Guide to Oyster Diving’s PADI Divemaster Course
The PADI Divemaster course is the first step to becoming a professional diver. Once completed the Divemaster course you will be able to guide customers on dives, assist instructors and conduct scuba reviews.
The course normally takes 3-6 Months, but can take up to a maximum of 12 Months depending on your availability.
As part of our Divemaster course, you can undertake an internship at no extra cost which means that you will get to assist on courses and see what it’s like to work within a busy dive centre. This means that once you have passed the course you can get paid to teach ‘Discover Scuba’ programmes in the pool and it will make you a much more proficient and experienced Divemaster.
Most of our courses take place on the weekends but we also teach in Soho on Tuesday evenings, and have mid-week dates at the lake during the Summer.
If you wish to sign up for the course then we would need payment in advance.
We have several venues where you can complete your Divemaster Course:
Pools
Soho – Central London (every Tuesday night)
Surrey/Berkshire – every other Saturday
Caterham – every other Sunday
Brighton – every other Sunday
Oxfordshire (Sunday mornings summer only)
Open Water Dives
Mercers Lake, in Redhill (Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday)
Vobster Quay for the deep dives.
Prerequisites
To officially start the course you need to have 40 logged dives, have a valid First Aid course taken within the last 2 years (such as EFR) and be a PADI Rescue Diver or equivalent. If you need to build some dives up then we are happy to offer free diving (excluding entrance fees) in exchange for surface cover duties at the lakes we teach at.
As part of the course you will be assisting with customers and so the British Health & Safety Executive requires you to have an HSE medical which you’ll need to get ASAP. You can get these from a couple of places and normally cost £100-150. Here is a link to find your nearest one – http://www.hse.gov.uk/diving/medical-requirements.htm
As this is likely to be your first HSE diving medical then you should read the Medical examination and assessment of divers (MA1) document on the HSE diving website: http://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/ma1.htm. Common reasons for failure are obesity and lack of fitness – so if this is an issue please read the MA1 carefully to avoid wasting your money if you are likely to fail on BMI alone! You will also need to complete the medical history questionnaire and get your GP to countersign it – http://www.hse.gov.uk/diving/fact-sheet-and-medical-questionnaire.pdf (this is not the same as the GP signed PADI medical form.)
What Happens Once You Start Your Divemaster Course
Once you have signed up to the course we will appoint you an instructor to act as your mentor, if you have been with any of our instructors before and would like them to be your mentor, then please let us know and we can try and make it happen. You will also join our Trainee Divemaster group and be sent a link to a spreadsheet that shows you exactly where and when we will be in the pool and open water. You can then mark yourself as available so we can schedule you to assist on courses and complete the course requirements.
Peace of Mind
We would also strongly urge you to get adequate Dive insurance and recommend DAN Europe.
We would be happy to let you use rental all equipment as part of your course but you will need to pay for additional air fills at the outdoor sites (normally £7 per tank), as well as the entry fees to the sites (£15 – £22 depending on the dive site). By the end of the course you should aim to own your own equipment though! Our Shop Team would be very happy to recommend the best kit for your needs and budget. We also offer equipment packages if you did want to invest in one go!
Please feel free to give us a call on 0800 699 0243 if you wish to discuss in more detail.
Many thanks and we look forward to getting you started on your underwater professional scuba qualification!
The Oyster Team