. Esp. good are people who have taken the classes you are considering.
BSAC, NAUI, SSI and probably have programs centered on improving and developing you as a diver, not so much on starting you down the road to being an instructor. As others have mention private coaching and some intro tech classes are also options. You need to already be a pretty capable diver to take the Fundies" class, but as others have mentioned that would be a five star experience for you.
BTW, when judging options be careful to also talk to some people who have nothing to sell you. Esp. good are people who have taken the classes you are considering.
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I think there's a very important component in leadership training... and that is the focus on those people that you will be responsible for during a dive. This involves a combination of excellent diving skills, situational awareness, people skills, and experience (maturity and sound judgment).
IMHO if you're going to step into that role then you should develop your skills and the proper mindset gradually - don't rush your diving education, especially if you're going to take responsibility for others!
Go dive... make some mistakes (hopefully not too serious) and learn from them. Aptitude and technique may come naturally but there's nothing like experience and developing sound judgment - and that takes a little time. Have some patience and give yourself room to develop into a leadership role while enjoying yourself and the sport. It will make you a much more rounded diver and a much better DM.
IMHO if you're going to step into that role then you should develop your skills and the proper mindset gradually - don't rush your diving education, especially if you're going to take responsibility for others!
Go dive... make some mistakes (hopefully not too serious) and learn from them. Aptitude and technique may come naturally but there's nothing like experience and developing sound judgment - and that takes a little time. Have some patience and give yourself room to develop into a leadership role while enjoying yourself and the sport. It will make you a much more rounded diver and a much better DM.
Great question. It is common for new divers, who catch the bug early, to think that their instructor is the greatest, and in order to dive like their instructor, feel the need to become as close to a dive professional as possible, which is possibly why DM comes into planning for you.
The truth about the dive industry is that most students only take the first course (open water diver - padi and others; scuba diver - naui; etc.). Consequently, most open water instructors are professionals at training open water students, and open water diver training dives make up the majority of their experience. This means the majority of their dives, along with their divemasters (who are often left to supervise from the boat), are max depth 18 meters in beginner conditions. The point is that DM is unlikely to make you a great diver.
I haven't voted in your poll because there are too many variables. The first one - which agency's master diver course? If padi master diver (as Keith points out), it is just a card indicating that you have bought 5 padi brand specialty cards (if I remember correctly, other agency's specialty certs don't count). So you could buy padi Boat Diver, Digital Underwater Photographer, Underwater Naturalist, Fish ID, and Wreck Diver - 5 specialties that won't make you a better diver - and become a "padi Master Diver".
You may have noticed my use of the word "bought". That is because it is not uncommon to buy padi specialties without actual training. I followed a padi dive leader (presumably a dm) on a tropical dive with a group once, and at the end of the dive, she offered me a specialty card for $35. I didn't have a padi card at the time, and thought it might do me some good, so I paid. When the card came, it had the name of some dude I never even met as my instructor on it!
I think Jim Lapenta's advice in post #10 is some of the best. He points out that at least two agencies offer dedicated Master Diver courses, one of which although I haven't taken, I have reviewed and found it to be quite thorough and challenging. I think he understates his advice very much though, presumably out of fear that the "all agencies are the same" feel good posters might criticize him.
hroark2112 makes another great suggestion - GUE's Fundamentals course is challenging, and will result in developing some awesome skills you may not develop in other courses.
Also check out Walter's post in the sticky thread "How to find an excellent SCUBA class". He poses great questions to interview potential instructors with. The only problem I see with some of the questions though is that they can't be asked directly. This is because some potential instructors are unlikely to be honest about answers that are not in their favor, which may disqualify them or make them feel inferior about their diving qualifications.
If you really want to be a good diver, think about learning there in the UK. If you can learn there in cold dark water, you can dive well anywhere. If you only train in tropical warm bright water, you will not be qualified to dive anywhere.
Finally, go diving, but it is not important to put off training if you don't want to. Training is fun and challenging, and may make your UK diving experiences more fruitful and enjoyable.
Welcome to diving!
