Hi ScubaJill,
Where are you located in Va? I'm a NAUI Instructor Trainer in the Richmond area and I might be able to point you in the right direction. My dive shop is a designated NAUI Training facility, which means we can make NAUI DM's, Instructors, and Instructor Trainers, as we have a Course Director on staff.
There are a lot of good independent instructors out there, but here's my advice. I think it's very beneficial to be able to train for DM or AI or Instructor under several Instructors. People have different ways of getting the same information across and it's important that you find the best way for you. Being able to watch multiple ways of teaching is a big plus.
You are correct in your research of the path to take. Assuming you have your Advanced and Rescue certs, Master Diver would be your next step. Even if you don't have your rescue, we can combine the 2 classes. I've got a Rescue class starting on June 23rd, and a Master Diver class starting the following week with 2 of the students doing just that.
If you're serious about getting started and you're near the Richmond area, get in touch with me. The next Master Diver class isn't until the fall at the earliest. I'm also starting a Divemaster class tonight and we'll probably start the next one in the spring.
For most everyone who doesn't live near a resort or a beach, being involved is a part-time side gig. No offense intended, but I'm not sure you have the correct understanding of what being a DM is. Becoming a DM is the first step in being a professional in the dive industry, meaning you can be sued for your action or inaction even when you think you're off duty. Therefore, you must learn the does and don'ts and the proper professional skills necessary. A good DM program creates DM's who can work all over the world, and we do have them working all over the world. So this does take a lot of hard work, dedication, carrying tanks, carrying gear, helping students (including the ones that don't appreciate it), and lots of swimming and scuba skills. My advice would be to take the Master Diver class and learn more as education is always a good thing, but give careful thought towards the commitment needed for becoming a DM.
Good luck with your search!
Thanks, Brent S, for your comments. I am generally familiar with the liabilities DMs might face, and duty of care that may be legally required, as well as the costs associated with maintaining insurance. Well, with as much familiarity as an outsider can have. I am also familiar with many of the tasks DMs do at dive shops and on boats, though it depends on the shop, I guess, based on my experience. And honestly, I don't take offense at your comment that I lack the correct understanding of what a DM is and what being a DM entails. On the one hand, I see most interactions as a learning opportunity, hence my reasons for posting questions like this on SB. So I'll take some time here to ensure that I have a clear understanding of how you define a divemaster. I would point out though, that if you had read my previous post where I laid out specific language from the NAUI website which was replete with language regarding the DM being a professional certification, it would be apparent that I understood the DM *to be* a professional certification.
Since you quoted a comment of mine in your response, it seems that having the DM certification would be wasted on planning and leading dives for individuals I know or may know through friends/acquaintances and engaging in this activity would not constitute being an actual DM? Am I understanding your perspective correctly? If people I know charter a boat and ask me to plan and lead dives, and I am remunerated, and, for the sake of argument, local laws or personal insurance require the dives to be led by a professional, this is not in keeping with a divemaster role?
As I mentioned in previous posts, this is a long-term plan for me and would involve taking the required courses over time to gain that certification. I am interested in sitting down with an instructor and mapping out what that progress would look like, such as when classes are offered, planning diving opportunities to solidify that training (in addition to other diving I am doing), etc. I'm not in a hurry and I am very appreciative of a thoughtful, methodical instructor who can appreciate my goal and the objectives I've identified for achieving that goal (helped along by nice flow charts and the easy-to-read NAUI website).
I'll be sure to look at the program in Richmond and the time commitment required once DM training begins. I trust that is on the website? For example, from what I have read, DM certification is skills-based. Traditional DM programs rely on internship/training programs to build these skills in prospective DMs, but someone with 1000 hours of diving who decides to go into a DM course could conceivably show he has the requisite skills to pass the course and not have to participate in the internship/training piece? Or someone has some level of skill between a competent diver and the 1000 hours diver and much of any training would focus on those non-existant or weaker skills? But what I'm hearing from you is, irrespective of the skill and experience of the diver entering the divemaster program, there is a number of training hours that need to be completed with the dive center outside of coursework before a DM certification is given? This is when all of the "hard work, dedication, carrying tanks, carrying gear, helping students (including the ones that don't appreciate it), and lots of swimming and scuba skills" comes into play? (Which, by the way, given my own background, doesn't sound too onerous at all.)
