PADI Divemaster

PADI DIVEMASTER

When you complete the PADI Divemaster course, you become a member of PADI (Professional Association of Diving Instructors). The “Professional” part of the acronym signifies that it’s a career—you can do it for a living. It’s an actual job. Many scuba divers who have been certified through PADI mistakenly believe that they are members of PADI. This misconception isn’t exactly discouraged, for obvious commercial reasons, but it is factually incorrect. Members of PADI are divemasters, assistant instructors, instructors, and those holding higher certifications in the PADI hierarchy.

Thus, becoming a divemaster can truly be considered vocational scuba training. You’ll learn everything you need to know to work in recreational scuba diving, such as guiding certified divers and assisting instructors during diving courses. You’ll also learn how to take people who have never scuba-dived before on introductory dives and how to help divers who’ve been out of the water for a while refresh their skills in a safe and effective manner.

Overview

During the divemaster course, you’ll be introduced to a wide range of skills that you’ll need to master to achieve proficiency. You’ll learn how to map a dive site, practice your rescue skills, lead divers in controlled environments accompanied by your instructor, and assist in a number of PADI diving courses. Additionally, you will need to learn how to demonstrate various scuba skills (such as clearing your mask, donating air, etc.) at a professional demonstration level. This means performing the skills slowly and in an exaggerated manner so that, by your example, you can effectively teach divers what to do.

The goal is for you to demonstrate skills to such a high standard during your divemaster course that you’ll be ready to enroll in a PADI instructor development course should you choose to do so.

COURSE PREREQUISITES

40 logged dives
PADI Rescue Diver or equivalent
PADI Advanced Open Water Diver or equivalent
EFR Training or similar first aid certification within past 2 years
Signed Medical Clearance (link)

The MCP difference

If you consider doing your divemaster training with us, there are a number of things we must advise you on. Firstly, we are not a dive shop but a working environmental organization. This means all of our diving activities are keyed into or influenced by our conservation efforts. In our introduction course, the PADI Open Water, we incorporate a lot more buoyancy work to make sure our volunteers actually have the skills required to do the conservation and surveying work. Most initial diver training, whether it’s PADI or another training organization, aims to make new divers safe and reasonably proficient – because of the demanding scientific nature of our work, we have to aim quite a bit higher.

This principle very much applies to the divemaster education as well. The dives and logistics you will be in charge of will involve fellow conservationists and scientific divers in training, not typical dive tourists. Our operation runs much more flexibly than that of a typical dive center – we generally do not have the tight schedules typical to recreational diving (but usually hidden from the dive customer), and it is important to take the time to do things right for our scientific purposes.

This means that in some ways, a divemaster internship with us is going to be very different from that of a dive shop. There are, of course, certain things that you will need to do during the PADI divemaster course to follow the standards of the program – but most of the training, dives, and work will be at a somewhat advanced or different stage than that of a typical dive center. This will give you hands-on experience with conservation work, and you’ll learn a lot of marine science.

What you will NOT do is deal with regular walk-in customers or take tourists on guided dives. The diving we undertake is different, and it’s something that’s important for us to stress to you, as you’d be disappointed if you expect the DM training to reflect the reality of most typical dive centers. It’s important for us to clarify, and it’s an important distinction to keep in mind if you plan on working in recreational diving in a casual dive shop after your divemaster program because you’ll probably be used to standards being a little more “hardcore” and to diver skills generally being higher if you’ve done your training with us.

How long does it take to become a PADI Divemaster?

Because of the checklist format of the divemaster course (once you’ve completed a task sufficiently well, you can tick it off—just like any PADI course), it’s possible to finish the course in as little as two to three weeks. While this may technically adhere to PADI standards, we feel the rather grandiose title of divemaster would be somewhat misplaced. While you can certainly improve tremendously as a diver and learn to perform skills to demonstration standard in two weeks, you won’t develop any real mastery of diving.

To become a proficient divemaster, you must gain experience in a wide range of conditions, including deep dives, night dives, drift diving, various boat and beach entries, different equipment setups, handling equipment failures, understanding diver psychology, and much more. In our opinion, anything shorter than a month or two (at the bare minimum) doesn’t make sense. That’s just being honest. Some people take the course simply to gain experience, dive frequently, and improve their personal dive skills without ever intending to work professionally in scuba diving. We respect those ambitions as much as any other, and we’re happy to teach you in such cases. However, we don’t offer short courses. We aim to train you to a level we can be proud of, should you decide to pursue professional work as a divemaster.