The truth about the dive industry is that most students only take the first course (open water diver - padi and others; scuba diver - naui; etc.). Consequently, most open water instructors are professionals at training open water students, and open water diver training dives make up the majority of their experience. This means the majority of their dives, along with their divemasters (who are often left to supervise from the boat), are max depth 18 meters in beginner conditions. The point is that DM is unlikely to make you a great diver.
I haven't voted in your poll because there are too many variables. The first one - which agency's master diver course? If padi master diver (as Keith points out), it is just a card indicating that you have bought 5 padi brand specialty cards (if I remember correctly, other agency's specialty certs don't count). So you could buy padi Boat Diver, Digital Underwater Photographer, Underwater Naturalist, Fish ID, and Wreck Diver - 5 specialties that won't make you a better diver - and become a "padi Master Diver".
You may have noticed my use of the word "bought". That is because it is not uncommon to buy padi specialties without actual training. I followed a padi dive leader (presumably a dm) on a tropical dive with a group once, and at the end of the dive, she offered me a specialty card for $35. I didn't have a padi card at the time, and thought it might do me some good, so I paid. When the card came, it had the name of some dude I never even met as my instructor on it!
I think Jim Lapenta's advice in post #10 is some of the best. He points out that at least two agencies offer dedicated Master Diver courses, one of which although I haven't taken, I have reviewed and found it to be quite thorough and challenging. I think he understates his advice very much though, presumably out of fear that the "all agencies are the same" feel good posters might criticize him.
hroark2112 makes another great suggestion - GUE's Fundamentals course is challenging, and will result in developing some awesome skills you may not develop in other courses.
Also check out Walter's post in the sticky thread "How to find an excellent SCUBA class". He poses great questions to interview potential instructors with. The only problem I see with some of the questions though is that they can't be asked directly. This is because some potential instructors are unlikely to be honest about answers that are not in their favor, which may disqualify them or make them feel inferior about their diving qualifications.
If you really want to be a good diver, think about learning there in the UK. If you can learn there in cold dark water, you can dive well anywhere. If you only train in tropical warm bright water, you will not be qualified to dive anywhere.
Finally, go diving, but it is not important to put off training if you don't want to. Training is fun and challenging, and may make your UK diving experiences more fruitful and enjoyable.
Welcome to diving!
Mustard Dave
Contributor
Look at clubs and get your next cert, be it AOW or BSAC Sports Diver. Then just dive. Get a feel for diving with a club and see where you want to go. In my opinion, DM is a waste of money if you are not going to work as a DM. Yes - you will certainly learn something, but you will learn a lot more by diving in a club environment, or doing a course which suits your diving rather than lining PADI's pockets.
MSD is a waste of money too. If you go down the PADI route, the only specialities with tangible benefits are nitrox and deep. You will hopefully learn something on any speciality course, but again, nothing you can't learn from other divers.
MSD is a waste of money too. If you go down the PADI route, the only specialities with tangible benefits are nitrox and deep. You will hopefully learn something on any speciality course, but again, nothing you can't learn from other divers.
If your goal is to be a better diver, try to locate a UTD or GUE Instructor and take either the Essentials (UTD) or Fundamentals (GUE) course. It WILL improve your diving skills many times.
For MSD through PADI you need 50 logged dives, 5 specialties, AOW and rescue diver.
Honestly, just go diving. I rushed into my AOW and really should have gotten some more practice before I did. Going straight from open water to advanced gives you a grand total of 9 completed dives, which does not an "advanced" diver make.
I just finished PADI DM and I enjoyed every minute of it. Having said that I will tell you it is not the natural progression for recreational diving. I took the course mainly as a leadership and safety exercise. I may some day become an instructor, it is not on my agenda right now.
There is not enough diving done during DM to give you that kind of experience. The experience is more geared to leading helping instructors and ensuring safe dives for you and others. Include some dive theory and you have an idea of what is involved. If you have the time and dollars go diving, take couple of specialties and improve your skills. Most of all, have fun.
RichH
There is not enough diving done during DM to give you that kind of experience. The experience is more geared to leading helping instructors and ensuring safe dives for you and others. Include some dive theory and you have an idea of what is involved. If you have the time and dollars go diving, take couple of specialties and improve your skills. Most of all, have fun.
RichH
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