Frequently Asked Questions
FAQs.
Frequently Asked Questions
Have any questions about PADI diving courses? Are you interest in starting your diving adventure or going Pro? Find out the answers to the most of the questions you might have.
Are you curious about PADI scuba diving courses?
We got you covered. Below you can find a list of Frequently Asked Questions, that most people have in mind before signing up to a scuba diving course. If you don’t find the information you are looking for, feel free to contact us and ask us anything.
General Questions.
We highly recommend that you have diving insurance especially whilst undertaking our PADI Divemaster Course / Internship. Whilst we are a well established diving training provider and have a team of experienced instructors, the risks of scuba diving cannot be fully eliminated. Therefore, to ensure that you are fully covered for the cost of any problem that could arise, it’s good to purchase diving insurance. Our recommended insurance provider is DAN and the minimum level of diving insurance we recommend is the Bronze Sport package.
Moalboal is a renowned diving town and popular with tourists. From this there are many accommodation options to suit all budgets including hostels, hotels, resorts and apartments. You can find options either on Booking.com or HostelWorld. At Dive Pro Career, we also offer accommodation to our students that is close to the dive resort. We have an exclusive Divemaster house only 10 mins walk away and private rooms at the Divers Lodge. More information can be found here: Accomodation
VISA requirements to the Philippines depend on your citizenship. For most countries, you will be granted 30 days on arrival though consult your embassy’s website to be sure. If you wish to stay longer, you can extend your visa by 30/60 days at a time either online or by visiting one of the VISA offices in Cebu city.
Upon arrival in the Philippines, you will also be required to fill in an eTravel document. With this document you’ll also need to have a flight booked out of the Philippines within your eligible stay. If you intend to stay longer and haven’t decided on when to leave the Philippines, we recommend a website called Onward which provides “dummy” flight reservations at a low cost.
Having a medical condition doesn’t necessarily mean you cannot scuba dive. Before starting any diving course, it is a requirement under PADI to disclose any medical conditions, some which will require you to obtain approval from your doctors/physicians to state that you will be safe to dive before starting a course with us. If you are unsure whether your medical condition requires approval, feel free to contact us and we can assist you.
If you are taking either the Divemaster Course or Internship, you will require a medical review which can be undertaken during the PADI Divemaster Course in Moalboal. This is also a PADI requirement.
Moalboal is a great diving destination that suits all budgets. Living standards catered to tourists are excellent whether you are on a tight budget or are able to spend a bit more. Besides the cost of your diving course, you can really maximize your spending to suit you. In order to help you with this, we have a comprehensive guide so you can have an idea of how much money to bring: Living in Moalboal Costs and Tips
We are very fortunate with the weather in Moalboal as it is warm and sunny all year round with very occasional rainfall. Land temperatures are between 23°C / 73°F to 32°C / 90°F water temperatures are between 26°C / 79°F to 29°C / 84°F. The only thing to keep in mind is the Typhoon season which occurs between July to October, though extreme weather during this season is rare.
It is sensible to get a few vaccinations / check if you already have these vaccinations before coming to the Philippines. These are:
- TdaP vaccine – includes tetanus, diphtheria and pertussis (whooping cough)
- Typhoid vaccine
- Hepatitis B
- Rabies (not required but recommended)
It’s also good to have an up to date COVID-19 and Flu vaccine
Otherwise, vaccinations can be obtained in the Philippines though to ensure full safety, it is best to do them in your home country.
Unfortunately our courses are only conducted in English. However this varies depending on the instructors we have on hand so feel free to contact us for other language preferences to see if we can accommodate.
Recreational PADI Diving Courses.
Signing up to a recreational course with us is easy. Just simply click on your preferred course on our website on the ‘Courses’ dropdown menu, scroll through the information on the course and simply click the ‘sign up now’ button to send us a message. We will then be in contact with you to organise your course with us.
If you are unsure about what to message and would just like to hear about the courses on offer, you can contact us on and provide your email address and we will email you back on the same day.
Yes and at Dive Pro Career, it is an honour for us to introduce you to (in our opinion) the best sport ever. If you have never dived before, the beginner PADI dive course to undertake is called the PADI Open Water Course.
