Divemaster course

[scuba Harry]

Hi have a look at Scuba Diving Thailand Pattaya, Real Divers, " Pay as you go " and " Zero to hero " internship program.. Dive master internship i start the course in 2 weeks i have met and dived with many of their Dive masters and they really know what they are doing .How can u learn to be a Dive master in a week ?? or 10 days or a month well u can if you want the card but you wont have the knowledge exeperienced of a real Padi Divemaster and thats a fact ..

 

[penguintom]

I know Dive S.E.A., spent two days working there last year. NOT recommended! One week DM courses sound typical of him, he does Open Water courses in 2 days and doesn't even have a classroom, what you saw at the golf course is all there is except the boat.

But he does have a bar! Maybe in days gone bye it was a classroom?

 

[surinboy]

Hi have a look at Scuba Diving Thailand Pattaya, Real Divers, " Pay as you go " and " Zero to hero " internship program.. Dive master internship i start the course in 2 weeks i have met and dived with many of their Dive masters and they really know what they are doing .How can u learn to be a Dive master in a week ?? or 10 days or a month well u can if you want the card but you wont have the knowledge exeperienced of a real Padi Divemaster and thats a fact ..

Very difficult to judge a DM a course solely by time. I agree that a week or a 10 days does seem a little silly but for some a month could be considered too long.

We currently have a commercial diver doing DM with us. He arrived just over a week ago and has completed most of the necessary DM assignments and course work. Due to his previous experience and from what I have seen in the water he would be far safer to dive with than the vast majority of DMs (or Instructors) I know. He will stay with us for a month to refine his guiding skills but he seriously doesn't need to.

Of course this is an extreme case but it just goes to show that for some divers a couple of weeks may be adequate whilst for others 3 months is not long enough.

 

[penguintom]

Very difficult to judge a DM a course solely by time. I agree that a week or a 10 days does seem a little silly but for some a month could be considered too long.

We currently have a commercial diver doing DM with us. He arrived just over a week ago and has completed most of the necessary DM assignments and course work. Due to his previous experience and from what I have seen in the water he would be far safer to dive with than the vast majority of DMs (or Instructors) I know. He will stay with us for a month to refine his guiding skills but he seriously doesn't need to.

Of course this is an extreme case but it just goes to show that for some divers a couple of weeks may be adequate whilst for others 3 months is not long enough.

I must disagree with this I am afraid. After the debacle I experienced in Pattaya, I elected to do my rescue / DM course back in the UK and am so glad I did. I was quoted as short as 1 week for the DM and 2 days for the rescue course. When I have actually done the courses back at home it would be imposible to cover what I have done in these times even for a more experienced diver than myself. Also most surprisingly at a lesser cost than I have seen available in Pattaya.
Also the rental equipment I used is far superior to what I have experienced in Pattaya, and safety standards that seem to be almost none existent in Thailand could not be faulted.
With your current DM candidate you mention, you seem to be contradicting yourself several times in the time periods you have stated.
From what I saw in Pattaya with my own eyes a few weeks ago, and from reading some of the threads on here it strikes me that there are too many dive proffessionals that have trained and worked exclusively in Asia and know no different to what they have been tought. Maybe they have been convinced they are doing a good job.
But from my, (the customers) point of view, drawing from my experiences and other research I have done I would not consider doing any dive training in Thailand, Standards in the UK are far superior, courses can be cheaper, and certainly from the point of view in Pattaya, the quality of diving far superior. The only advantage I can see to Pattaya diving is the warm water.

 

[surinboy]

Penguintom... I'm sorry for your negative experiences in Pattaya and also that my writing can be far from lucid at times.

Let me try to explain more clearly. One of our current DM trainees has been a commercial diver in the UK for some years. He normally works in pitch black cold waters in England. For him the DM training is a doddle. Considering all the safety training he has completed and the extreme conditions he has worked under the Divemaster program in Asia is rather rudimentary.

