Adv. OW to DM...How long did you take

[milbournosphere]

So we were talking in between dives this weekend, and the DM from my (NAUI) LDS was talking about how long it has taken some of their students to go from advanced OW to Divemaster.

He mentioned one guy who, in a very unusual case, took less than six months to do so, and that seemed pretty fast to me. It's on my horizons to get my Divemaster rating eventually, but I just got my AOW cert in February and I'd like to work my way through Nitrox, Rescue, etc. over time, while putting more bottom time under my belt.

How fast did it take you to get to Divemaster, and what was your path? What time frame would you consider normal?

 

[MaxBottomtime]

Two years. The AOW and Rescue were about four years after my OW, and the DM course took 18 months.

 

[rjack321]

About 18 years. I had 800+ total dives, 150+ trimix dives, and 50+ full cave dives before I decided I should get some sort of DM cert.

 

[WheelsUSN]

13 years. At that point the owner of the local dive shop asked me to take the course and work on his boat on weekends. We were stationed together in the military where I was the craftmaster of a dive support vessel. Until then I really hadn't considered DM at all.

 

[wedivebc]

About 18 years. I had 800+ total dives, 150+ trimix dives, and 50+ full cave dives before I decided I should get some sort of DM cert.

Not quite that long for me but I was full trimix diver before I was DM

 

[tstormdiver]

About 2 1/2 years.

 

[letterboy]

<2 years. Way to fast IMHO.

I did not know enough to properly train divers.

 

[Diver0001]

So we were talking in between dives this weekend, and the DM from my (NAUI) LDS was talking about how long it has taken some of their students to go from advanced OW to Divemaster.

He mentioned one guy who, in a very unusual case, took less than six months to do so, and that seemed pretty fast to me. It's on my horizons to get my Divemaster rating eventually, but I just got my AOW cert in February and I'd like to work my way through Nitrox, Rescue, etc. over time, while putting more bottom time under my belt.

How fast did it take you to get to Divemaster, and what was your path? What time frame would you consider normal?

I did my OW, AOW and Rescue in about 8 months and then went diving for 15 years before doing my DM.

R..

 

[TMHeimer]

Got certified Nov./05. No dives until Jan. 06. AOW done March 30/06. Total dives after finished was 15. So that's 4 months, but no dives the first 2. Oct./06 did Rescue at 26 dives. Never thought of DM until Fall/09. Finished May/11.

 

[Scott]

I did my OW, AOW, Rescue (may have been a specialty back then) and DM in 30 months. I had 213 dives why I started my DM. I know this because I recently found the box with all my old log books in it. I spent a number of years as a DM before considering instructor.