Difference between the PADI and SDI Divemaster courses

[Phil_C]

Totally agree with the comments above regarding your intentions of educating divers- very laudable, but sadly I think unrealistic.

Many people who are holiday divers and go on a guided dive do so for the dive, and perhaps the ego trip of being a diver - this even applies to many who are doing courses - they don't want feedback that tells them they are wrong or unskilled, they only wants positive reinforcement of their own view of themselves and another card which says how good they are.

These sorts of divers do not want someone, young or old, telling them their buoyancy sucks, or they shouldn't use a reef hook or pointer and so on, they want a DM who is essentially a 'taxi' driver who will take them down, lead them around, and bring them back in one piece and not burst the bubble of their own self image. With these sorts of people no amount of talking will make them listen, they will just get upset with you and probably complain about your attitude, not good for business, whether you work for yourself or someone else.

I think with these sorts Steve_C (no relation ) has it right - take them to the sites they can't damage and let them have their self belief intact. - Phil

 

[drrich2]

Understand that totally because some of my own friends don't ask me out on dives anymore. I'm not that young and know I should keep my mouth shut when my comments aren't needed but I just can't help it when I see...

Trying to teach people in the context of charter boat trips involves another dynamic; singling out and 'correcting' strangers in front of others, both strangers and their travel mates.

You can really step on some toes doing that.

Charter boat crews rely heavily on tip money. You tick off paying customers, you can cut into the income base.

Richard.

 

[Progen]

Trying to teach people in the context of charter boat trips involves another dynamic; singling out and 'correcting' strangers in front of others, both strangers and their travel mates.

...

Nah, I'm not that blunt. I don't correct people in a straightforward manner. I usually go the Chinese roundabout and ask whether they'd tried backfinning and frog kicking when I see people crashing into things underwater or silting everything up.

And I forgot to mention the most important thing about me wanting to do some guiding. To actually proactively protect the marine environment by being legally entitled to guide in which case I can steer them away from vulnerable areas. I noticed that most leisure divers won't know what's a healthy and dead reef anyway. As long as they see some fishes swimming around, they'll be impressed enough even if the whole reef had been bleached and broken up.

 

[Steve_C]

I usually go the Chinese roundabout and ask whether they'd tried backfinning and frog kicking when I see people crashing into things underwater or silting everything up.

Backfinning and frog kicking are a separate issue from crashing into things underwater and silting everything up. Crashing into things is poor buoyancy, poor situational awareness, poor trim, and lack of caring.

I don't crash into things unless there is heavy surge and I don't silt things up (usually) and I rarely every frog kick or backfin. Not saying that those kicks are not useful at times but they are also not something the one does without practice and you can still run into things while doing them if you are not careful.

Doing things a good way is not always the same as doing things my way.

 

[Progen]

The ones I've seen crashing into reefs did so because they lacked control and were used to using their hands or pointers to stop themselves. There's hardly any current in the marine park at Kota Kinabalu so that's definitely not the culprit. Many of these divers tend to equate the number of years from their date of certification to experience and skill regardless of how little they know or practice.

 

[Steve_C]

Many of these divers tend to equate the number of years from their date of certification to experience and skill regardless of how little they know or practice.

Dove with some of those. 10 minutes after listening to one go on about all his past diving and sky diving experience I had to stop him from dropping his weights when his mask flooded 3 minutes into a dive.

 

[Progen]

Saw a few more (all three had cameras) yesterday boasting about where they'd been and what they'd seen but throughout the entire dives, they were grabbing onto things with their hands and when I pointed out a huge sea cucumber (not common where I am) to one of them meaning for her to get shots of it, to my horror, the lady actually picked it up and started twisting the poor thing into a more interesting pose! Was actually crushing and breaking live corals everytime they planted their fins down to get shots. Sure made me wish I was already a divemaster and could give predive briefings in the hope that divers will be aware of the impact that they've caused with every dive by their actions.

 

[dreifish]

Progen, was she twisting the sea cucumber around to look for emperor shrimp or something like that?

I think photographers are more guilty than most when it comes to carelessness, but I've seen many divemasters do the same thing in the hope of finding something cool to show off to their customers. Which is all to say that sometimes bad habits come from emulating those who should know better

I have /no/ idea whether being handled in that matter is very stressful or not to a sea cucumber -- perhaps someone more knowledgable than me can comment!

 

[BoltSnap]

I don't think that a DM course is about enhancing or improving diving skills as much as about entry level leadership skills. A diver must have good diving skills before attending the leadership course for them to concentrate on leadership specific skills and knowledge. If one wants to enhance their diving skills, there are many other courses that do that.

Many people are "impressed" with courses that are short and "compact" but lose sight of more comprehensive training. Leadership can't be taught in few days especially when dealing with DM type of activity. I am a firm believer in courses that include real internship with real students and/or divers in real conditions over a period of time sufficient to gain real experience while practicing and improving the leadership specific skills under a certified instructor's supervision and guidance. Canned and compact DM courses won't do any of this.

 

[Steve_C]

Sure made me wish I was already a divemaster and could give predive briefings in the hope that divers will be aware of the impact that they've caused with every dive by their actions.

Nothing stops you from making a few pre dive comments like "I hear there has been a lot of coral damage here due to divers touching the coral. I am going to try and not touch it." Note that it gets the message across but is not critical of them nor comes across as bossy.


They can ignore a dm also.