When I was doing my OW in Venezuela on our way to a checkout dive another instructor from another group made the announcement that a young lad with them had just passed his DM cert, so we all clapped and congratulated him. I asked my instructor what exactly a DM was and he told me that they basically were the guys who organized the dive trips and looked after safety, normally staying on the boat and seeing people into and out of the water, as well as pre-dive briefings.
These days I've seen them doing a lot more than that: guiding divers, holding their hands(Japan), putting down the anchors or attaching tie in's, loading the boat. I have also heard about even more roles: assisting instructors and acting as a general dogsbody in dive shops.
So what is a DM really? What should you or shouldn't you expect from a DM? What makes a good DM? or a bad one? Is there a difference between a PADI DM and the equivalent from other agencies?
These days I've seen them doing a lot more than that: guiding divers, holding their hands(Japan), putting down the anchors or attaching tie in's, loading the boat. I have also heard about even more roles: assisting instructors and acting as a general dogsbody in dive shops.
So what is a DM really? What should you or shouldn't you expect from a DM? What makes a good DM? or a bad one? Is there a difference between a PADI DM and the equivalent from other agencies?