PADI DiveMaster

As the entry to professional levels in diver training, the PADI Divemaster course plays a pivotal role within the PADI System of diver education. Those who join the PADI Divemaster ranks assist with training student divers. They supervise diving activities for certified divers, snorkelers and skin divers. Obviously, these entry-level professionals can strongly influence the safety and fun divers enjoy during training and diving. At the same time, many PADI Divemasters are looking ahead; gaining professional experience they will apply as PADI Assistant Instructors and Open Water Scuba Instructors. In conducting the PADI Divemaster course, we’re training today’s certified assistants and laying the foundation for many of tomorrow’s instructors.

The PADI Divemaster course involves higher level learning that begins at the Rescue Diver course and expands in the PADI Divemaster course. The PADI Divemaster course expands the problem solving skills developed by the PADI Rescue Diver program, and extends it from accident management and prevention scenarios to supervisory situations with student divers and certified divers. At the divemaster level, problem solving emphasizes looking for many possible solutions under the circumstances and choosing the best of several. Divemaster problem solving may include more than safety-related issues, and include handling customer service, business and operational challenges. The course also addresses attitudes and judgment. Attitudes are emotional influences that shape individual choices ranging from professional behaviour, role modelling, personal health and following safe diving practices, to very basic values, such as honesty. Judgment applies attitudes, experience, theoretical knowledge, deduction and intuition to problem solving and making decisions based on variables, sometimes under circumstances that aren’t “black or white.”

Course prerequisites

To qualify to enter the PADI Divemaster course, an individual must:
• Be certified as a PADI Advanced Open Water Diver or have a qualifying certification from another training organization. A qualifying certification is defined as proof of certification beyond entry level, and proof of 20 or more logged dives documenting experience in deep diving and under water navigation.
• Be certified as a PADI Rescue Diver or have a qualifying certification from another training organization. A qualifying certification is defined as proof of certification in diving rescue from a training organization other than PADI.
• Have completed and logged at least 20 dives as documented by the individual’s personal log book.
• Be at least 18 years old at the start of PADI Divemaster training.
• Submit, to the instructor, medical clearance for diving signed by a physician, attesting to fitness to dive. The medical clearance must be current within the previous 12 months. The physician signing the form cannot be the individual.
• Submit proof of Emergency First Response Primary Care (CPR) and Secondary Care (First Aid) training (or other qualifying CPR/first aid training) within the last 24 months.

At the time of certification, a PADI Divemaster candidates must:
• Show proof of 60 logged dives documenting experience in night diving, deep diving and underwater navigation.
• Read and agree to abide by the PADI Membership and License Agreement.

You can download an application form (PDF) here.