A Divemaster has a responsibility to ensure that everyone under their control has a safe dive. They are skilled and experienced divers, that are constantly aware of what is going on with the divers around them. Divemasters must anticipate potential problems and be prepared to make quick decisions to avert a problem from escalating. It is an entry level professional rating, and mainly used as a stepping stone to future Instructor programs. 
Course Cost:
Basic course cost is $500 per person. This includes your dive training, a certification card.

As this is a professional course, you are expected to buy your own academic materials, but a general outline is as follows:

•  NAUI costs: $225 which includes all your academic books and slates.
• Also you will need to pay the membership fee to the agency, this is approximately $100.

Other costs:
What’s not included is gas fills, food, lodging, dive site fees & transportation. You are responsible for dive site fees each day you come along to dive.

Gear you need to provide:

As this is a professional dive course, each student will need to OWN their own dive gear.

• Mask, snorkel and fins
• Buoyancy compensator with low-pressure power inflator
• Regulator with submersible pressure gauge
• Alternate air source
• Weight system and/or weights
• Personal dive computer
• Exposure suit adequate for the training conditions
• Compressed gas cylinder
• Compass
• Knife and Rescue signal
• Dive flag, SMB and reel

How we teach it: 
There are three parts, the academics, watermanship and skills assessment, and a practical application.

Academics

Alot of the academics are done at home from your Study Guides. These guides are very well structured, very informative learning tools, and an excellent alternative to multiple day or evening lectures. Some of the topics covered are:

• Diving physics
• Diving physiology
• Diving skills and environment
• Dive planning
• Supervising students in training
• Dive management and control
• Standards and procedures

When you meet with your Instructor he will review the academics and you will complete a series of written tests. You need to achieve at least 80% on your written tests to pass.

As part of your academic development you will also be required to:

• Complete a series of Knowledge Reviews/Quizzes
• Compile an emergency assistance plan for diving emergencies in a local dive site
• Map a local open water site

Watermanship and skills assessment

This consists of general assessment of the divers watermanship skills and individual stamina. Each diver must pass swims, and demonstrate complete comfort with skin diving skills. These are usually done in the pool.  

Watermanship assessments for NAUI Divemaster Course:

• 900 meters swim with mask, fins and snorkel, non-stop, no arms, less than 18 mins
• 400 meters swim, any stroke, no stop, in less than 10 mins.
• Swim u/w for 25 yards on one breath, no dive or push off
• Survival float for 20 mins
• Skin diving ditch and recovery
• Scuba ditch and don in no less than 8 feet, start with air turned off.
• Tow a tired diver, for 100 meters, both in full scuba gear
• Unconscious diver recovery from bottom, tow and rescue breathing for 100 meters in less than 4 mins.
• Buddy Breathe with another diver while swimming horizontally u/w for 4 mins. Each buddy (in turn) is to be without a mask and the donor of air for two mins each. No surfacing.
• Complete scuba gear exchange, while buddy breathing

 Practical Application
This involves training activities using various structured training sessions, simulated scenarios and internship sessions with actual scuba dive programs. These training sessions enable you to gain practical experience as an instructional assistant and a supervisor of open water diving activities, both as a coordinator and as an underwater guide.

This also includes gear up of students, logistics of getting classes to and from the dive sites, dive shop operations, and dive briefings to students.

Throughout the Practical assessment DiveMaster candidates are expected to do the following:

• Perform a satisfactory scuba diver rescue
• Identify and assist divers showing anxiety, fatigue and signs of pre-panic
• Provide active, positive participation in all training sessions
• Show ability to serve as a mentor to student divers
• Show willingness to follow directions
• Show a positive attitude towards student divers and staff
• Show a positive attitude and practice towards the environment
• Review communications, emergency procedures and recall procedures
• Demonstrate problem recognition and solving
• Demonstrate in-water and surface student control, escorting and assistance
• Dive preparation and planning
• Perform dive site briefings
• Demonstrate evaluation of navigational skills; both natural and compass
• Place and recover flags, floats and ascent lines at dive sites
• Perform the skill circuit in both confined and open water to demonstration level quality

The following are some components of the DiveMaster skill circuit:

• Equipment assembly, adjustment, preparation, donning and disassembly.
• Pre-dive safety check
• Deep Water Entry
• Buoyancy Check at surface
• Snorkel-regulator/ regulator-snorkel exchange
• Five Point Descent
• Regulator recovery and clearing
• Mask removal, replacement and clearing
• Air depletion exercise and alternate air source use (stationary)
• Alternate air source assisted ascent
• Free flowing regulator breathing
• Fin Pivot (neutral buoyancy)
• Five point ascent
• Controlled Emergency Swimming Ascent (CESA)
• Hover motionless for 30 seconds
• Underwater swim without a mask
• Remove and replace weight system underwater
• Remove and replace scuba unit on the surface
• Remove and replace weight system on the surface

Note: this is not a fully inclusive list, just an overview!

It should be noted that participation in the Divemaster class does not guarantee certification!

After successful completion of your academics and water work, submission of the appropriate fee to the agency, you will be awarded your certification as a Divemaster.

Age requirements: 
You must be at least 18 years old to receive a Divemaster certification, there is no maximum age.

Minimum number of students per class: 
Divemaster classes shadow the Open Water, Advanced and Rescue classes.

Accelerated, private, one-on-one classes can be organized for a separate fee.

How many people are in each class? 
Our Divemaster classes range in size, from 1-4 students.

Schedule/Timing for Divemaster Courses: 
We train all the time!

How long does the course take?
We offer the Divemaster Course as a week-long private course or as an internship (at your pace). We prefer the Internship, as it produces better divemasters. The internships can range from weeks to months. How long your Divemaster Internship takes depends on how much time you invest into it, and your own individual learning pace.

Where we do our course:
The Divemaster training closely follows the Open Water Diver schedules, so you can expect to visit the pool, Alexander Springs, Rainbow River or Blue Springs

Prerequisites for Course:

• Minimum age of 18 years old
• Be certified as an Advanced Open Water diver
• Be certified as a Rescue diver
• Hold a current CPR/First Aid certification (certified within the last two years)
• Be Nitrox certified
• Have logged a minimum of 60 open water dives with experience in night, deep and navigation prior to certification as a Divemaster.
• Be in good physical condition for diving and submit a medical exam form signed by a physician.
• This class requires that students own ALL their own gear.

What you can do afterwards: 

• Divemasters have the ability to travel and work in dive destinations all around the world. They can officially work in diving resorts, private yachts, cruise ships and dive centers.
• The Divemaster course is a common student choice to prepare themselves for the Open Water Instructor course.
• Organize, conduct and supervise recreational diving activities, both land and boat based.
• Assist Instructors in teaching a variety of scuba diving courses.
• There are plenty of skills introduced on the course to go out and practice and refine.
• You will be a safer, more competent and comfortable diver after completion of your Divemaster course…..knowing you are a better diver, that now has the ability to multi-task while diving.
• The safe diving practices learned during your Divemaster course will apply to all types of diving you do in the future, including open water recreational diving.
• Continue your diver training with more specialized training; the Open Water Instructor course is the most common follow up to this course.
• You can lead groups of certified divers.