On the flip side there are divers entering the program in Thailand with 20 warm water dives. By the end of their course they may have only scraped together a total of 60 dives. Some of these divers may be highly capable but others certainly are not.

My point is that SOME DM trainess would be professional, safe guides after a very short training period whilst others could not match that level after several months of training. All divers entering the program are individuals with their own particular set of strengths & weaknesses. Consequently making sweeping statements about how long is suitable for a DM course is rather facile.

You must really have had some shocking experiences in Pattaya to be so passionately negative about diving in Thailand. There are some truly wonderful diving opportunities to be had here. I remain overwhelmed by the majestic splendour of Richelieu (and many other sites). It's a shame that you never had the chance to experience them and, by the sounds of it, have discounted this possibility altogether.

 

[lord khram]

From your comments here surinboy, I would think you have never dived in the UK.
Many times I hear Pattaya described as a great wreck diving location, and such statements are laughable. The Uk in my mind has some of the best interesting diving oportunities in the world. Yes it is obviously more weather dependant than here in Thailand, and you dont get all the pretty colours and endless viz as you can in the Similans.
But never the less, the best diving experiences I have had bar none have been in the cold pitch black waters (as you call them)of the uk.
And as you correctly state some DMs achieve the qualification on the minimum requirements and are incapable of doing the job. So why are they certified? Why are they let lose to practice their skills and spoil paying customers days diving?
Also having dived extensively in the UK and Asia. I have to agree that in my experiences standards as I dare say they are im most western countries are far higher than they are in Thailand.

 

[tc]

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[docbonezz]

You could get your Divemaster certification card in a week to 10 days but that is all it will be. You will nave no useful education at all. It took me about 6 weeks of time to get mine and I still think it could have been longer. to be a good Divemaster you need to know all aspects of a dive operation from running the retail store to teaching to running dive trips and more. Yes you can get the "ticket" in 10 days from advanced but you will be a horrible divemaster.

Take your time and enjoy the experience. It is a lot of work but worth it. After I became a divemaster I felt that I was a MUCH better diver. And you will be on a boat or getting ready to do a dive and when you start looking around you will be horrified at how people dive. You will see things that are potentially a problem before it happens.

Good luck.

 

[lord khram]

First ask yourself this "why do I want to become a divemaster" and here will be the answer to most questions. Some want the card (10 day dive masters), and some want to go further in the industry.
As for international standards of divemasters I have never heard such a crock of $#!7 in all my life. Divemasters are good and bad were ever you go FACT.

You are exactly right here Seaduction, but it is not only Divemasters there are also good and bad instructors and dive centres.
In my mind any instructor or dive centre that offers 1 week DM courses fall into that category.

 

[vdonick]

Isnt it pretty much impossible to do all the padi requirements for the DM course in a week, with assisting on the open water course taking 3-4days, adv course 2days, rescue 3days not to mention doing skills circuits, rescue assesments, swimming skills and all the exams + getting up to the required 60+ dives to effectively pass the course etc..........i would say its impossible!! At Crystal dive on koh tao where i did my DM training they make you do alot more than the padi requirment to make your the best divemaster you can be (and because its their name and reputation you carry with you after you finish) but even people who were pushed for time who only wanted to do the padi requirements seemed to be pushed to complete the standard course in anything less than 3-4 weeks and thats with diving almost all day every day. in total i spent just over 3 months doing my rescue to DM obviously not diving every day but taking my time and diving as much as i could also making sure i assisted as many different instructors as possible as everyone has different techniques and i feel i learnt a lot more that way. I then did a 2 week internship where you actually work as a DM and thats where i feel alot of people get the most education......actually doing it day to day to a solid 2 weeks!! After all that i then felt ready to go and find work anywhere in the world....i now see myself as a very well trained and skilled DM and reading some posts from people on this message board im not sure id want to dive or even allow them to dive with me if i ever had the pleasure of meeting them.