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Gaius' Adventures

Advice For Those Considering Divemaster

Posted on August 1, 2013 by Gaius

While I obviously can’t claim (yet!) to be an expert DM, I have recently qualified, so I do feel something of an expert on the process of qualifying 😉 Here are just a few random thoughts:

Choose a busy dive centre. The DM programme is experience-based, so you will need two things: for activities to be happening that you can do, and for people around who you can at first assist or shadow, and who can then sign you off. The centre I chose I already knew having done my Drysuit Spec there, and then when B wanted to do her OW and AOW she went there, so it was the logical choice – and that turned out to be the correct one, as it’s a CDC, so there are lots and lots of instructors around.
Be aware how much it will cost. First there is approximately £450 to enrol on the programme. Then there is another £150 for the Crewpak and an eRDPML. Entry to Wraysbury is £9 and Vobster £16 or pay £35 membership and it’s £11 (looking back over this blog, that’s 13×9 + 3×16 → £165). Air fills are £3 at Wraysbury and £3.75 at Vobster, you will need at least one per weekend, more for AOW. Mostly I got a ride in the van to the sites, but occasionally I drove, so there was some cost of petrol, and getting to and from the dive centre with all my gear, some cost of petrol and some of taxis, which I didn’t keep track of, but still needs to be considered. After qualifying there is another £120 for the HSE Preliminary, €270 for professional level insurance, and finally £80 for membership of PADI. Those last three are payable annually. So that’s a budget of at least £1300 you will need, in the first year, assuming you already have all of your own equipment. It will be a long time working as DM to make it pay. I don’t want to discourage anyone, but this is something you do need to understand.
Also it will take a lot of time. Many people take over a year; to do it in 5 months like I did took 2-3 weekends and a few evenings per month. That’s why I say travel costs also need to be considered!
Do the skills circuit slowly. Slower than that. Now slow it down some more. And do it early on as it’s useful on several subsequent modules. The water skills can easily be done in a surface interval while waiting for a tank fill and everyone offgassing.
It really helps to have your own equipment, especially a drysuit. I already owned everything, bought over a few years, apart from a tank (£180 from Mike’s next door) and some weights (£70 I think). Students and instructors get priority over the school’s kit. There were a few weekends where if I hadn’t been personally fully equipped, I couldn’t have dived. And drysuits aren’t cheap, so factor that into the budget. There is a very limited window in the UK when you can get away with wearing a wetsuit, especially doing many repetitive dives. It’s possible to do it in all school kit, but it wouldn’t be easy and you might need to split it over two summers. Budget for a full set of UK kit? Maybe another £1000, maybe more
Never miss an opportunity to dry something or charge something, you don’t know when you might need them in a hurry!
Get to know everyone – fellow DMTs, qualified DMs, all the way up to the exalted Course Directors. The more people you know the more experiences you have to draw on and the more you will learn, the more opportunities you will have to progress, and last but not least, meeting new people is the PADI way 🙂 But at the same time, understand that you will not be shepherded through DM like a conventional PADI course. You must use your own initiative and manage your rate of progress yourself. I found every instructor more than willing to help if I just asked, can we get this signed off today please? when I felt ready, subject obviously to what the actual class being run was. It helps a lot to build up a store of “good karma” by doing chores like Surface Support or inventorying the kit or bringing in donuts, that you can draw on when needed. Under no circumstances, despite you technically being a paying customer, should you stamp your feet and make demands. It’s not professional.
I regularly dive with people who have hundreds or even thousands more dives than me, so I am humble and always trying to learn. It is only after 100 dives that you understand how little you really know. But to a student, there is no difference between and DMT and a DM, and you are supposed to exemplify the qualities of the ideal diver. If you make an effort to do so, everything from how you set up your gear, to your buoyancy and trim in the water, it will feed back into a genuine improvement in your skills when you are not “acting”. That is the real secret to how DM makes you a better diver.

