Personally, I've always been a little uncomfortable with the PADI video that goes along the lines of "After Rescue, your next step is Divemaster"....
Yes, you will learn some stuff on teh DM course - but how much it is appliciable to becoming a better, more knowledgeable diver is questionable. What DM teaches is a very limited use set of skills. Diving skills to "demonstration quality" is a different standard than would be of use to a diver themselves. Mask remove and replacement, for example, to demonstration quality is slow, deliberate, controlled and with an emphasis on the critical attributes that enable a student diver to observe and learn. This is a far cry from what would be useful to most divers, which would actually being able to remove and replace their mask underwater whilst not losing control of their position in the water column.
Unless you are wanting to work as a DM, or move on into instructing, I genuinely beleive that there is very little point in doing a DM class. Much better options exist - GUE-F has been mentioned, but with the right instructor a combination of a buoyancy class, nitrox and deep will give the dive planning skills, dive skills and knowledge that will make you a better diver. With the wrong instructor, of course, you'd be better off just taking that money and burning it in the street.
Yes, you will learn some stuff on teh DM course - but how much it is appliciable to becoming a better, more knowledgeable diver is questionable. What DM teaches is a very limited use set of skills. Diving skills to "demonstration quality" is a different standard than would be of use to a diver themselves. Mask remove and replacement, for example, to demonstration quality is slow, deliberate, controlled and with an emphasis on the critical attributes that enable a student diver to observe and learn. This is a far cry from what would be useful to most divers, which would actually being able to remove and replace their mask underwater whilst not losing control of their position in the water column.
Unless you are wanting to work as a DM, or move on into instructing, I genuinely beleive that there is very little point in doing a DM class. Much better options exist - GUE-F has been mentioned, but with the right instructor a combination of a buoyancy class, nitrox and deep will give the dive planning skills, dive skills and knowledge that will make you a better diver. With the wrong instructor, of course, you'd be better off just taking that money and burning it in the street.