Considering Dive Master

[Kevrumbo]

Hi All,

I have been considering becoming a dive master this summer. I learned how to dive on Koh Tao in Thailand summer before last and fell in love with it. I have around 30 dives as of now so I know I would need more. I currently have Open Water and Advanced and have done first aid but not the rescue course. I honestly do not have an interest in actually working in the dive industry, but I would really like to become a stronger and confident diver. What is the school of thought generally, would it be seen poorly to want to be a dive master but not work?

As a follow up, I would be looking for an international (warm water) destination with a low cost of living. My thoughts would be Koh Tao again, or maybe Indonesia or Honduras. Any other areas that you would recommend I look into?

You want to be a stronger more confident diver and you're from here in SoCal/San Diego. Here are three excellent courses to start with even before considering professional Dive Master training:

Emergency Response Diver (Rescue Diver) and Emergency Dive Accident Management Courses at Catalina Hyperbaric Chamber

And UTD San Diego's Extreme Scuba Makeover Class:

 

[DevonDiver]

DM isn't a route to superior diving competency. Neither is diving in Koh Tao.

Research an individual instructor who dives at an elite level and spend time/dives with them.

Being a good diver isn't about your collection of c-cards... it's about ability. Find an instructor who is capable of improving your ability, not just going through the motions of delivering insipid courses.

 

[halocline]

If you do not want to work in the dive industry and just want to expand your skills, you can spend the money you would have spent on a DM course much more wisely.

It really does depend. Certainly technical diving courses and/or mentorship with an excellent instructor are going to be extremely beneficial for anyone wanting to become a better diver. But this poster only has 30 dives and probably at this point what she could benefit from is just many more recreational dives, with good instructors and other divers who want to improve their diving. I believe that the least expensive way to get 100 dives in the caribbean, at least, is likely one of the DM internships in Roatan or Utila. Mine was (at the time) $600 for 2 months of daily diving. It's tough to get less expensive than that; I would have spent more simply on airfills for 100 dives here in TX.

I think some of the responders on this thread are thinking about the DM course at a local shop, where much of the time is spent in the pool and shop, essentially preparing for eventual shop employment and/or the IDC. For that type of course, I would agree. But these tropical internships can be a very cost-effective way to get quite a bit of initial dive experience.

Technical training of course is going to produce much better dive skills, but it is way more expensive and she would likely benefit from it after some more dive experience.

 

[DevonDiver]

But this poster only has 30 dives and probably at this point what she could benefit from is just many more recreational dives, . . . .

The Secret to Diving Expertise: Experience versus Ability

 

[CarcharodonCarcharias]

Hi All,

I have been considering becoming a dive master this summer. I learned how to dive on Koh Tao in Thailand summer before last and fell in love with it. I have around 30 dives as of now so I know I would need more. I currently have Open Water and Advanced and have done first aid but not the rescue course. I honestly do not have an interest in actually working in the dive industry, but I would really like to become a stronger and confident diver. What is the school of thought generally, would it be seen poorly to want to be a dive master but not work?

As a follow up, I would be looking for an international (warm water) destination with a low cost of living. My thoughts would be Koh Tao again, or maybe Indonesia or Honduras. Any other areas that you would recommend I look into?

First, welcome to the forum and congrats on picking up this wonderful hobby.

Second, all the mavens on this board had given you sound and solid advice already. So I will spare the agony of typing and reiterate what was said by more experienced and better divers than I am.

I just want to point out that being at DM, it is more about working with people and helping others to get to know the hobby of scuba diving. As a DM, you are more or less, an ambassador that will try to show people the wonderful world of diving and help them explore the realm of the sea.

If you like to work with people and would like to help other people to get to know the hobby, then I think becoming a DM is a good path. But if you don't like to work with people and have no inclination of teaching other people or introduce them to our wonderful past time, then DM is not for you.

Not to mention the liability that you will be placed under when you become a DM. You will have to constantly looking after people while diving as a DM, as well as the annual fee that you will have to pay Put Another Dollar In to keep your status active.

So the answer to your question is: No. Becoming a DM will somewhat helps you to be a better diver, but it is not the panacea. Becoming a better diver, that comes with more experience and logging more dives under your belt. With 30 dives, you are not even qualified to do Rescue and not to mention that you got Koh Tao as the place where you got certified. But that is a different story all together.

If you want to be a better diver, dive more, take the classes and the paths that have been recommended to you in this thread. You can use the money saved to buy a beer for all the great divers (not me) that gave you great advice in this thread because their recommendation will save you beaucoup bucks, time, and energy.

Happy diving!

 

[Subway Watersports]

Hello! If you want more information on a great Divemaster Internship opportunity in Roatan, send us an e-mail to internship@roatandiveacademy.com, and I would be happy to answer all of your questions and put you in contact with some of our former interns for a more personal insight. Best of luck with your journey and decisions!

 

[KevinNM]

It really does depend. Certainly technical diving courses and/or mentorship with an excellent instructor are going to be extremely beneficial for anyone wanting to become a better diver. But this poster only has 30 dives and probably at this point what she could benefit from is just many more recreational dives, with good instructors and other divers who want to improve their diving.

I've seen pretty impressive gains from people with 20-30 dives in a 4-5 day Fundamentals course. Part of this is seeing someone (the instructor) in the water who has an enormous amount of experience and amazing control over their trim, buoyancy and maneuvering. Part of getting better is knowing what excellence is and knowing that it is actually achievable. (Not that you will get there in a couple day class - but it will get you the tools you need to get there eventually if you put in the effort.)

 

[geoff w]

There's nothing wrong with becoming a divemaster with no intention to work as a dive pro. After a particularly bad experience with a terrible dive operator in Fiji, I decided to go through the DM program for self preservation for my wife and me more than anything else. But I already had several hundred dives under my belt at this point. Since becoming a DM, I've actually worked some as a pro.

With only 30 dives so far, you really should get more experience first if you want to be a better diver. If you only dive easy, warm water destinations with tons of visibility, then get lots more experience first. If you're diving in San Diego, you'll probably get a lot more valuable experience for the same number of dives, because cold water diving is more challenging than warm water vacation diving, and So Cal shore diving adds another level of experience on top of that. Plus we have some of the best diving anywhere here. A lot of warm water only dive pros make terrible divers here, so limiting yourself to just warm water won't necessarily make you a stronger or more confident diver

You should have a clear reason for considering to become a DM. To impress your friends? Get pro discounts? For your ego? To become a better diver? If you truly want to become a better diver, you should probably get a lot more experience in different conditions first, instead of trying to do the zero to hero dive pro route. I've seen lots of divers who only cared about moving up the certification food chain, but were absolutely abysmal divers. One of the best ways to become a better diver is to dive a lot with divers who are much better than you and strive to dive more like them. You can either become a much better diver becoming a DM, or not improve at all, depending on how much work you put in to the program and how good the instructor is

 

[DevonDiver]

Hello! If you want more information on a great Divemaster Internship opportunity in Roatan, send us an e-mail to internship@roatandiveacademy.com, and I would be happy to answer all of your questions and put you in contact with some of our former interns for a more personal insight. Best of luck with your journey and decisions!

Please share in the thread what makes your DM internship great/different.

It'd be good to see what innovations can be added to give more training value to the program.

 

[TMHeimer]

My logic is that diving in varied locations, including "difficult" (rough, cold, etc.) places is excellent experience for both improving one's own diving and for working anywhere as a pro. But not quite as important as getting a ton of experience where you hope and plan to work or just dive.