I enjoyed the course a great deal and think I got a lot out of it, and I’m planning to do the odd weekend here and there as a pro DM. I’d encourage anyone who wanted to understand diving beyond the purely consumer aspect of it to consider enrolling. Think of being in the audience vs being one of the cast (in the circus a DM is not a ringmaster, more of a clown). When I dived purely recreationally, someone else had made the plan, sorted the kit, knew where we were going, knew their way around there, could help anyone having problems, had figured out what to do if it all went hatstand, had checked the O₂ and First Aid kits and knew how to use them, etc etc etc. I wanted to take a bit more ownership of my diving experience, and I found that I enjoyed working with new divers and showing them a whole new world. But now it is time to do a bit of my own diving, the IDC can wait until next year at the very earliest…

Finished!

Posted on July 30, 2013 by Gaius

I finished my DM last week†, and I already have my PADI number: 329842. Fittingly the instructor supervising the Scuba Review was KM, who was also the instructor on my very first DMT experience back in March. Thanks are due to in no particular order her and instructors ES, AD, TB and KT, and of course my girlfriend B for putting up with all my weekends, or so it felt, being booked up. On the other hand, she gets a personal Divemaster on every dive now 🙂

I have been meaning to put together a few thoughts for other prospective DMs, that will follow. And I will keep writing this blog to chronicle my further escapades…

† It was supposed to be the week before but the SR class was cancelled at the last minute! Glad to get it done before we go on a trip next week!

Rescue Diver, 13/14 July 2013

Posted on July 15, 2013 by Gaius

I always enjoy the Rescue courses. With OW and even AOW, you have to watch the students like a hawk and help them with basic skills, but by Rescue time everyone a) has a bit of experience and b) it’s a self-selecting group of people who have the attitude of wanting to improve and a willingness to take responsibility for their team. So you can relax and have a bit more fun, even tho’ the course is very intense, and there is plenty of opportunity for hamming it up in the rescue scenarios. We were a large group, instructor TB and DM GL, both of whom I have worked with before several times, new DM HD, my frequent DMT-buddy SB and 7 students. Also at Wraysbury that weekend from LSD were an OW Completion, a total of 25 people (meaning £450 in entrance fees alone, plus fills, food & drink etc, probably easily over a grand in total).

The first day we spent working on the skills, such as search patterns, CBLs, the O₂ kit, rescue management and the second we did ever more elaborate and far-fetched scenarios, making use of all of us LSD people and a few random people that we knew, as victims, interfering members of the public, etc. There are a few photos on LSD’s Facebook page. The students handled it with aplomb, they quickly gelled as a team, they were easily one of the best groups I have worked with over the last few months. When we returned to the dive centre the OW Referrals were still running (2 × 1 instructor + 6 students, no assistants, alternating between the pool and the classroom) so I jumped on the panel and refilled some tanks for them, only to 150 bar but that’s all there was in the banks.

Still remaining on my DM:

Divemaster Conducted Programmes:
- Scuba Review

The weekend was a bit of a disaster in terms of lost kit, with 4 masks being lost to the mud at the bottom of the lake. SB found one and rightly earned her S&R module signed off!

AOW, 29/30 June 2013

Posted on July 3, 2013 by Gaius

This weekend was busy not just for one or two groups as usual but for the entire dive centre, with 30 students doing OWR, OWC, AOW, EFR and Rescue courses. Fortunately the weather smiled on us and most of the students could be in wetsuits, which we have plenty of! We took basically every piece of kit from the stores to Wraysbury on the Saturday in 3 vans, with more people coming by car. All LSD people were instructed that we would need to provide all of our own kit this weekend including tanks and weights, which I didn’t mind at all as it meant I could breathe Nitrox on the deep dives 🙂

I was with the group doing AOW, with instructor AD, DM GL, 4 students and fellow DMT DB. As usual we did one day at Wraysbury (PPB and Drysuit 1 and 2) and one day at Vobster (Deep, Wreck and Navigation). Also this weekend I got signed off for Search & Recovery and Discover Local Diving, both at Vobster. The former I did in a buddy pair with DB, locating (search patterns) and raising a 12kg weight belt using a lift bag, managing a controlled ascent by bleeding air from the dump valve. I had hoped to do the latter on the aircraft at Vobster, which I know quite well by now, but instead did it in an unfamiliar part of the lake based on a verbal briefing from AD of “show them X, Y and Z”. The statistics for that dive showed that my SAC was a bit up with the task loading of navigating and also shepherding the students. The lesson learnt here is to allow a margin in gas planning (over and above reserves like 50 bar/rule-of-thirds) for dives with a “mission”. I think with a bit more experience I will get guiding back down to my usual 20ℓ/min.

