The Knowledge and Skills of the Divemaster

[Jim Lapenta]

The NAUI or SEI Master Diver courses are instructor level knowledge and skills without the teaching component. I use the NAUI manual for my SEI Master Diver courses.

I have a couple of them here. There is actually more in the NAUI manual than the Encyclopedia of Recreational Diving IMO. More practical applications.

The section on hyperbaric issues (decompression and re-compression) is excellent. Next to the Exploration and Mixed Gas Diving Encyclopedia by IANTD it is the reference I find myself most often using when developing courses.

 

[george_austin]

DM is more about leadership/professional skills/approach as opposed to personal in the water scuba skills. It also starts the skills to instruct others in an assisting role.

If you're a DM and your "personal, in water scuba skills" are lacking - people are going to notice. Granted, the way some agencies crank out DM's after 50 dives is completely ridiculous and has done irreparable harm to the whole concept of Divemaster. IRREPARABLE HARM.

A respected Divemaster will have been diving, ACTIVELY, for decades in almost every condition imaginable. There is no course for that.

I hope your opinion that being a DM is not as much about "personal in water scuba skills" never becomes a mainstream belief. It CAN be quite wrong.

 

[darrenlowjq]

Lots of water time, probably lots of remediation and endless drills through their skill circuit to get to demo quality, personality types etc. etc. Most, if not all of that you can gain on your own just through practice and spending time in the water.

Now that I think about it, I would add the caveat here that drilling your fundamental skills is great, but ONLY IF you have already developed good habits. If you keep drilling poor habits and ingrain it, this may become an impediment to improving your skills. If you are not sure that you've gotten how to do the skills properly, best to seek out an instructor, GUE or otherwise, that you trust to help you to sharpen your skills. I advocate GUE training as a result of my personal experiences, but GUE doesn't have a monopoly on great instructors.

 

[73diver]

Thanks everyone. I appreciate the comments. To answer Lorenzoid, if you'll allow the tautology, I don't know what I don't know. For example, in spite of having several specialties and many years of diving, I am often surprised to learn a very useful tip from other divers that I didn't encounter in my courses. To make my diving safer and more enjoyable, I like to learn as much of this 'collective wisdom' as possible. Regards.

 

[CuracaoJ]

Now that I think about it, I would add the caveat here that drilling your fundamental skills is great, but ONLY IF you have already developed good habits. If you keep drilling poor habits and ingrain it, this may become an impediment to improving your skills. If you are not sure that you've gotten how to do the skills properly, best to seek out an instructor, GUE or otherwise, that you trust to bring you to sharpen your skills. I advocate GUE training as a result of my personal experiences, but GUE doesn't have a monopoly on great instructors.

Agree completly. Nothing sucks more than ingraining something improper.

 

[george_austin]

The best thing about my NAUI DM internship (15 months) and eventual certification was that I became aware of what's really the most enjoyable thing about diving to me - working with others - especially new divers, those just learning which end of the fin their foot goes in and working with disadvantaged and at risk youth was wonderful. OK, that's what I like to do, great. We also dived our a$$eS off in Laguna Beach. The DM course didn't teach me how to improve water skills though - that just comes from diving, diving and more diving.

 

[geoff w]

I had absolutely zero interest in teaching new divers by spending my weekends in 8 ft deep chlorinated swimming pools, but went down the divemaster path to improve my diving survival skills to take care of myself and my wife in the water. Being a DM was never on my radar until we went on a dive vacation to Fiji and had a terribly frightening experience with an awful dive operator. A couple of the guys on the trip were both PADI pros (one instructor, one AI and one DM), as well as being GUE trained divers, so I spent a lot of time talking to them toward the end of the trip when I realized I couldn't count on poor dive operators for my (or my wife's) safety. I was torn between the fundies training path and the DM path, and ultimately did the DM certification (still haven't gotten around to taking Fundies)

I had no intention of working with OW students, but set a goal of completing the DM certification. What I did get out of the program was a much better appreciation of what divers around me are doing and how well they are doing it, much better dive judgement and ability to assess what's going on, and much better above and under water diving situational awareness. Plus a lot of new and improved skills, more diving opportunities, lots more friends from diving, and more confidence in the water. Plus sometimes good pro discounts on gear and trips and opportunities to participate in pro-only events like DEMA

All the usual advice applies - find the best instructor you can for the DM program, take it seriously and put at least 100% effort into it, including the things maybe you don't view as important like interning for an OW class and going through a Discover Scuba Diving session, and all the rest. There are definitely skills that transfer over and help if you're going to take Fundies, like the whole range of knowledge from going through the Encyclopedia of Recreational Diving, dive planning practices, and situational awareness of what divers around you are doing, where they are, and the problems they might be experiencing

What you won't get from the DM program is learning how to dive with a long hose on your regulator, do backward kicks or perform valve drills, unless your DM instructor helps you with those when you ask. You should figure out what skills are most needed for the diving you intend to do and start there

 

[boulderjohn]

I too think you would get much more from classes like fundies and intro to tech, as well as other intro-level tech courses.

I public safety dive and on occasion perform technical diving (with advanced nitrox/basic deco certification). I am cautiously learning wreck exploration from the experts.

I would think that a diver with Advanced Nitrox/Deco Procedures certification would not benefit much from going back and taking an Intro to Tech course. It seems to me you would be better off staying the course you are following with Tech diving, including the wreck experiences. If I were you, that's where I would focus my time.

 

[CuracaoJ]

The old saying it's the instructor not the class / agency is so true. I know a CD that could take a 50 dive DM intern and turn her into an amazingly polished dm with great skills and safety oriented to the nines. I've also known instructors whose rescue students wouldn't get passed my open water skills circuit. I think whether formal or informal whether gue or naui or padi etc. the best way to learn is to find someone who exhibits what you want to learn and then ask them to train you. For the op this means asking those Dms that he respects to spend some dive and remediation time with him. Heck if they're on the same public safety team I'm willing to bet tuition might involve cold tall ones and a burger.

 

[Imla]

Now... I like being in an "instructional team". I don't do it very much, as it takes too much time and returns no money, however, once in a while, I join an open water course, or the equivalent GUE class, Rec1. While I normally love instructing (first aid skills for example) I stopped after divemaster. I love joining the classes as they give so much back. There is actually no end to the possibilities of how an OW student can get themselves into trouble. I dive in cold water, and our OWers start their classes in drysuits.
What it gives me, that I cannot easily get elsewhere is the training in being "in front" of what is going to happen. The awareness, and skill to prevent problems. (Of course, diving with mostly T1/T2 certed divers, they usually mind themselves )
New divers don't know, and they do get into trouble. Or, they could get into trouble if it wasn't for a DM or Instructor being there, seeing, identifying and responding for them.
And of course... I kindof like "passing it on" so to speak. There are so many that have happily helped me become the diver I am today. TIps, tricks, mentoring, and just going diving. I'd like to do the same