Unlike many commercial PADI shops offering short divemaster courses, we require volunteers to stay for two months. (You are, of course, welcome to stay longer—we’d greatly appreciate your help with our conservation efforts and the experience you’ll gain as a divemaster.) This duration ensures that prospective divemasters gain sufficient experience and training while also providing a safety buffer in case an ear infection or some other minor issue prevents you from diving for a week.

If you want to get involved in scientific diving after completing your divemaster training, you’ll need an additional four weeks. This time allows you to learn one of our survey methodologies and apply what you’ve learned to meaningful marine conservation work. For an eight-week divemaster course, the last two weeks are generally spent helping our instructors teach additional courses and addressing any weak spots in your skills. In contrast, during a ten-week stay, assuming everything progresses as planned, you’ll begin participating in scientific diving around the sixth week and spend the last two weeks actively contributing to conservation work.

REGARDING MINIMUM STAYS:

Below you’ll find the required minimum stays. If you have 3 or 4 months, all the better!

If non diver or very green: 4 weeks for initial training (Open water, Advanced, Rescue, EFR) and building experience of doing at least 40 dives, then followed by 8 weeks for the actual divemaster course.

If all prerequisites are ok: 8 Weeks

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Can I do my instructor training also?

MCP does offer instructor internships. These vary greatly in their exact structure and duration, but a common option is to progress directly from divemaster training into the instructor course, after which you can intern as an instructor. You may want to take a look at our webpage specifically about doing the IDC in the Philippines.

Others arrive as certified divemasters and only need to complete the instructor course. However, please keep in mind that we’re a working environmental organization. We genuinely want you to excel as an instructor and have the opportunity to learn within the unique setting of an environmental organization. As such, our instructor internship spots are limited to one or two at a time. However, we are very happy to help you secure a placement at a nearby dive facility.

Can I do my divemaster course in less than two months?

Absolutely. But not with MCP. There are two reasons why this is so. On one hand, we want to be proud of our candidates. Once you obtain a divemaster certification, you gain a professional license to work as a diver responsible for the safety of others. That’s not something to take lightly, honestly.

Many recreational dive shops teach the course in as little as fourteen days. For these shops, each trainee passing through the doors represents money on the bottom line. If you’re not going to work with them, the faster you get in and out the door, the better. We have completely different ambitions.

The other reason we insist on a two-month duration is to give you time to experience working in conservation. This is beneficial for you, but it also justifies the additional effort our instructors put into your training.

What's the difference between short and long programs?

The shortest possible duration for completing the PADI Divemaster course with MCP is eight weeks. This requires that the candidate is already certified as a rescue diver and has logged 40+ dives. For eight-week programs, candidates will complete the core training of the DM course, and if all goes according to plan, there will be approximately two additional weeks during which you will help MCP dive instructors teach PADI courses. This extra time also serves as a small “safety buffer” if you were to get an ear infection or encounter something that temporarily prevents you from diving.

In a basic eight-week program, you will primarily be involved in teaching scuba rather than participating extensively in scientific efforts. The expected additional two weeks is not enough time to adequately prepare you to contribute meaningfully as a scientific diver.

For divemaster candidates who stay ten weeks or longer (from the start of their DM training), there is enough time to become meaningfully involved in marine science. Unless you indicate a preference to focus solely on scuba training (such as if your goal is to become a scuba instructor,) you will proceed into scientific monitoring training after completing your divemaster course. This allows you sufficient time to learn scientific diving with us and gain experience in real conservation work underwater.

Do you offer free divemaster internship?

Because of the scientific nature of our work, we neither want nor expect our divemaster candidates to engage in marketing or recruiting divers. As a divemaster candidate, you will not be walking along beaches handing out brochures or sitting outside trying to persuade passersby to try diving. The typical ways divemaster candidates repay free internships simply do not apply to us. We are not a recreational dive shop and are in no competition with such establishments. Doing divemaster training with us is very, very different.

Our organization mostly attracts volunteers who are already divers, many of whom are highly capable and experienced. The kind of diving we do is almost exclusively work- or mission-oriented. “Guides” are simply not needed, nor do our divers require assistance with gear or other routine tasks. Volunteers are fully expected to wash their own scuba gear, carry their tanks, and plan their dives. All the work that you might do to repay training in a dive shop offering a “free internship” is either unnecessary or already being handled as part of someone else’s duties. So, to be clear: no, we do not offer free internships.

Please be aware that the reason some dive shops offer free internships is not altruism. Trainees repay the dive shop with their hard work. This can be a fair arrangement if you are gaining experience by guiding divers, conducting boat briefings, or other activities that prepare you to work in the recreational scuba industry as a divemaster. In such cases, your efforts become part of the learning process. However, regrettably, this is often thinly disguised exploitation if the tasks you perform as repayment involve sweeping floors, recruiting divers, cleaning bungalows, bartending at a resort, or other mundane activities that do not contribute to your growth as a professional diver. Unfortunately, many so-called “free internships” are simply cheap labor in disguise.