Dive	Max/Avg Depth	Min Temp	Time	Consumption	SAC
1 (DLD)	22.3m / 14.6m	7℃	28 mins	136bar/ 1632ℓ	23ℓ/min

GL brought up the rear and once again it was very clear (no pun intended) how valuable powerful lights are in lo-vis conditions even if it’s not actually dark; even tho’ I couldn’t see him and possibly at times the second buddy pair of students couldn’t see me, everyone could easily see both the lights casting beams in the particulates. I tried a slightly DIR-style configuration with a compass on my left and the Uwatec bottom timer on my right wrist and as usual my Light Monkey on a Goodman handle on my left hand – this made the compass awkward to use, I think both on right wrist would have been easier. Hmm.

Still outstanding on my DM are:

400m swim

Divemaster Conducted Programmes:

Scuba Review
DSD: OW dive

Just the last lap to go, and then I’m done!

DSD/OW Referral, 22/23 June 2013

Posted on June 24, 2013 by Gaius

This weekend was very busy at LSD, on the Saturday I was in the pool from 9-11am doing a DSD with instructor MM and 5 students, then from about 12-2pm with instructor ES and 5 students for Confined Water dives, 1-3, then from 4-7pm with instructor RR and his 5 students to do CW 1-2! In between all this, I managed to complete a couple of things for DMT, so I certainly got what I came for out of the weekend, and I think all the students did too, many eager to sign up for classes and trips. Sunday was a little quieter, I could have done an Express Referral (CW 1-5 back-to-back) with MM and 2 students, but instead opted to stay with ES’ OW class. The most interesting thing of the weekend was working with one student who had only one arm; he was a strong swimmer, managed all the skills and even impressed me with his underwater kit remove-and-replace, it was much better than mine was at that stage! I wish him the best of luck, some of his techniques may be difficult to apply in gloves/boots or on the deck of a diveboat but I’m confident he’ll figure out techniques that work for him, and he had his buddy with him on the course too. Diving is for everyone, it’s the PADI way 🙂

Specific advice for the skills circuit: do it veeeryy schloowly, like they brew the Grolsch. Watch you don’t speed up to normal halfway through the skill too. Bad advice for diving in general, but for “showing off” it helps to be overweighted for stability (the skills are demonstrated as they would be in a class, so kneeling).

DSD, 8 June 2013

Posted on June 9, 2013 by Gaius

This weekend I shadowed a DSD, commonly known as a “try dive” with instructor ES and 5 students. This is a non-certification course that allows someone to try the kit, and most importantly equalizing and breathing underwater, before committing to a course such as the OW Referral. We started in the classroom, working through the quiz, which is about teaching some basic background information as opposed to an intimidating exam. After that, we introduced the basic kit, the regulator set and the BCD, pointing out the primary regulator from which the student would breathe, the gauges (which we would monitor for them!) and the inflation and deflation buttons on the LPI hose. Finally in the classroom, a few hand signals such as OK, problem, ascend. After that it was down to the pool, where we had pre-assembled the students kit for them with 10L tanks, for fitting with masks and fins, then into the water, where the students kitted up and had their first experience of breathing from a cylinder. Next, we demonstrated the inflation and deflation buttons, and one by one did a kneeling buoyancy check on each one, a couple of them required an extra couple of kilos – but in most cases, with no exposure suit and a steel tank, people require no weighting in the pool. Then the students experienced equalizing by lying on the bottom of the 1.2m end of the pool. Once everyone was comfortable, we took them for a lap of the pool under water one at a time, then down to the deep end, at 3.2m. They were then free to swim around and play with the various toys in the pool such as the frisbee, ES watched from above and I swum with them where I could peek at contents gauges. When the time was up, none of them had used much air anyway, but it’s good to be sure! After that a short debrief and a chat about what else we could offer them at LSD but with no pressure to sign up for anything. All in all it took about 2 hours. For DM I need to be able to run one of these, under the supervision of an instructor, and I am pretty confident that I could do it; now just need to contact my Lead and find out when we can schedule one in.