Another option you can take is the PADI Divemaster Internship which takes you from zero to hero. This is catered to anybody with no or some recreational dive experience to become a dive professional. For more information on the internship, see here PADI Divemaster Internship.
Yes you can as long as you meet the requirements of the courses as you take them. To see the order of PADI courses by each level, take a look at our blog post PADI Divemaster Course – The Exciting Way to Start Your Scuba Diving Career
The age limit for recreational courses is 10 years old. Between 10 to 18 years old, a parent / guardian is required to be on site to sign administrative forms.
The age limit for Divemaster courses and internship is 18 years old.
If you are taking a recreational diving course with us, it’s not mandatory to have your own scuba gear. Gear is available at our dive shop and is included in the course price.
If however you do have your own scuba gear, it is advised to bring it with you. If you also wish to purchase scuba gear and need some advice, feel free to contact us and we can help you with this.
PADI Divemaster Course/Internship.
The PADI Divemaster Course is for candidates that have completed up to PADI Rescue Diver with EFR (emergency first response) and are looking to progress in their diving career to become a professional diver. This course consists of only the PADI Divemaster
The PADI Divemaster Internship is for candidates who either have no experience of diving or are on any level of recreational diving (Open Water Diver / Advanced Open Water Diver / Rescue Diver) that wish to progress to PADI Divemaster. The internship consists of all the PADI courses needed to get to PADI Divemaster and the Divemaster course itself.
At Dive Pro Career, we have designed PADI Divemaster Courses that are tailored to your preferences and timeframe. The recommended time to complete the PADI Divemaster Course with us is between 4 and 6 weeks. The PADI Divemaster Internship timeframe is from 2 to 3 months. However, we understand that you may want to take a bit more time than what is recommended to complete either of these. If this is the case, we’d be happy to accommodate as best as we can and are flexible with schedules to fit you. Contact us for more details.
The structure of our PADI Divemaster Course is tailored to you. We don’t have an official schedule as the PADI Divemaster is a comprehensive course and we understand that each individual will wish to complete the course and learn at their own pace. We undertake our courses using the PADI curriculum. The main thing we encourage, is that our students to be at the dive shop most mornings from around 8am to assist with the day to day runnings of the dive shop as well as completing parts of your course / assisting courses and other instructors or simply going for fun dives and improving your skills this way.
For more information on the complete curriculum of the course, contact us and ask for our PADI Divemaster Course leaflet.
Once you have completed your PADI Divemaster Course with us, you’ll be fully ready to start your dive professional career as a PADI Divemaster. Finding work can be a bit daunting, but at Dive Pro Career, we can offer support and advice in finding work, especially from our contacts of dive shops /resorts around South East Asia.
You’ll also have access to the PADI Pro site upon qualification where you can upload your CV, search for jobs and look for upcoming work in any location of the world you wish.
On top of this, we also like to keep our PADI Divemaster candidates for a while after qualifying to work at our dive shop. This will enable you to gain more work experience and contacts that may help you down the line of your career. Also if you are interested in becoming a PADI Dive Instructor, we also offer contacts to recommended IDC centres in the Philippines.
During the PADI Divemaster Course, you’ll be assigned a mentor, a PADI Instructor who will be with you for most of the course. They will oversee everything and be the person who signs off your skills. However, it is important to gain experience with as many instructors as possible to diversify your learning and broaden your knowledge. Therefore at Dive Pro Career, you’ll be working alongside our team of instructors and divemasters to help you assist your learning.
Technically you can, though being a PADI Divemaster candidate does mean you are also working alongside your course. You’ll be expected to be at the dive shop most mornings even if you aren’t there to do your training. The reason for this is for you to gain experience and have a chance to see how the runnings of a dive shop looks like. You can also gain additional skills like admin work, maintaing dive equipment or even how to fill up tanks. Also you can help out with the boat crew and get experience working on our dive boat.
If you have to work part time with the course, it’ll be best to let us know so that we can cater the course around your schedule. It may just mean that completing the course will take longer than expected.
