When (in terms of dive experience) and where should I take the Divemaster course?

[hilljo88]

My 2 cents...DM is a great course. Its focused on teaching but you can still learn about diving in much more detail, and you'll be a better diver for it. But there's no substitute for the experience you get from actual diving. So if you want to work as a DM you will benefit from as much diving as you can possibly do. (Also, everyone thinks their amount of experience is the bare minimum required to be competent. If you have 50 dives, you can't imagine someone with 10 dives doing the AOW required dives. If you have 100 dives, you cant imagine a DM wth 50 dives knows anything. If you have 500 dives, someone with 100 is a newbie...) Take the DM course when it fits your schedule/budget but dive as much as you can

 

[wedivebc]

It sounds like most of your diving experience has been with an instructor, as part of a class. I think most agencies do count class dives, but imo they shouldn't. Do 40 (or more) dives on your own first.

I agree with this.
I also believe you won't learn as much as a DM trainee as you will actually working as a DM. But first get local experience where you want to DM, and learn fish species, features and hazards of the various dive sites. Then you will be a good DM. Not before.

 

[Youssef ElNahas]

Thanks again for everyone's help!

I'm going to be doing the DM course early 2018. Until then I'll try to get as much experience diving as I can and if I still don't feel comfortable after the course I'll just dive some more

 

[diversteve]

To answer your 2nd question, check into Roatan or Utila - the Bay Islands off Honduras or possibly Ambergris Cay in Belize. They do a lot of DM training so the infrastructure is there to support getting the program done in a timely fashion and the Bay Islands are cheap once there. You can stay very affordably in Roatan - esp. in the West End area. Some friends went there for DM and stayed for Instructor. There must be over a dozen dive training operations just in the West End alone - it's about a mile long in total so you can walk everywhere.

Utila is a smaller island, backpacker friendly with more dive training facilities than the tourist population would support.Accessible only by daytime flight or several ferries - from either Roatan or the mainland.

A good tip someone told me once is that find a program that also does cruise dives since as part of your training you're likely to see the widest variety of (un)experienced divers which will be more challenging for you.

Here's links - there might be a better one for AC than I listed:

Tourism Roatan - Paradise in the Bay Islands
Roatán - Honduras.com

www.aboututila.com
http://utilaguide.com/

Welcome to Belize! Ambergris Caye Island Vacations

 

[Bubble Junky]

I would say don't get too hung up on numbers. Numbers only tell a part of the story. Someone with 100 dives in one place with easy conditions and no current can be seen as having less experience than someone with 40 dives in a couple of different locations with strong currents/low vis. The best way to get experience, for me, is to try and dive in a few different locations/conditions...

I also think it's worth looking for bigger dive centres for pro training too. Quite often they have a dedicated DM instructor with lots of experience, ideally IDC Staff or higher too. I would also look to do it over a minimum of one month, if possible longer...

In terms of where to train, Asia is king. It's where the most bio-diverse reefs on the planet are, and has the added bonus of being a relatively affordable place to do an extended course like DM in terms of cost of living and course price.

 

[Youssef ElNahas]

Utila is a smaller island, backpacker friendly with more dive training facilities than the tourist population would support.Accessible only by daytime flight or several ferries - from either Roatan or the mainland.

I was considering Utila, but there's not much to do topside is there? I wouldn't necessarily want to be stuck on a tiny island for a month even if the diving is a bit better than the alternatives

In terms of where to train, Asia is king. It's where the most bio-diverse reefs on the planet are, and has the added bonus of being a relatively affordable place to do an extended course like DM in terms of cost of living and course price.

Do you have any specific recommendations for locations or even dive centres? I heard Koh Tao is nice to live in (I'm a 21 year old) but it has a bad reputation with DM training there not taken very seriously in other places

 

[Bubble Junky]

Thailand is a great country to live in - I live there now and have lived and worked in Koh Tao, Koh Samui, Koh Phi Phi, Koh Lanta and Phuket (and briefly in Khao Lak). The west coast (Koh Lanta or Khao Lak) has better diving and more challenging conditions than Koh Tao tho'. Have a look at Indonesia too - Pulau Weh, Lembongan...

 

[USdiver1]

I had approximately 1,800 dives over 32 years before I got the "bug to teach" and enrolled in a DM course. DM is all about educating students and assisting instructors. If you do not want to share your considerable skills [and they should be considerable by the time you become a DM] spend your money on other specialties. Tech, cave, ice and other areas of scuba diving are great ways to gain those skills that you will later use as a DM. For the moment, you just need to dive, dive, dive. As varied and often as possible. When you want to teach, you will be ready for DM.

 

[TMHeimer]

I agree with this.
I also believe you won't learn as much as a DM trainee as you will actually working as a DM. But first get local experience where you want to DM, and learn fish species, features and hazards of the various dive sites. Then you will be a good DM. Not before.

I agree and found that to be true both when I was a DM and a teacher. Training is great but not the real thing.

 

[Skulmoski]

I started my DM with 60 dives. I frequently buddy up with my 13 year old daughter so the DM has provided me with some good skills to help look after both of us.

Consider doing lots of diving so that you can focus on DM skills rather than basic skills. I would recommend Koh Tao since it is quite inexpensive and you can dive a lot. I did my course with Simple Life and they were quite good. Consider completing the online Dive Theory course ahead of the DM course.

We had a guy with 20 dives who was completing the DM pre-requisites. We also had a guy with 190 dives who was my buddy. We both had basic/intermediate skills so we did not have to worry about each other; we could focus on developing our DM skills.

Good luck in your pursuit of your DM qualification. It has been a very rewardable journey for me.

GJS