Still outstanding I have:

400m swim
Skills circuit
Search and recovery scenario
Divemaster Conducted Programmes

I don’t want to underestimate any of these but if I can keep the momentum going, I should be a DM before too much longer 🙂

AOW, 25/26 May 2013

Posted on May 30, 2013 by Gaius

Another extremely busy weekend, with instructor ES, DM GL, myself and 4 AOW students, 3 of whom were also doing the Drysuit Spec, and 1 student doing an OW Completion. We were at Wraysbury one day for Buoyancy, Drysuit and Navigation, and Vobster the next, for Deep and Wreck adventure dives, and the optional second drysuit dive to complete the certification, 6 dives in total of which I did 5. Not much to say about this one, it all went like clockwork, the sun was shining and all the students had their acts generally together, their own transport and most of their own equipment, so the logistics were very easy. It was strange how empty the van looked compared to how it usually is! We stopped off for icecream on the way back from Vobster and were still in the pub an hour before the team who had been teaching an OW Referral!

We did the deep dive on the Jacquin II in the middle of the quarry, and the wreck dive on the aircraft again. Even in good vis, it was very apparent how useful powerful lights are for signalling. On the deep dive I used 80bar from a 12L tank in 22mins at an average depth of 12.2metres, giving a SAC of 19.6L/min. I am reasonably confident now in using 20L/min as the basis for gas calculations. It will be even more conservative in warm water gear. No kit changes this week, as while it was warm on the surface, I still expected it to be cold below the thermocline. The OW student was in a 4mm steamer with a 4mm shortie over the top, and did feel the cold at even 10m depth. On the DMT sign-offs front, I completed the 800m swim scoring a 4, and completed the surveying for my mapping project, which I will submit in a few days. Fellow DMT SB and I keep trying to get a few hours in the pool at LSD to practice our skills circuit, which I plan to video on my little Canon S95 with an UW housing for feedback, but slots are few and far between, and we both have busy lives too! So we shall have to see.

OW Completion, 18/19 May 2013

Posted on May 21, 2013 by Gaius

The water at Wraysbury this weekend was a balmy 11-13°C, at the surface a full 10°C warmer than my first dives there this year! The next dive I will try in just merino baselayer rather than the PBB, of which I only wore the farmer john and in which I was rather warm. This might mean dropping a little more weight. No kit changes this week.

My new skill this time was driving the van, which apparently doesn’t get anything signed off for DM, but it should 🙂 This weekend it was instructor KT who I have worked with several times before, fellow DMT JP, 3 students and myself. The logistics were super-smooth and both days we were finished around lunchtime, then back to the dive centre for debriefs and paperwork. All students passed, but one had brought her boyfriend, an already qualified diver, with her. I did have to ask him not to keep helping her; this is a class after all. And everyone makes mistakes – if he inadvertently makes her a “dependent diver” at this early stage, then it’s his buddy check that’s going to be skipped, with potential consequences if he say forgets to turn his air on…

As of right now, the things I have outstanding are:

400m and 800m swims
Skills circuit
Search-and-recovery and mapping project
All the Divemaster Conducted Programmes

From next month, I will be concentrating on filling in these gaps.

Oh, and one bizarre thing I spotted this weekend, on several divers presumably from the same club or school, it’s bad enough strapping a knife to the outside of your leg, being an entanglement hazard and hard to reach if you need it, but then attaching it to its sheath with a lanyard – what are these people thinking?!

