Mustard Dave
Contributor
Dive Master (DM) - A professional rating. Responsible for the lives of all divers in the water. If someone is hurt or dead it had better be you. A diver bolts for the surface you are required to risk life and limb to stop them from killing themselves. DM must have insurance and renew their DM certification card annually. This is a cost of several hundred US Dollars. Work long hours and make little pay. Doing a day of pleasure diving and not working, diver gets hurt, you could get sued (suit happy USA).
Some questions:
1. How passionate are you about SCUBA diving? If your not passionate about SCUBA you should not be a Dive Master(DM).
2. What is your motivation for being a DM? Why spend thousands of dollars to become a DM and you don't even know if you like SCUBA diving? It can't be the money because the pay is below low. Most DM's have a day job to pay for things like food and shelter and DM part time. Yes you can work in exotic locations and earn enough money to almost cover the cost of food, and maybe if your luckly a very low cost shack.
3. There are monetary and legal consequences for being a DM too. It cost a lot of money to become a DM and to maintain that rating. Lawsuits also happen (depending on where you live and work). As a dive professional you are held to a higher standardard.
4. What is your rush? A DM or Instructor should be someone who has spent a few years diving and has a few hundred dives under their belt. It is a leadership position with responsibilities. Take your time, become a Basic Open Water SCUBA diver. Do 25 to 50 dives, then take the Advance Course, do another 25-50 dives then take the Rescue Course. Then do another 100 dives and then considerbecoming a DM.
Whats your hurry. The only thing waiting for you at the end of the race we call life is a grave. Slow down and enjoy the journey.
Most of that is sound advice but I do have a few comments about point 4. I do not feel there is any merit in leaving it too long between courses. I did OW and my AOW immediately afterwards. I was signed off as RD on dive 24.
Being an AOW diver does not make you an advanced diver, but I found doing it this way served me well as I did more of my earlier dives under the tutelage of an instructor, giving me the opportunity to polish my skills without learning bad habits.
I have on numerous occasions said that AOW and RD are in the wrong order. I think more rescue skills should be taught as early as possible. After a handful of dives, a rescue diver is probably not going to be as polished with those skills as a more experienced diver, but an inexperienced diver with training in rescue techniques stands a better chance of rescuing somebody with no rescue training whatsoever.
For professional level courses it's a different matter. Anybody wanting to be an instructor or DM needs to be competent to ensure the safety of novice divers and should be a well rounded, experienced diver. My pet hate is toy DMs / instructors who have been sold the idea of the wonderful adventurous lifestyle of the PADI professional and rush into teaching others while they are still wet behind the ears.
Well I apologize for the bit of confusion there. I have no intention of working in the dive industry at all, I was just doing some reading up and a dive master would look like a pretty decent accomplishment for me to do in the 6 months over in Phuket.
I know some of you guys said that I might not even be that passionate about diving, but I'd still like to start of at somewhere decent. First of all, the shop wouldn't tarnish any first impression of diving that I might have. And secondly, be adequate enough for me to carry on my dive master should I so decide to do so.
Thank you kevrumbo! I'll look into your suggestions.
If you're not planning on working in the dive industry, I wouldn't bother with the DM course. Although you will certainly learn something from it, I think there are better courses to do. The only recreational level courses I have an interest in I have done - OW, AOW, RD, Deep, Nitrox. If you want something to work towards as a mark of achievement, why not work towards MSD instead, doing the specialities you want?
My advice is just get out there and dive. Do the courses you want as and when you feel ready. As you gain experience, you will get an idea which way you want to progress. Yo