Qualifications of a DM

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I very much agree with @Angelo Farina , I actually prefer term "dive professional" instead of DM, DG or instructor. In real world, this person will carry the responsibility of all customers on board, at the surface and underwater as well as customer relations and satisfaction. They will know how to read the weather, tides, currents, assess each customers' skill set, will do specific dive plan for each buddy team and ensure that they will dive safely. They will give feedback and tips to customers on how they can improve. They will jump in the current, bad weather, bad viz and locate a wreck or a lost anchor, tie the boat onto a wreck or reef, recover the anchor, fix the equipment, fix the toilette, fix the outboard engine, take decisions that will affect everyones safety.. Just to name few things they would have to do.. How can you be proficient with all these with 60 or 100 dives? If we take 10 000 hr rule for mastering something, how long should one to be working to be called DiveMaster?

You have to work in the field to become a dive professional. And yes, one has to start somewhere as well, you are not born into it, there will always be beginners as well as mistakes. I consider couple of years full time experience with 1000 dives and 1-200 certifications in different locations being a good indicator that you are no longer a beginner. Amateur hobby instructors and divemasters are mainstay of the industry as they also promote it and contribute to the growth and some quite capable but the fact is, you have to do it a lot and continuous to became a Master and this will take very long time for them.

When I worked in overseas, there were very few local (I mean several locations) instructors and official DMs available, for a very simple reason, there were not enough translated material for professional levels, heck, there was not even AOWD manual available for them to read in their own language. They obviously struggled to get past the written exams despite they had enormous experience. This has changed over the years, as material became available to locals as well thus, more and more professionals hold instructor or dm c-card as well.
 
As someone who had been reading ScubaBoard posts for 17 years now, I have seen remarkable trends over those years...

So your response caused me to look at how long I have been hanging around here. Also 17 years, and I could not agree more with your observations about the trends in DM/Dive Professional expectations.

Jackie
 
So the real question for me isn't the qualifications of a DM, but of the diver who feels they NEED a DM (or DG) to follow around like a sheep?

Baaaa. Baaaaa. Before a guide pointed them out to me, I didn't know critters like a painted elysia, a headshield slug or black aglaga existed. I'm guessing most divers didn't see garden eels until someone pointed them out either, as they disappear when you get too close, and look like grass from far away. Same with yellow head jawfish, pederson shrimp, squat shrimp, etc. Now I see them on my own, but I don't know where the resident seahorses or drummies are - and a guide can be very helpful when they know the areas they are currently inhabiting.

I feel genuinely sad for the folks who are new and aren't familiar with the small stuff, and there's nobody to point it out to them (so I usually do). Even if you studied the Paul Humann/Ned Deloach fish/critter identification books, you can't tell how small these things are by looking at the pictures - even if it says '2mm'. But when you see a few painted elysias on green moss, you begin to look for them. When you see yellow head jawfish poking their heads out of a round bit of rubble, it begins to make sense.

I'm thankful for patient dive guides who have led me around like sheep, so I can now find and identify some really cool (and some very tiny) critters.
 
Baaaa. Baaaaa. Before a guide pointed them out to me, I didn't know critters like a painted elysia, a headshield slug or black aglaga existed. I'm guessing most divers didn't see garden eels until someone pointed them out either, as they disappear when you get too close, and look like grass from far away. Same with yellow head jawfish, pederson shrimp, squat shrimp, etc. Now I see them on my own, but I don't know where the resident seahorses or drummies are - and a guide can be very helpful when they know the areas they are currently inhabiting.

I feel genuinely sad for the folks who are new and aren't familiar with the small stuff, and there's nobody to point it out to them (so I usually do). Even if you studied the Paul Humann/Ned Deloach fish/critter identification books, you can't tell how small these things are by looking at the pictures - even if it says '2mm'. But when you see a few painted elysias on green moss, you begin to look for them. When you see yellow head jawfish poking their heads out of a round bit of rubble, it begins to make sense.

I'm thankful for patient dive guides who have led me around like sheep, so I can now find and identify some really cool (and some very tiny) critters.

We should distinguish divers who "need to be led around like sheep" because the leader knows how to spot critters and divers who "need to be led around like sheep" because they believe the leader is their safety net. If a diver truly feels a need for a safety net (that is, they would not do this dive with just a plain old buddy) they should either go back and get remedial training before doing this dive or hire an instructor to lead them and perhaps get a little coaching along the way. It is okay to push one's boundaries--you don't have to stagnate at a particular level--but just keep in mind that's what you're doing on this dive, and prepare accordingly. But more generally, don't do a dive if relying solely on your training and experience plus whatever localized knowledge you've gained from a briefing doesn't feel safe enough.
 
