Have you ever heard, “You’re a scuba diver? That’s cool. My friend’s dad is a divemaster, how cool is that?” Let’s face it, divemaster just sounds cool, so how do we teach cool? During the PADI® Divemaster course, the divemaster-to-instructor relationship is often one of apprenticeship and mentoring. There are two basic ways a divemaster course is offered: courses that run one day after another but are largely much like any other PADI course, and those with more spread out, intermittent schedules. The former tends to have more candidates (that isn’t always the case), and one isn’t better than the other. Although the end resulting certification is the same, these experiences and ways of organization can be very different. Either way, the objective is to train candidates for the real world. 

Creating a harmonious flow of teaching and learning, plus teaching cool, evolves through experience. Four different instructors in three very different areas of the world discuss their take on training PADI Rescue and Divemaster candidates, specifically their teaching and mentoring methods. 

Destination Programs

Some PADI Five Star Dive Centers and Resorts offer primarily large-group divemaster programs, with most of those candidates there to become instructors. PADI Five Star IDC Coral Divers (S – 3570) in Sodwana Bay National Park and PADI Five Star IDC Resort Simple Life Divers (S – 36013) on Koh Tao, Thailand, are two such destinations.

Dylan Perring, a two-year PADI IDC Staff Instructor (IDCS – 508816) who has issued more than 40 divemaster certifications, runs a four-month internship program at Coral Divers, which includes: Rescue Diver, Divemaster, and IDC. Coral Divers’ divemaster program is completed over 20 days, spending the first week to 10 days doing morning pool sessions and knowledge development, with classroom time in the afternoon. Then it’s on to the practical application and working with divers, both certified and uncertified. 

“We always make it a good time,” says Perring. “I enjoy sharing my experience in handling situations and how to handle a guest in the dive industry. Getting people to have better people skills may not be part of the standards, but essential. I adapt with every new class.” Perring says the way he takes ownership of the courses he offers is to, “Remember, you still know more than the student you are teaching, and they already respect you, so confidence is key.” 

Similar in approach and enthusiasm, PADI Master Instructor Steve Wright (MI – 487850), an almost two-decade PADI Professional who has issued more than 60 divemaster certifications, has been running an internship program for Simple Life Divers for 15 years. “The beauty of diving is that we all start at the same point and with a little bit of time we can all reach the level we desire,” he says. “My favorite course to teach is Rescue Diver. It is a very complete course, covering all sorts of scenarios from simple to complex. It is my job as an instructor to adapt the exercises to the local environment in a realistic way. Diving from a boat or from the beach, in tropical conditions or cold water. It also helps to make the transition for someone from diving as a hobby to someone taking their first steps to becoming a professional.”

That professionalism is carried into his divemaster course, combined with a healthy supply of respect, fun, patience, and cool. “Most candidates can take a number of weeks to complete their course, and in this time, you can really build respect and friendship with each other.”

In-House Programs

Contrast a destination course with one offered by a local dive center or independent instructor.  Greg Jonker, a 15-year PADI Professional and Course Director (CD – 212443) who has issued more than 50 divemaster certifications, teaches in Montreal, Canada, and is excited to start working with his new IDC candidates to help guide them toward teaching divemasters. His approach is one of the long game. His secret? The PADI Master Scuba Diver (MSD) program.

Jonker offers an MSD program as a bundle, which includes many additional opportunities for linking along the way. There are several key advantages to this. As divers progress through each specialty, they develop confidence in their diving skills. This offers divers experience, encourages gear ownership and an increased commitment to diving.

“If the same instructor and team conduct the MSD as a comprehensive package, it will also create loyalty and a strong relationship between the divers and instructors, much like the mentorship relationship developed in the divemaster program,” says Jonker. “Furthermore, when completing the program divers will be at a minimum of 50 dives and therefore eligible to enroll in the divemaster program.”

Jonker suggests one way to spark interest in Master Scuba Diver is to offer the Rescue Adventure Dive during the Advanced Open Water Diver course as a way of demystifying the rescue skills for both the diver and the instructor who may not have seen them since their IDC. “I volunteered to teach the PADI Rescue Diver course all the time. It is a great lead toward divemaster. I’d say ‘Do you just want to pass rescue, or are you essentially wanting to go further?’ Many instructors shy away from teaching the Rescue Diver course if they have not taught one in a while. They know how to respond to an unresponsive diver at the surface, but they are afraid to demonstrate Rescue Exercise 7. I always took those courses so I was ready, up to date and in good practice.”

As a result of the Rescue-into-Master Scuba Diver technique, Jonker can illustrate to the new Master Scuba Divers that they have essentially started their PADI Divemaster course, having 50 dives, an Emergency Assistance Plan, Emergency First Response® course completions and, most often, the PADI Deep Diver as well as Search and Recovery specialties.

PADI Master Instructor Mustufa Harianawala (MI – 355548) is a nine-year PADI Professional who has issued more than 40 divemaster certifications. He’s worked at and has experience with both the in-house approach at PADI Five Star Dive Center Narcosis Scuba (S – 1322) in Riviera Beach, Florida, USA, as well as destination-divemaster courses at PADI Five Star IDC Resort Rainbow Reef (S – 15179) in Key Largo, Florida. The difference is between a five- to six-month course and a five-day course.

“Everyone wants to teach a divemaster course,” he says. “Instructors love to have divemasters to help, it’s the ultimate joy of teaching to be able to mentor a new dive professional.” He says Divemaster eLearning is the key. “Some people do not learn well in a class environment where they are on the spot. It’s much better when they are in their comfort space,” he says. “We cover everything in the course and teach them as divemasters, eLearning brings that flexibility.”

Harianawala says his secret for Rescue-to-Divemaster success is the complimentary Intro to Divemaster eLearning example. “I have had a lot of success with the Intro to Divemaster. They already start thinking when you plant that seed. If not that, then Master Scuba Diver. I’m always planting the next seed.”

No One Way

The PADI Divemaster course is a culmination of skill, dedication, professionalism, knowledge, experience, fun and cool; and that’s just on the instructor’s side. As with the PADI system, there is no one “PADI way” to teach a divemaster course. Whether you have a five-day or six-month program, the relationship between instructor and candidate comes down to an opportunity to learn, not just for the divemaster candidate but for the instructor as well. In creating a great, cool divemaster, that instructor becomes a better, cooler instructor with each new lesson and experience.

“The only way to hack it is to learn it,” says Perring. “You must go read and check it out. Most people are practical, so using pictures they can relate to really helps them flip the switch.” Harianawala says the additional challenge is to get them in the right mind set to be a dive professional, and that starts with you. “Simple things like having a snorkel every time you dive, doing your buddy checks and excellent dive skills,” he says. “The students will do what you do as a divemaster, be a role model.” 

As the great statesman Winston Churchill once said, “From what we get we make a living. From what we give we make a life.” Or, in this case, we make a PADI Divemaster.

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