What to Expect From the PADI Divemaster Internship – Divemaster

This part focuses on the final step in your PADI Divemaster Internship journey, the PADI Divemaster Course. If you haven’t already, read What to Expect From the PADI Divemaster Internship – Open Water to Rescue Diver – this is our simple guide outlining all the courses you’ll need to take before the PADI Divemaster Course.

The PADI Divemaster Course is the most exciting part of the whole internship. This course is designed to get you onto the professional ladder where you can start to make a career in scuba diving and turn your passions for the underwater world into a living. Take a look at our blog PADI Divemaster Course – The Exciting Way to Start Your Scuba Diving Career to explore more on the numerous perks of this course.

By the time you have reached this stage in the PADI Divemaster Internship, you will have met the required prerequisites:

All that is required from you before starting your PADI Divemaster Course is medical clearance from a physician within the last 12 months. At the start, you’ll also receive a PADI Divemaster Crew Pack, which includes:

The PADI Divemaster Course is divided into four main sections:

Like other PADI courses, the PADI Divemaster Course uses the PADI eLearning platform as part of your theoretical training. The theory is much more comprehensive compared to the recreational courses you have done so far as it contains more expert knowledge.

There are nine topics that you go over:

The eLearning also provides integrated Divemaster Videos and Divemaster Skills Videos to help you visualise what is expected of you during your training. It’s recommended to complete the eLearning before you start the course. Your instructor will also re-enforce and check your understanding of theory during the course, by holding either formal classroom sessions or one to one discussions. Finally, you’ll have to complete a PADI Divemaster Exam on the eLearning platform which tests your knowledge on all nine topics. In order to pass, you’ll need to achieve at least 75%.

Lastly, unless you have already done this during your PADI Rescue Diver course in the internship, you’ll need to prepare an Emergency Assistance Plan. This is specific to the dive shop you are doing your PADI Divemaster Course in.

This section tests your general capability in the water and builds upon your current dive skills.

The general waterskill exercises are:

Each skill is scored between 1 to 5 and you need a minimum of 15 points to pass. Distance swims are scored on time, whereas the other skills are scored on how well you have mastered them.

Also in this section is the Skill Circuit which consists of 24 diving skills. All of these dive skills have already been taught to you during previous PADI courses e.g. clearing a partially flooded mask. What’s different though is that you need to be able to demonstrate each skill clearly as if you were teaching it to someone. This is something you’ll practice many times during your PADI Divemaster.. Again each skill is scored between 1 to 5 and to pass, you need a minimum of 82 points.

Lastly, you’ll need to complete a Rescue Exercise 7 – Unconscious diver on the surface in open water and it’s scored as either pass or fail.

This section concentrates on practical skills, divemaster-conducted programs/workshops and real life application through assisting courses.

The practical skills that you’ll need to complete are:

Note: If you already have the PADI Specialty Deep Diver and/or Search and Recovery for the scenarios (4 and 5), these sections will be considered complete and you won’t need to do them.

You’ll also run simulated workshops on each of the potential programs you can undertake as a PADI Divemaster. This is your chance to really get a taste of teaching as you will be leading pretend programs for your peers whose job is not to make it easy for you. Depending on the program requirements, these are undertaken both in confined and open water. It is definitely the most interesting part of the course and an excellent learning experience. The programs you will undertake are:

Lastly is practical assessments. This is where you’ll be assisting real life courses alongside PADI instructors working in the dive shop. You’ll have the opportunity to get to know different members of the team and their teaching style to help you get an idea of your own. You’ll have the opportunity to ask questions, observe and even teach a little under the guidance of the PADI instructor. This is assessed on your attitude and professionalism so always make a good impression. The courses you’ll need to assist are:

Last but by no means least, you’ll need to show that you meet the expected characteristics and qualities of a PADI Divemaster. These include having traits like a positive attitude, being a mentor and role model, being willing to learn and help, having a good understanding of the role and having a professional appearance. Ultimately by the end of the PADI Divemaster Internship, the aim is to get you ready to work as a dive professional.