I have a lot of dive experience and consider myself an independent diver, but there have been many occasions throughout my diving career, including recently, where diving with a DM was necessary, and I was glad I was doing it.
  • In places like Cozumel, DMs are required by law, and it is a good law. It is way better to have a group of drift divers stay together with a boat following that group carefully and picking them up when they ascend together than having everyone dive separately and pop up in the boating channel randomly. In contrast, in South Florida they do that kind of diving without DMs and with dive flags. That would not work in Cozumel because of the tall reef structures that would snag the flag lines.
  • In Palau, Thailand, and many other locations we would have had no idea where to go on a dive without the guide showing us the way. On one dive in Palau, we had been thoroughly briefed about the importance of staying together on the dive, particularly at the end when we would leave the reef and head out to open water in a strong current. Throughout the dive (as in previous dives) a pair of photographers kept holding us up. When we were about to leave the reef, the DM signaled to make sure everyone was ready, and we went out in current and poor visibility. Just as we left, the photographers saw something they wanted to photograph, and they stayed behind. There was nothing we could do about it in the current. I was close enough to the DM to see he was very much afraid. After about 5 minutes, we miraculously saw them in the gloomy water, and the DM got us back together again. The next day those two photographers had their own private DM, and everyone else was relieved.
  • Once in Cozumel with a group of very experienced divers, the DM asked us what we wanted to do for our second dive, and several of us suggested a site that had a certain feature we wanted to see. We started the dive, and, as usual, the buddy I had been assigned wanted to show his rebellious, independent nature, and he kept straying off on his own. That put me in quite a predicament--I had to stay in sight of my buddy and stay in sight of the group. I was often half way from each. As we approached the site we had wanted to see, my buddy darted off to look at something. The DM looked back at me, and I pointed to where he had gone. The DM got a "WTF?" look on his face and took the group after him, meaning that, with the current going as it was, we would not do the dive as planned. Back on the boat, my buddy asked what had happened to that feature we were supposed to see on that dive. Everyone glared at him, and somebody explained that we had missed it because we had to take off after him. He didn't seem to care. He had shown his independence, by golly.
 
So the real question for me isn't the qualifications of a DM, but of the diver who feels they NEED a DM (or DG) to follow around like a sheep?

In addition to showing me the cool stuff, as discussed above. . .

Locally, I am quite comfortable exploring with a buddy, and even leading new divers around the local terrain that I know well.

However, on vacation, I am a single diver. I dont have training/equipment for solo diving, so I am generally getting an insta-buddy. If I feel good about the insta-buddy, especially if they know the dive site, I will happily follow them to explore away from the DM.

However, if my insta-buddy seems a bit iffy, I am sticking close to the DM. Mainly because I want to make sure that there is emergency air nearby. So in a sense, I am relying on the DM as a "safety net." Baaaaa.

Edit, I see boulderjohn has discussed a disappearing insta-buddy, which has also happened to me, and Im sure many others.
 
I suspect a number of divers rely on the guide primarily as a navigator. People vary in their aptitude for different things, and navigation is one of those where some will never be good at it. Whether it's a lack of aptitude, attitude, experience, whatever, some people may otherwise be capable divers...but need that guide to take them on a tour of a strange reef and have them back at the boat at 40 - 45 minutes. And for many people, that's how it will always be. Some who could navigate well enough to get back to the boat would find the process so engrossing as to detract from their enjoyment of the dive.

My point is, not everyone who 'needs' a guide is a poorly trained incompetent diver. Some people disdain GPS's...and some of us could've cried tears of joy when they came out.
 
These deserve highlighting:

3. It should be an entry requirement for DM's that Tec 40 has been complete (insert your agency's Intro to tech course) far too many dive pro's struggle with the rudimentaries of dive theory
Also for the dive skills.

5. Require that Instructors take a further qualification before being allowed to teach DM. Too many Instructors take combined DM/OWI course and have zero experience guiding dives with real customers. How can they pass on experience to the students if they have non themselves

A challenge with both of these is that the tech level training to create DMs may not be available in a shop or area. Though it is not the tech that is needed, but the fundamentals skills.
 
Whether it's a lack of aptitude, attitude, experience, whatever, some people may otherwise be capable divers...but need that guide to take them on a tour of a strange reef and have them back at the boat at 40 - 45 minutes.
In many cases, it is not getting back to a fixed boat in 45 minutes. It's getting from one spot to another via a route that takes you past specific sites. I have been on many dives like that. My need for a guide on a dive like that has nothing to do with my lack of aptitude, attitude, or experience. It has to do with knowing the area.

When I visited friends in the Seattle area and dived Puget Sound, I had no idea where the local dive areas were and what the tides were like. I had people guide me. They were friends and not people I hired, but that is a small difference. I needed someone showing me where to go and when to go there. If I had not had such friends there, I would have hired someone from a local shop.
 
We should distinguish divers who "need to be led around like sheep" because the leader knows how to spot critters and divers who "need to be led around like sheep" because they believe the leader is their safety net.

Personally, I think it's a-ok for folks to follow a guide or dive master as a safety net. I did. It was nice to have someone there while I was developing skills and competency. Many divers only dive once a year and really don't have the luxury of practicing enough to gain the confidence to be completely on their own with such limited diving. If you're more comfortable with a safety net, go for it. If you'd prefer to be left on your own to go find cool stuff, go for it (assuming your dive is set up for that sort of autonomy). No harm, no foul. As the kids say, "you do you".
 

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