Divemaster Pre-Requisites and Duties

This page is the quick reference for what you need before starting a Divemaster course, and what you'll be authorised to do once you've completed it. Both lists come straight from PADI's Instructor Manual — the same standards every dive centre and course director must follow, regardless of where in the world you train.

The prerequisites tell you what to arrange before arrival. The authorisations tell you what your PADI Divemaster card lets you actually do at a dive centre. We've added a few practical notes alongside each — what we cover for you, what we don't, and what's worth knowing before you book.

Divemaster Course Prerequisites

Five PADI requirements. All must be in place before formal Divemaster training begins.

1. PADI Advanced Open Water Diver and PADI Rescue Diver certifications — or qualifying equivalents from another agency (SSI, NAUI, BSAC, CMAS and similar are all accepted). If you don't yet hold these, our packages can include the courses you need, sequenced so you arrive at the start of your Divemaster training fully certified and dive-ready.
2. 18 years of age or older. This is a hard PADI standard with no exceptions. If you turn 18 during your visit, you can complete prerequisite courses up to that day and start formal Divemaster training on your birthday.
3. Medical clearance signed by a physician within the previous 12 months. Most candidates arrive with this already done. If yours has lapsed or you don't have one, there's a recommended physician five minutes' walk from the shop in West End who can sign you off in around thirty minutes.
4. Minimum 40 logged dives to begin formal Divemaster training, building to 60 by certification. We get you to 40 at no extra cost — diving starts the day you arrive, regardless of where your logbook stands when you land.
5. Emergency First Response Primary and Secondary Care certification within the last 24 months. If your EFR has lapsed, we run the refresher on-island; budget half a day for it.

Divemaster Authorisations

Once certified, an active-status PADI Divemaster is authorised to do all of the following. The list below is the verbatim PADI standard. Most of these are things you'll have rehearsed live during your internship, not just learned from a manual.

1. Supervise both training and non-training-related activities by planning, organising, and directing dives.
2. Assist an instructor during confined and open water training.
3. Guide Open Water Diver course students on the tour portion of Open Water Dives 2, 3, and 4 at a 2:1 ratio, under the instructor's indirect supervision.
4. Accompany Open Water Diver students under the instructor's indirect supervision during surface swims to and from the entry/exit point and during navigational exercises, and supervise remaining students when the instructor conducts a skill.
5. Accompany student divers during Adventure Dives or specialty course dives under the instructor's indirect supervision.
6. Teach and certify PADI Skin Divers independently. This includes conducting the PADI Seal Team AquaMission: Skin Diver Specialist.
7. Conduct the Discover Snorkeling program.
8. Conduct subsequent dives under an instructor's indirect supervision for Discover Scuba Diving participants at a 2:1 ratio, after participants have satisfactorily completed the first dive with an instructor.
9. Conduct the Discover Local Diving experience.
10. Conduct the ReActivate program for certified divers.
11. Conduct the skin diving skills segment of the Open Water Diver course during confined water dive 2, 3, 4, or 5.
12. If qualified as a Discover Scuba Diving Leader, independently conduct Discover Scuba Diving in a pool or in confined open water.
13. Accompany certified PADI Scuba Divers on subsequent dives.
14. After completing the corresponding instructor training, conduct:
    1. Digital Underwater Photographer specialty courses under the direction of a PADI Instructor.
    2. Emergency Oxygen Provider courses.

The list above is wider than most candidates expect. The PADI Divemaster isn't just a guide certification — it's the foundation for everything that comes next, including the Instructor Development Course.

Why earn your Divemaster at Go Pro Caribbean

Every PADI Divemaster, anywhere in the world, has to meet exactly the same standards. The list above is identical in Cairns, Cozumel, Phuket, and Roatan. What changes between training centres is the operator — and how they choose to deliver the work behind each line of the standard.

At Go Pro Caribbean we run Divemaster training as a working internship rather than a fixed timetable. From your first day you're on the boat with paying customers, watching real briefings, real entries, real ascents — alongside full-time PADI instructors who run a busy dive centre every day. By the time you're ticking off the formal skills, you've already spent weeks watching how each of the fourteen authorisations actually plays out in practice.

We're deliberately small. Class sizes stay tight, every candidate gets direct contact with Will Welbourn, and most Divemaster graduates stay on for their PADI Instructor Course at the end of the internship. Will is a PADI Platinum Course Director who has certified more than 500 instructors since 2008. Earning your Divemaster here means you arrive at instructor training already fit, dive-ready, and comfortable in a working dive operation.

Frequently asked questions about the PADI Divemaster