What is the cost of the divemaster course?

Often, the biggest expense when undertaking prolonged professional diver training abroad isn’t the actual training itself but the basic cost of living during the program—meals and accommodation can really add up over several months. Due to our remote location, at Marine Conservation Philippines, all of this is necessarily included as part of the volunteer package. Additionally, when making fair comparisons, it’s important to consider hidden fees—costs like scuba gear rental, marine park fees, etc., are often not included in quoted prices elsewhere. All things considered, in our experience, doing divemaster training with Marine Conservation Philippines is generally similarly priced or cheaper than undertaking a program of similar length elsewhere. The experience, however, is very different, and only you can determine whether that’s a positive or negative for you.

How long you choose to stay and how much time you want to dedicate to your DM training depends on you and how much you want to gain from the experience. Spending more time will, of course, make you better. Beyond the cost of your manuals and materials, the fee for the divemaster training is the same as the rate regular volunteers pay: 500 USD per week, multiplied by the number of weeks. This fee covers three daily meals, accommodation, all diving, gear rental, transportation, marine park fees, free tea and coffee, airport pickup, and more.

Financially an eight week divemaster program could look something like this:

8 weeks accommodation, food, diving, gear rental, tuition: 8 x 500 USD = 4000 USD
Divemaster crewpack (manual and materials) 240 USD
PADI application fee (Paid directly to PADI, not MCP) 120 USD

A typical twelve week divemaster program for a candidate with no prior scuba dive experience could look like this:

12 weeks accommodation, food, diving, gear rental, tuition: 12 x 500 USD = 6000 USD
Open Water Course 85 USD
Advanced Open Water Course 85 USD
Rescue Diver Course 85 USD
EFR – first aid course 65 USD
Divemaster crewpack (manual and materials) 240 USD
PADI application fee (Paid directly to PADI, not MCP) 120 USD

Many divemaster candidates additionally do the enriched air nitrox specialty (85 USD) and/or the self-reliant diver course. (50 USD).

Divemaster candidates who stay on longer become very valuable team members for us, and hence you start getting discounted rates. For 13th-16th week, cost is 400 USD weekly and you can do the PADI tec40 for free. For 17th-20th week, cost is 300 USD weekly, and you can do the PADI tec45 for free. For 21st to 24th week, cost is 200 USD weekly, and you can do tec50 for free. If you do not want to do any technical training, and you stay for 24 weeks, you can instead have the last four weeks completely free.

What can I learn at MCP that I couldn't learn anywhere else?

By staying with us and helping with the work we do, you will have opportunities to learn a great deal about ecology and marine biology that falls far outside the normal scope of divemaster training. You’ll also take part in a wide range of activities, from communicative assignments such as teaching to practical conservation work like planting mangroves, conducting underwater construction, mapping submerged areas, or acquiring other unique skills you won’t learn elsewhere. The extent and exact nature of these activities vary over time, depending on the needs of our ongoing projects. We frequently receive requests from partners on short notice, so we cannot say with certainty what a divemaster could be involved with several weeks or months into the future. What’s important to understand is that we’re a working environmental organization, and when you’re not engaged in dedicated divemaster training, you will be part of our teams. Please also read the FAQ section above about the differences between short and long divemaster programs..

Strictly in terms of diving, you’ll become a highly capable diver with excellent buoyancy and trim, prepared for advanced scientific work and technical diving. We dive exclusively with technical backplate/wing setups, and while with us, you can learn advanced dive planning, scuba equipment servicing, stage tank diving, technical diving, and much more. All of this takes time, but by the end of your training, you will possess technical diving skills and be proficient in techniques like helicopter turns, back kicks, and various finning styles. You’ll also be able to perform complex tasks while maintaining perfect buoyancy and trim, and your underwater problem-solving skills will be second to none. To be precise—we are happy to teach you far beyond the minimum required to pass, and we are confident that our dive skill standards are higher than those of any recreational dive shop. This explains why our courses are as long as they are.

Divemaster candidates who stay longer than twelve weeks can enroll in technical diving training (and the cost of additional weeks progressively decreases the longer you stay). Candidates who stay for 16 weeks can complete the PADI TEC40 course; those who stay for 20 weeks can do the TEC45 course; and those who stay for 24 weeks can complete the TEC50 course. Technical diving training is offered for free to divemasters who stay that long.

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