Divemaster Courses

Doing your divemaster in the Bay Islands will be one of the best decisions you have made! It is a training ground which turns exceptionally good divemasters, shops in Roatan and Utila do it well of that I am sure!

DON'T PAY THE DIVESHOP A DEPOSIT BEFORE YOU ACTUALLY GET THERE AND SEE IF YOU LIKE THEM ! It is common practice for most diveshops to ask for deposits and for most courses it is a reasonable request, especially for something like the IDC. However for the divemaster course there should be no need for the diveshop to request a deposit simply because the course has such a flexible schedule and is conducted over such a long time they won't actually schedule instructor time ahead of time. If they are not making any commitments to you in advance, then why should you?

If you are doing it in the hope of getting a job, Roatan has a far better track record of employing their divemasters - because we train far fewer - largely because the lonely Planet makes out it is SOOOO much cheaper.

This is a brilliant course in terms of value for money. If you are travelling with no particular deadlines, give some serious thought to becoming a divemaster. Firstly the couple of months it will take will be great fun, but you then have an actual qualification which can get you work in beautiful places all around the world. For $600 you will get about 100 dives, that's cheap!

If you can afford it you will really appreciate having a dive computer, it doesn't have to be a great one as long as it works. Look on ebay or just ask about the cheapest ones in your local dive shop. Something like the Suunto Gecko is perfectly adequate. leisurepro.com is a good cheap dive supplier online in the US. divebooty.co.uk is great those of you lucky enough to be British!

You need to decide how you want to do the divemaster. Many shops in both Utila and Roatan will do the divemaster differently to how it is done in the US and Europe.

Longer Term Apprenticeship - 2-3 months (generally as long as you want it to take)

With this option it is a real apprenticeship, you will be treated more like an employee than a customer, you will be expected to help fill tanks, and do all the same stuff the instructors are doing. Remember Instructors who work on 'dive islands' like Utila and Roatan are REAL dive professionals working in the water 6-7 days a week. They are not weekend warriors who have an office job during the week and work as instructors at the weekend. This means they tend to have stronger opinions on what a divemaster should be capable of - as a result they interpret the Instructor manual differently to less experienced instructors - they will give you a harder, but better course. As a result you will be a very good divemaster that will fit in to any dive shop that offers you a job. You should allow two months minimum. You will also need to be pro-active throughout the course to get the most out of it. You will do at least 100 dives and be more than ready to do the IDC. These dive shops tend to take great pride in the divemasters they teach. Make sure you will get unlimited diving. Smaller shops tend to do it this way.

Fast Divemaster Course (doing the bare minimum)

This option is to go to a shop which is a 'divemaster machine' They do it like any other PADI course, much like it is often done in the US and Europe. These guys do lots of divemaster courses and run you through it in 3-4 weeks. It is more of a business to them and they often take less personal pride in your development. You will often pay more as you are taking more of the instructors time, you will also tend to learn less simply because you are not immersed in diving 24/7 for 2 months! These shops will often only include 40-60 dives in the course and make you pay for any extra you need to do. They are able to do it much faster because they do the bare minimum according to the PADI Divemaster Course Instructor Guide. The IDC/CDC centers often offer this type of course.

Consider doing the academics at home. If time is going to be a problem you can get a lot of work done while you are still at home. Buy the divemaster manual, encyclopaedia of recreational diving , RDP Wheel and diving knowledge workbook. If you do all the knowledge reviews in the divemaster manual and work through the workbook you have just reduced the divemaster course length by about a week!

To sum up - if you want to do the course to become a really good diver and have a lot of fun - do it over two months.

If you want to do the course to get another PADI certification do it with someone who offers it in a 3-6 week course. No-one should offer it to you in less than three weeks.

Another way to look at it is- do you want to be part of the team or just another customer.

As for prices, It costs $500 to do the DM course in Roatan, this tends not to be negotiable, but look at it this way - it is $5/dive! When I was last there it costed $750 in Utila.

The cost of buying groceries in both places is the same - don't let anyone tell you otherwise, of course it is - they are two islands a couple of miles apart!

The cost of renting an apartment is the same, it is just that there are fewer cheap apartments available in Roatan than Utila, so you have to look harder, something a lot of lazy travelers are not prepared to do.

I think you can still find dorm beds in Utila for $3-4 a night, in Roatan the best you will find is $5/night so here it is slightly more expensive.

Beers and other drinks I find 5-10lps more expensive Roatan but they are bigger and stronger! Once the bars know you are a Divemaster trainee they will give you the local price.

Lastly because there are many more rich tourists in Roatan, there are plenty of part time jobs that pay well and you tend to get good tips.

If you are thinking of doing you divemaster make sure you meet the instructors you will be working with before signing up. The course is great if you get on well with your instructors, but not if you don't. Sundowners is a good place to meet a lot of instructors and see which you may want to do your divemaster with.