Am I mad to try to go from virtually no dive experience to divemaster?

[msg]

I guess I am a much slower learner. I would prefer to get my c-card, then dive, dive, and dive. After getting plenty of experience and different environments under my belt, then I go for the DM.
I remember a dive op that had a DM, he was about 19, certified for maybe a year or two, and didn't really know enough to tie his shoes. Point being, six weeks doesn't seem like much time to learn and get the required dives completed.

As I said earlier, I am slow.

 

[NudeDiver]

I am planning to do some volunteer work in Central America and while I am in that part of the world I am planning to take in a six week begineer to divemaster course.My question is, is this possible to achieve or am I taking on too much?I would appreciate if anyone could give me some advice.

My thoughts, in no particular order are:

a). What for? What is your motivation here? Do you know what a DM really does?

b). Seems pretty foolish to me.

c). Do OW, AOW, & Rescue first. Get some experience, then maybe, if you are still interested, do a DM course.

d). I know that I'd never want to be a student under the direction of some guy who just went from noob to DM in 6 weeks. I also wouldn't want anyone I cared to be under the supervision of such an individual. No way.

Good luck!
nd

 

[Blackwood]

Would you be mad? No. But neither would you be very considerate to the new divers out there who'd be looking to you for experience and leadership.

 

[mongodives]

There are several outfits that specialize in making non-divers into instructors in 2-3 months throughout Asia, so 6 week to be a DM is doable.

Get certified, then DIVE and then DIVE some more,get more training then DIVE some more and then decide.

IMO you shouldn't be thinking about going pro until the number of dives required by whichever agency you choose,have been exceeded before starting the training. Preferably with a wide variety of conditions and locations as well.

 

[Nemrod]

About six years ago I was on holiday in Turkey and got the chance to do a twenty minute shore dive. During the dive my dive guide got me to open my hand and he crushed some fish food into my hand and about 10 to 20 little fish scurried around my hand and ate all the food in the matter of seconds. I was absolutely astounded and amazed.
I guess this is my round about way of saying I was hooked on the whole diving experience. Unfortunately I was unable to follow up on that experience and it has been my one and only dive. Now my circumstances have changed (made redundant) and I am planning to see some of the world. I am planning to do some volunteer work in Central America and while I am in that part of the world I am planning to take in a six week begineer to divemaster course.
My question is, is this possible to achieve or am I taking on too much?
I would appreciate if anyone could give me some advice.

Just what the diving world needs, another overnight wonder 12 dive dive master.

No, not crazy but why? Why not just learn to dive, increase your knowledge and enjoy the sport without trying to become something you are not, a master of diving?

N

 

[TSandM]

When I learned to dive, I become completely infatuated with the sport. I dove as much as I possibly could (which was a lot, given where I live). The shop where I got certified encouraged me to do AOW and several specialty classes, which I did, as I realized I wasn't very skilled and had a lot yet to learn. Ahead of me, I saw several folks in the shop who had been certified perhaps eight months, and were in the divemaster program. I envied them; diving was SO much fun, I thought teaching it would be wonderful.

And then I had a "life changing experience". I got in the water with somebody who knew how to dive. I really hadn't seen anybody like him before -- he was quiet in the water, with no extraneous movements, and he could STOP. Completely still. And back up, and spin around, and never change depth one foot while doing so. I looked at this man and thought two things: One, I didn't know squat about diving, and two, that was the way I wanted to dive. All my ambitions toward being a diving professional got put on hold on that day, and they are still there, almost three years later. I am now, at about 700 dives and a LOT of further certifications, almost at the place where I think I could teach diving from a position of strength and experience.

There is nothing wrong with doing the course you described, so long as you recognize that, at the end of it, you are not really likely to know very much, and it will take time and miles in the water to make a solid diver out of you.

 

[drydiver]

I agree totally with TSANDM. Unless you have seen someone with far superior skills, even after achieving a comfort level of your own, you do not realize how much more you can learn. A semi-wise dive instructor once said to another wanna-be instructor, unless you experienced different types of dive conditions, as a professional, how are you going to have advise people from one type of dive condition on how to adapt to "your" or local dive conditions?

For example, I think a ton of the most enthusiastic divers, dive cold and dark and sometimes deep/wrecks. I am thinking of NE/NW America/Canada. If you had this type of experience on top of your DM you would be able to easily relate/advise.

I am a rookie (albeit enthusiastic) by all accounts, but I have a good idea of what I do not know which is plenty. I have met DM's who have dove in only "favorable" conditions and while they may know the hiding places of great local marine life, I do consider their perspective somewhat narrowly focused. And on vacation in warm water, that is all I am really looking for. As an everyday instructor, I expect them to know what a BP/W is and to be able to fin in reverse/maintain trim with greater skill than I.

Donna

 

[thanksforallthefish]

If what you want is to become a DM in 6 weeks go for it, there is nothing wrong with having more knowledge ... you will learn the theory there then you need to go and dive to gain the necessary experience.

Certs dont make you a good diver ... diving does.

The course you outlined is going to set you back a pretty penny, so my suggestion would be to do your ow and possibly advanced then use some of the money you would have spent on the other courses to do some diving in other locations, then if you were still wanting to, do your rescue and DM.

While dives under the belt is not the be all and end all, it sure goes a long way to helping. As other posters have said try and find some good divers, wether they are OW or Instructor ... it is amazing how much you can learn from just watching them.

 

[halocline]

If it's what he wants to do, I'd say go for it. I'll tell you one thing for sure, the DM course is the cheapest way to spend 6 weeks diving in Roatan or Utila. That was plenty of motivation for me. Just to clarify, where I did it it would be totally impossible to go from pre-OW cert to DM in 6 weeks. It would be more like 12 weeks, and the cost would be around $1500 for the courses and books. There is the reason the DM course is so popular, and I suspect that this guy is thinking pretty much the same sort of thing that so many others are, "hmmmm, a couple of months in the Caribbean, less than 2 grand...."

Most of these people, like me, have a very different perspective than many of the posts here. The posts more or less say "you'll be unqualified as a dive professional because A) you need more dive experience and/or B) the conditions aren't nearly manly enough to make you a good diver"

My response is, "who cares?" This is recreational diving, after all. While the PADI DM badge is a "professional" license, the reality of the dive industry is that it's so competitive that almost all of the DMs don't ever find work or even really look for it.

And, if you have the right attitude and some good instructors, you can learn a lot in a DM internship. No way is it the kind of rigorous training associated with cave diving or any sort of tech diving. But many people couldn't care less, myself included.

One last point, after having done this, I'm definitely more qualified to begin cavern/cave training. That 100+ dives in a very concentrated time period, while taking some responsibility for the truly bizarre assortment of OW students coming through the shop, certainly raised my ability to perceive what was going on around me, and helped me further develop basic dive skills. What could be wrong with that?

 

[scubadada]

Hi Loughman,

People on Scubaboard certainly have strong opinions and cover a very wide spectrum of views from polar end to polar end. Personally, I would only pursue DM certification if I intended to work as DM or proceed further to instructor or beyond to work at that level.

I believe I got more out of my training by spacing it out over a longer period of time and gaining experience and practicing between courses. Again, that is a personal comment.

Your choice is a personal one, good luck in making it. Diving in Central America for 6 weeks is an attractive idea.

Good diving, Craig