If scuba diving is your passion and you want to share it with others — with the chance to make money while you do it — the PADI Divemaster course is for you. This certification is the first step in a professional diving career, as you’ll be able to guide dives and assist with training.

So what do you learn in the PADI Divemaster course? Well, here’s a breakdown:

Benefits of the PADI Divemaster course

Opportunity is the key word here. The PADI Divemaster course will not only strengthen your dive, rescue and supervision skills to make you more confident and competent in the water, but it will also prep you to work as professional dive guide. Also, Divemasters can teach PADI ReActivate to certified divers and Discover Scuba Diving in confined water if qualified as a Discover Scuba Diving Leader.

You can start your Divemaster training online

Prerequisites for the PADI Divemaster course

You must be a PADI Rescue Diver and at least 18 years of age. Also, you must have completed Emergency First Response Primary and Secondary Care training within the past two years, a signed medical statement and more than 40 logged dives to start the course and 60 by the end.

What you’ll learn in the PADI Divemaster course

This course turns the focus outward as you dive — helping you become a leader underwater among your fellow divers. PADI’s website lists these topics for the course:

• The role and characteristics of the PADI Divemaster
• Supervising dive activities and assisting with student divers
• Diver safety and risk management
• Divemaster conducted programs and specialized skills
• Business of diving and your career
• Awareness of the dive environment
• Dive setup and management
• Mapping an open water site
• Conducting dive briefings
• Organizing a search and recovery project and a deep dive
• Conducting a scuba review and skin diver course
• Assisting with Discover Scuba Diving and leading Discover Local Diving programs

From a PADI Expert

“People become PADI Divemasters at different times and for different reasons — all good ones. Some want to be instructors. If that's you, PADI Divemaster is the first step to becoming a PADI Instructor. Several divemasters became one because I or another instructor invited them to. But it's not all for the same reasons. Know that person who just makes everything fun? There's a divemaster waiting to happen. The go-to-gal who knows why they make first stage HP seats out of teflon? There's one. That person who all the new divers trust and follow? There's one.

"Some people don't want to be instructors, but they love being PADI Divemasters. They love being the glue behind the scenes, the experienced-but-less-intimidating pro who listens when you're too embarrassed to tell the instructor that you're scared of damselfish — or whatever. It's a great way to stay plugged in, dive a lot and be in the spotlight just a bit.”

– Karl Shreeves, PADI Technical Development Executive