How to Best Prepare for Your PADI Divemaster Course

So, you have decided to enrol in a PADI Divemaster Course / Internship and into one of the coolest careers in the world. The PADI Divemaster Course is an incredible and life changing journey to embark. It is the first of the professional PADI qualifications where on completion of it, you will be able to start working and earning money as a dive professional. You can apply for the Divemaster Course and become a Divemaster candidate after completing the basic PADI recreational courses. These are in order of progression: Open Water Diver, Advanced Open Water Diver and Rescue Diver as shown below on PADI’s Continuing Education Flowchart (PADI Pro courses are in black):

As the PADI Divemaster is the first of the PADI professional courses, it is recognised as the most demanding and intensive to take. It provides all the grounding knowledge and skills expected by all dive professionals. But don’t let this scare you, because it is also the most beneficial and exciting of the PADI courses to take. You’ll be immersed into the underwater world and learn how to be a master of scuba diving. As well as this, as a PADI Divemaster candidate, you will really start to make a difference in the experiences of other divers . By helping out and chatting with divers on holiday or assisting students with their learning. What is most important is that you have a strong passion and interest for scuba diving and love being in water and there is no doubt that you will succeed and complete the PADI Divemaster with flying colours.

Alongside this, it is always recommended that you prepare well before starting the PADI Divemaster Course. This will help immensely, firstly so that the course runs more smoothly with no unnecessary time delays and so that you’ll be able to make the most of it. How should you prepare yourself? In this article, we have provided a list of things you can do to best prepare yourself before starting the PADI Divemaster Course:

One of the prerequisites of the PADI Divemaster Course is having at least 40 dives logged. Having this number of dives logged means you have practiced your diving skills and technique enough to be fully comfortable underwater, control your buoyancy and have decent air consumption. You may also have experience in different dive conditions, including strong currents, deeper depths or even diving at night or altitude. This forms a great basis for your PADI Divemaster training and also stories and recommendations to share amongst other divers.

At Dive Pro Career, we understand that having enough diving experience can be both timely and costly. Therefore in all of our PADI Divemaster programs, we offer free unlimited diving to all our students. To understand the benefits and for more information on this, read our blog: Why Do We Offer Free Unlimited Diving During the PADI Divemaster Course?

This may be a skill that isn’t so obvious to prepare for, but having good and strong swimming skills is important for a PADI Divemaster. This means you can handle situations on the surface of the water for yourself and others, being able to swim or even tow divers to safety if required. In the PADI Open Water Diver Course, one of the water skills you have to pass is a 200 metre/yard swim. This is “upgraded” during the PADI Divemaster Course as you will be required to swim 400 metres/yards continuously without equipment (just swimsuit / rashguard and goggles) in either the pool or open water. As you can tell you don’t need to be an expert swimmer, but you should be at a level where you can swim comfortably for a moderate amount of time. So practice as much as you need to prepare yourself.

Before starting any diving course, you need to be medically fit to dive. For all scuba diving courses, you are required to fill out a standard medical form to declare any medical conditions yourself. Some medical conditions require a doctor’s statement to prove that you are fit for diving. Therefore, have this with you before you start the course if this applies to you. You can find the current PADI medical form: PADI Diver Medical Form. During the PADI Divemaster Course, you will also be required to get medical clearance from a health professional. This can be completed locally in the location you do your Divemaster.

If you contract any illnesses coming up to your PADI Divemaster Course, consider delaying the start date to avoid further injury. It is a last resort option, though a decision that could really save you later down the line as you may find it hard to meet the physical demands of the course.

You can dive almost anywhere with deep enough water. There are endless locations to do scuba diving courses each offering different underwater conditions, climates and marine life. Wherever you do your PADI Divemaster Course, the dive shop you are in will automatically recognise you as part of the team. This is something to really consider. Take your PADI Divemaster Course in a place that you’ll either in the future want to work or is in similar surroundings to your ideal future workplace.

South East Asia is a renowned region in the world for scuba diving. The sea water is consistently warm all year round and there is large biodiversity of marine life. Plus, living here is cheap. The Philippines is to date the cheapest country to learn how to scuba dive and Moalboal is one of the top locations for this. At Dive Pro Career, we are located on the beautiful shoreline of Moalboal offering comfortable dive conditions ideal for learning how to dive as well as mastering your skills during Divemaster training. For more information on our great logistics, facilities and location, check our About Us page for more information.

As mentioned, the PADI Divemaster Course is intensive. On completion you will go from being a recreational scuba diver to a dive professional and role model to other divers. Because of this there is a lot to cover and training to be done to get to this level. As well as this you’ll need to finish the course with at least 60 logged dives. Therefore unlike PADI recreational dive courses, the PADI Divemaster Course cannot be completed in a few days, but at least a month. Therefore reserve enough time for it and if you choose to go abroad, look into your visa situation to accommodate for this time.

At Dive Pro Career, we offer tailored courses which means the schedules are run on your time and availability. Our PADI Divemaster Course lasts 4 to 6 weeks. We have no set dates allowing you to have more control and flexibility to start and end (minimum 4 weeks) whenever you want.