It’s not a requirement to have your own full set of scuba gear as equipment can be provided to you during your PADI Divemaster Course at our dive shop, but we do expect you to have a few pieces of scuba gear at Divemaster level. At minimum these include:
- Mask, fins and snorkel
- Dive computer
- Safety equipment: whistle, dive knife, SMB and reel.
- Exposure clothing for diving e.g. rashguard, shorts, scuba top or 2/3mm wetsuit
On top of this, we have a comprehensive list of all the scuba gear needed as a dive professional in our blog post What Diving Equipment Should I Own as a PADI Divemaster? these can be accumulated during your time in training or whilst working as a PADI Divemaster.
If you need any assistance on what dive equipment to purchase, feel free to contact us and we can help you.
As you can imagine, the physical demands of the PADI Divemaster Course does require a certain level of fitness. You won’t need to be an Olympic athlete or train a lot for the course, but it is a requirement that you are able to swim 400m comfortably and have enough strength to carry 2 full dive tanks over a short distance (100 metres or so).
It may be useful to practice your swimming prior to the course if you aren’t already confident.
On our website, we have stated the recommended completion time for the PADI Divemaster Course as 4 to 6 weeks and the PADI Divemaster Internship as 2 to 3 months. This time period is based on providing enough time for you to both help you pass all the requirements of the course and to allow you to gain work experience in the dive shop and increase your dive count.
We wouldn’t suggest completing the course/internship any shorter than this as it would be too intense, though if you wish to take a bit longer, we can discuss and come up with a plan that works around your schedule.
Yes we do accept referrals. All you’ll need to provide is your PADI Divemaster referral form which contains information on the parts of the course that have been signed off and completed and the parts that haven’t. If you are unsure what this document is and need advice, feel free to contact us for more information.
Yes this is totally possible. You can sign up to do some fun dives before the start of the course if you require. What’s also great is that unlimited fun dives are included as part of the PADI Divemaster Course meaning you won’t need to pay extra to grab a tank, buddy up and get in the water whenever you wish.
The PADI Divemaster eLearning consists of 9 chapters all each containing a knowledge review. There are also two exams in eLearning to clarify your understanding of Dive theory and all other chapters. It is a sizable amount of theory and normally takes around 1-2 weeks to complete.
It is recommended that you at least make a good start with eLearning before the course starts so that your attention can be put to the practical side of the course.
PADI is a world renowned dive organisation and the largest in the world. All qualifications under PADI including the PADI Divemaster qualification is recognised worldwide and you will be able to apply for jobs in any country with this.
Yes the age limit for the PADI Divemaster Course is 18 years old. If you are older than 45 years old, it is mandatory that you provide a medical statement that you are fit and well to undertake the PADI Divemaster Course.
There are a couple fees that aren’t included in the PADI Divemaster Course / Internship. These are:
- Equipment rental: 4 000 PHP for the duration of the course
- PADI Membership fee after certification: 260 AUD
As you will technically be in training, you will not need a work permit to do your PADI Divemaster Course / Internship. Also if you choose to continue working as a Divemaster in Moalboal, a work permit is not required.
Yes this is totally possible. As we are a team of experienced instructors, we are trained to teach all the PADI diving specialities. Please reach out to us if you have any in mind. The recommended specialities that you should take to help you get ahead in the PADI Divemaster Course are Deep and Nitrox.
The price on our website for the PADI Divemaster Internship includes every PADI course you’ll need to take to reach PADI Divemaster from being an unqualified scuba diver meaning you haven’t taken any official scuba diving courses before (excluding DSD or Bubblemaker). Therefore, if you are already PADI qualified to a certain level, you won’t need to take all the courses in the internship and you won’t need to pay the full price. Your internship will only include the prices for the course you’ll need to take.
Contact us for more information or a quote if this applies to you.
Yes you can. As all diving organisations follow a standardised program under ISO standards, if you obtain any type of diving qualification equivalent to those under PADI, you’ll be able to enrol in our Divemaster programs. Please let us know your diving qualification so that we can tailor the course content to your needs.
So this is a huge perk of our PADI Divemaster Course / Internship. Besides all the mandatory dives you’ll need to do during the course, we offer free unlimited diving so you can actually dive as much as you’d like.
