Is it illegal?

Have been reading another thread where a diver has said that it is illegal to be a guide as she is not a DM or higher...

I am wondering about the rules/regulations in various places. In Australia it isn't actually illegal to be a guide even if you do not have a DM or higher certification. The issue is more one of insurance not legality.

Look forward to hearing what is going on everywhere else

BTW - I am not debating/questioning if it is good or bad one way or another....just curious...I have met quite a few non-professional level divers who have been better guides for me than the professionals on board!

Question from a Yank: what do you mean by guide?

It was me who said I wasn't a DM or higher nd still conducted dives.

In fact, French regulations are a bit different.

We have
- Level 1 (more or less an OW) - you can go up to 20 meters with a Level 4 or higher.
- Level 2 (a good AOW) - you can go up to 20 meters with a Level 2, and up to 40 with a Level 4.
- Level 3 (more or less a Rescue Diver) - you can go up to 60 meters with a Level 3 or higher.
- Level 4 (the equivalent of a DM) - you can lead dives, help the Instructor with classes etc. But you still can not deliver any certifications.

After that, there are the teaching levels.
"Initiateur", you can guide a swimming pool training session, you can help the Instructor / DM with Level 1 only theory classes.
"Instructeur" is the equivalent of a Instructor...

and no one checks to see that every divemaster on every boat is certified (or even certifiable). Boats that employ Divemasters that are not certified as such are legion. They do so at their client's peril. While some may argue that they are "better divers" than most of those certified as "Divemaster", one should question then why they have not attained the ranking? There are leadership fundamentals that every Divemaster has learned and that should be the minimum for employment. If nothing else, it shows the boat owners that the particular individual has taken their diving seriously enough to obtain the certification. Of course, the reasons may be economic as they can pay them less, or even pragmatic, as most certified Divemasters have real jobs that pay real money and really could not afford the cut in pay to do Divemastering full time.

Here in the UK, I know individuals who guided/lead dives while they were trainee divemasters. I'm not sure how different certifying agencies regard this.

On a south pacific island with a very well-known wreck (I won't mention which one just in case someone gets into trouble), the operators employed locals with lower certification but a great deal of experience to guide. They were all very good and one of the most able and pleasant guides was a man with just PADI Open Water cert and over 3000 dives on that particular wreck.

I was in Dahab on the Red Sea recently and as I understood it, the laws require a diver to be with a guide (divemaster or higher) employed by an operator at all times. Therefore, you cannot organise your own dive even if you have your own instructor amongst your group. However, I was told that there are many shady dive shops who do not abide by this.

Then, down the way on liveaboards further south in the Red Sea, it was a case of "if you feel competent, you go on your own and do as you please". Some of the cheaper boats have children guiding.

So my conclusion: laws vary and their enforcement vary.

and it is easy to fall into the mindset that there are no laws or governmental regulations on this just because there aren't any in certain countries.

In Malta, by law and/or governmental regulation, the in water guide for certified open water divers must be an instructor. DM is not sufficient.

Divers who have attained AOW or CMAS 2-star may apply for a government issued sport diver card, and then conduct dives with a buddy with similar or greater training.

While that may be the exception on the international scene, it just proves the point that divers are responsible to complying with local laws wherever thay are diving.

NetDoc once bubbled...
There are no Scuba Police and no one checks to see that every divemaster on every boat is certified (or even certifiable).

Click to expand...

That is very vrey funny of you to say because ou teach me something I REALLY didn't know.

In France, we DO HAVE such a "Police". They have v. dicreet boats and they just patrol around diving areas to check randomly the diving boats. I've been checked 4 times in 2 months (in Corsica) and of course never had any problem since I was a Level 3 and was not officially conducting the dive, but only diving with Level 2 at a max. depth of 40 meters, which is within regulations, and since there was AT LEAST 3 to 4 Instructors on the boat while we were down, this was more than OK.

I really think this Sea/Scuba police is important, since they created it they think that about 80% of the illegal diving activities have been closed down...

Amanda once bubbled...


In France, we DO HAVE such a "Police". They have v. dicreet boats and they just patrol around diving areas to check randomly the diving boats.

Click to expand...

France is way ahead of the game on this subject. Dive operations should be checked occasionally to keep things on the up and up.ut:

Do you mean a local guide?

Amanda once bubbled...


That is very vrey funny of you to say because ou teach me something I REALLY didn't know.

In France, we DO HAVE such a "Police". They have v. dicreet boats and they just patrol around diving areas to check randomly the diving boats. I've been checked 4 times in 2 months (in Corsica) and of course never had any problem since I was a Level 3 and was not officially conducting the dive, but only diving with Level 2 at a max. depth of 40 meters, which is within regulations, and since there was AT LEAST 3 to 4 Instructors on the boat while we were down, this was more than OK.

I really think this Sea/Scuba police is important, since they created it they think that about 80% of the illegal diving activities have been closed down...

Click to expand...

Sounds like WAY too many regulations and cops to me.