Part 1
The introduction
The introduction
Lots of people request information of becoming a DM, these people have varying degrees of diving experience, are of a wide variety of ages, and have all sorts of reasons.
In this thread I will chart my progression through the course, what’s involved and my experiences, my successes and failures. Hopefully it’ll be both informative and entertaining and a worthwhile read for those looking to take the course in the future.
I guess a bit about me. I’m not a wide eyed 20 something new to diving – I wish I was. In fact I’m a newly turned 50 and slightly cynical with age
I started diving in 2007 – getting my OW in the Red sea. I completed my AOW in 2011 but that was that. When I arrived in the UAE mid 2012 I had a mere 21 dives to my name. I joined a dive club in Dubai, while it was a BSAC club welcomed divers from other agencies. In the nearly 4 years since joining I’ve boosted my dive count to a hair under 400 (at the time of writing). Along the way I took my Rescue course – because I thought it was prudent given we dive remotely on club dives so are generally more self- sufficient than others might be.
And that was as far as I thought I’d go, in my mind I had no reason to progress as I was happy diving. I was encouraged at the beginning of 2016 along with my wife, to complete the BSAC Dive Leader course. It’s an equivalent qualification to PADI DM, but with significant differences. The BSAC DL is more focused on planning and managing groups of club divers to sites known to the club, planning, and arranging all logistics for the days diving etc as well as managing the diving for the day(s).
There is no content on teaching. Having completed the DL, a couple of things happened that made me wish to become and instructor. To this point there’d been no desire on my part to do so.
Circumstances at work meant that I couldn’t accommodate the BSAC Open water instruction course, so that’s on hold for a while until the next course.
So why then PADI DM? As good as BSAC is, to be able to work in the commercial field then you need a commercial qualification. Also the PADI DM course teaches you different skills and these all read across (just as my BSAC skills do). The DM is only a stepping stone and I’ve already announced my intention to move quickly into the Instructor course. PADI is the most convenient agency and I know that if I need to in the future I can cross over.
But let’s not put the cart in-front of the horse…
Happy to answer any questions as I go through….
Diving Dubai
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