Skulmoski
Contributor
PADI Divemaster: Lessons Learnt
I completed my Divemaster training this December 2016 in Koh Tao at the age of 56 years young. I enjoyed this course and experience. I did some things right and some things not so well. I would like to pass along this experience so that others might leverage what I have done.
Preparation
I finished the course in 16 days with 30 open water dives and 4 confined pool dives. This was a challenging course since I completed it during the monsoon and I did not take any days off. I put in a lot of effort and my personal satisfaction is commensurate with my effort. Yes, I am really happy I completed my Divemaster training.
Good luck to those who are also on Divemaster journey.
GJS
I completed my Divemaster training this December 2016 in Koh Tao at the age of 56 years young. I enjoyed this course and experience. I did some things right and some things not so well. I would like to pass along this experience so that others might leverage what I have done.
Preparation
- Read about the Divemaster course to make sure it is right for you. I will never be employed as a Divemaster but wanted the learning experience for itself. However, I do believe my diving skills improved as a result of this course.
- Research about which dive center you would like to partner with for this training. I chose Simple Life Divers because they had a very good reputation, were medium sized and offered good rates.
- Complete one or both of the theory requirements prior to attending the course:
- eLearning: Divemaster
- eLearning: Dive Theory
- eLearning: Divemaster
- I completed the more difficult Dive Theory ahead of my course. Who wants to be stuck in a classroom or hotel room reading when you can be diving!
- Swim, swim, swim to prepare for the 4 stamina tests:
- 100 meter tow
- 400 meter swim
- 800 meter swim with mask, snorkel and fins
- 15 minute tread water
- 100 meter tow
- Make sure your gear is in good working condition.
- Identify any other learning objectives you have so that you can work them into your training. I also wanted to:
- Improve my air consumption rate
- Improve my finning
- Improve my air consumption rate
- The instructors at Simple Life Divers were very helpful with these additional learning objectives.
- Complete the required number of dives before attending the course. In my case, I had more than the required dives to complete the course.
- I took a bit too much equipment that I either seldom used or did not use; I would not take:
- Too much extra hardware (e.g. double snap bolts); take one spare snap bolt and if you need more, buy one.
- Night diving gear: night dives is not in the curriculum and therefore, I did not need a second light, strobe and head lamp to use on the boat.
- 3mm wetsuit: even though I enquired ahead of time, I brought a 3mm wetsuit that I only used in the unheated pool.
- PADI manuals (e.g. Deep, Night and Search and Recovery). Simple Life has a nice library of PADI manuals that could be referred to; I did not need mine.
- Cable ties: bring only two or three rather than 5-10.
- Reel for the mapping project: While I used my heavy Manta reel on two dives to map a site, I could have used fin kicks to measure distance.
- Gloves: I did not use them
- Silicon grease (2 ml jar): apply it to any gear ahead of the trip and if required, borrow some or buy some.
- Extra bungee cord: keep to a minimum and bring only one size.
- Lobster Stick: I did not use; my buoyancy and backward finning negated needing the lobster stick.
- Too much extra hardware (e.g. double snap bolts); take one spare snap bolt and if you need more, buy one.
- This was my course, so I self-managed my training journey:
- I read and fully understood the DM course. The Instructor Manual clearly and explicitly details the course requirements. I knew what I had to do so I was able to make a training plan that was aligned with my time available.
- Make a plan to complete all requirements within your allotted time. It is easy to delay reading and other requirements and to enjoy fun diving and social activities. A number of other DMTs were into their 2nd and 3rd month of training and completed very little of the course requirements. Since I wanted to complete the course in 3 weeks, I tried to complete some of the requirements every day. I would ask the instructor at the end of the day, what we can complete the next day. This allowed him to plan completion activities for me and to also invite other DMTs to join us. To some extent, my schedule drove the training for other DMTs. My instructors were very accommodating to help me along my training journey.
- I read and fully understood the DM course. The Instructor Manual clearly and explicitly details the course requirements. I knew what I had to do so I was able to make a training plan that was aligned with my time available.
I finished the course in 16 days with 30 open water dives and 4 confined pool dives. This was a challenging course since I completed it during the monsoon and I did not take any days off. I put in a lot of effort and my personal satisfaction is commensurate with my effort. Yes, I am really happy I completed my Divemaster training.
Good luck to those who are also on Divemaster journey.
GJS