3 days to DM?

I heard from a friend that there is two ways you can go about getting dive master. one way being an internship, the other being basically a 3 day long test.

Can anyone shed some light on this for me?

You can do DM as a long internship or as a short, 15 day maybe program, where they cram the minimum standards into that timeframe. But it is impossible to do a DM course in 3 days. Even 15 days, it would require probably to do all the theory through e-learning, and it would be a non stop "just get the scenarios done" sort of thing.

Truthfully I don't think it would be possible to complete a DM course in 3 days even if you have have completed all of your e-learning before hand. Minimum time that I have seen, and that is coming into the course with the minimum of 40 dives, is 2 weeks. Best thing I feel though is to complete over at least a couple of months as an internship.

I figured as much. I'll just wait till I get back to the states.

With that, I have time to get master diver out here, what specialties have you guys taken that offered legit good training? I dont want to waste time and money on pointless specialty courses.

For your DM you will require Rescue which in turn has EFR as a prerequisite.

Drysuit, Nitrox, Search and Recovery are three specialties that come to mind. Perhaps you would want to include deep and something else such as equipment specialist provided you can get an instructor who will go beyond basic care of your equipment. Personally, living in Canada, I elected for Ice diving and Advanced Nitrox/Deco procs in lieu of Deep

Rescue course will make you a better diver, and you will need to know the material and skills for DM

I have rescue, and I just picked up deep last weekend. Next weekend I'm going for Nitrox and possibly nav time permitting. I want to pick up dry suit too since I'm about to be stationed in North Carolina.

scuboot:

I have rescue, and I just picked up deep last weekend. Next weekend I'm going for Nitrox and possibly nav time permitting. I want to pick up dry suit too since I'm about to be stationed in North Carolina.

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So you inquired about the rumor of a 3-day path to DM certification. What's the rush?

I suppose if your goal is to collect the DM certification as an achievement, then an abbreviated course (let's say something as short as a couple of weeks doing the bare minimum) might make sense. If your goal is to be the best instructional DM (and possibly instructor down the road), there's a lot to be said for gaining some experience before you make the jump to dive pro. Certainly DMs do a lot of on-the-job training, but right now, with minimal experience in various environments/conditions, you have a very limited fund of knowledge to draw upon when interacting with students, answering their questions, and keeping them safe.

For now, dive as often as you can. Have fun diving in different places and conditions. Along the way, you'll see examples of good divers, inconsiderate divers, and downright scary divers. You'll encounter all kinds of scuba-related failures above and below the surface of the water. You'll try different kinds of gear and form an opinion about the merits and disadvantages of various features. The sum of all of those experiences will make you a better dive pro in the long run.

She will need Rescue for Master Diver as well.

As far as DM in 3 days. I would never allow a student to do that. A DM has too much responsibility. Not only am I teaching you basic skills, I also want to see how you handle situations that come up. I will not do a DM with out an internship. Nothing replaces dealing with real live students. You can never fake (or even come up with) some of the things they do. Take your time. Find an instructor who will invest in you and make sure you know your stuff. Don't rush through it.

Beyond simply sharing with you that you cannot complete the divemaster course in three days, I'd like to add to the prior posts by first encouraging you to go forward with a DM program, but with a different attitude. Look at the program not as something to complete, but as something to grow you into being a competent dive professional. Entering the professional ranks, it is (or should be) about competence, experience and maturity. Presently, if your profile is up to date, you lack enough dives to be a divemaster, though you can start the program. Rather than getting "irrelevant" specialties (I think people should do those in areas of personal interest- photography, ecology, etc) I think you need to focus on getting more bottom time, perhaps in different conditions and venues, if possible. Dive with experienced divers, and grow yourself as a diver on every dive. The basic open water skills you will assist in teaching must be honed by you to be demonstration quality. That is not learned in a classroom. Also, as a DM leading recreational divers, you need to have as second nature excellent buoyancy skills, be efficient in you use of air so you are not having to end a dive for paying customers because you are the first to be low on air, and also, recognition and correction of problems other divers are having even if they don't have a full awareness themselves. That takes time and that takes more than 15 days, even of intense training. So be prepared to grow into being a Dive Master. I for one think it is a huge deal to have that title and to know what it means. It is an even bigger deal to DO what divemasters do, and do it well. So work hard, be diligent, and I am confident you will become a terrific divemaster. Plus, you get to wear the cool shirts and hats!
DivemasterDennis