Rescue Diver, 11/12 May 2013

Posted on May 13, 2013 by Gaius

Someone said to me when I started, but the Divemaster course won’t make you a better diver. My response to that is, it entirely depends on what you mean by “better”. A good diver has, among other characteristics:

Good situational awareness
An ability to handle a bit of task loading
The ability to look after themselves and a helpless buddy if necessary
Has actually practiced rescue skills, since taking the Rescue Diver course
Takes a preventative, pro-active approach to safety
…

The DM course teaches all of this, or requires that you learn it yourself in order to progress. Better means more than “deeper”…

I had the rather dubious honour of being first in the water at Wraysbury on the Sunday, the vis was better than the Saturday but still pretty poor due to algæ, I would estimate 2-3m, tho’ of course that depends what you’re looking at. I spent much of the weekend being a victim/patient (these words have specific meanings in the PADI system) assisting instructors RR and ES with 3 students, but also got the chance to practice the skills myself. Happy to say that there was little rust on them, and I have been signed off for performing a “demonstration quality” rescue. This puts me roughly halfway through all the required sign offs. Most of the rest aren’t internship, they are all assessments of specific skills, so I just need to organize getting them done.

Kit configuration changes this week:

Moved 4Kg to trim pockets on my upper tank cambands, with 6Kg in my BCD’s integrated weight pockets. This is a much more comfortable configuration. I can descend very easily and have good buoyancy control in the 0-5m range but still feel too negative at around 8m. Perhaps I could drop even more weight. I still wore a weight belt tho’, empty, in order to conform with PADI standards for the course!
Swapped the default rockboots that came with my drysuit for a pair of Northern Diver Rock Swim Boots. These are the same boots that are issued to UK military divers. I see this question being asked all over the Internet, so for the benefit of the wider diving community, these boots in size 10 fit perfectly the Hollis F1 fins in size 2XL. They are slightly buoyant and that in combination with the weight change are making me flatter in the water, tho’ without any weight in the belt to inhibit air migration, I was a little worried a couple of times about the dreaded floaty feet. I’ll stick with this configuration for a few more dives to get a proper feel for it.
It was a bit warmer in the water, around 9°C, so I risked removing the top half of my undersuit, wearing just the farmer john over a wicking t-shirt. Got a bit cold waiting to be rescued, playing the “unresponsive diver on the bottom” while the students faffed around, but should be able to reach valves for a shutdown drill, using the head forward, wrist on back of head, head back method. A great relief to know I won’t need a new drysuit when I start diving a twinset!

OW Referral, 4/5 May 2013

Posted on May 6, 2013 by Gaius

This weekend I DMT’d another OW Referral, with instructors TB and BM, fellow DMT OB, and 9 students. TB and I took 4 of them, alternating the groups between the pool and the classroom. It all went smoothly tho’ inevitably there is some waiting around when sharing facilities like that. One thing I am noticing is that there is a lot packed into the videos at OW level that isn’t introduced until much later in the PADI system, such as CBLs and SMBs. Interesting.

One student didn’t complete this time, tho’ a careful reading of the syllabus reveals that actually, the two things she couldn’t manage (the 200m swim and the 10min float) don’t have to be done during the Referral, just prior to finishing the Completion, so she was signed off for everything else, which she had no problems with. I can’t remember if she planned to complete with us, or on her upcoming trip. And the student who hadn’t completed the last OW Referral I assisted on returned on Sunday, and did Dive 3 successfully this time, and went through the exam. Good for him! He can go onto PADI Scuba Diver now, with two open water dives, which he could do in one day. The “instructors creed” in the PADI instructors manual may be a bit cheesy, but it’s completely true. I am not privy to the commercials, but as far as I know, since we were running the course anyway, he was simply able to join in rather than paying for a new course. I don’t sense that there is any pressure to rubberstamp students at LSD; we work with them until they are able to meet the performance standards. That puts paid to quite a bit of criticism of “the PADI way” that I have seen online.

Speaking of sign-offs, I am collecting the required signatures gradually; with any luck by the end of the month I will be about halfway to completing the DM course. Neither particularly quickly nor particularly slowly as these things go. From next month I plan to focus more intently on filling in the gaps, choosing what I intern on with that in mind, as up ’til now I have just been doing a bit of everything to build general experience. I’d also like to get some time with my Lead Instructor LC to do/get signed off on specific skills.