It’s time to quit that 9-5, breathe in some fresh air and experience life to the fullest! Being an in-water professional opens so many doors across the globe to travel, meet people and do what you love! Not to mention all of the epic in-water interactions that await. Becoming a dive professional was the best thing that I have ever done. I have now been in the industry for over 5 years and am still so excited to see what the future brings. 

SDI Snorkel Supervisor

If you’re not a super divey person but still want to guide people in the water snorkeling, the SDI Snorkel Supervisor course may just be the next step forward for you. This course allows you to take individuals in the water and explore a whole new world from the surface. It equips you with the knowledge to lead groups, fix problems and respond to in-water emergencies. Blue waters and sunshine awaits!

We have written a blog all about how fantastic this course is as well as the pre-requisites, what it consists of and where it can take you! Feel free to have a read through here. 

Divemaster

The SDI Divemaster Course is a well-rounded course that teaches individuals topside as well as underwater skills. Becoming a Divemaster is heavily involved and requires you to be extremely observant, respond to challenges quickly and have excellent customer service skills (as well as being a top-notch diver, of course)! You will learn not only how to guide dives but to be the go-to person on the dive boat, answer questions and respond quickly to diving scenarios. The course allows you to make your hobby a career and guide dives, assist on courses plus with additional training, teach refresher courses and discover scuba divers in a swimming pool! 

Generally, the Divemaster Course is run over a few months however can be completed in a minimum of a few weeks. Here at Swan Dive, we tailor your course to your timeline! 

To begin, you must be at least 18 years old, have 40 logged dives and have completed up to the rescue diver qualification. 

Instructor

Instructors are the superhero of diving. They can do it all. When you take on the role of becoming a diving instructor, you literally change lives. Taking people underwater for the first time is such a magical experience both for them, and for you! It’s a role that demands skill, patience, and passion, but the rewards are unparalleled. You’re not just teaching, you’re shaping the next generation of ocean explorers. 

To become a diving instructor, you must be 18 years old, have 100 logged dives and have successfully completed a divemaster program. SDI runs the course in 2 sections- the IDC (instructor development course) and the IEC (instructor evaluation course). This allows candidates to learn at their own pace during the IDC. The IEC must be completed within 6 months of the completion of the IDC. 

On your IDC, you revisit complex theory and begin to learn how to teach others it. You don’t just ‘do’ the skills, you demonstrate them. This is the biggest difference between a dive master and an instructor, the teaching. By the end of your course, you will be able to teach all of your diving skills to another person who has potentially never been in the water before. 

Which is the best course for me?

Now, this depends on you and what you would like out of your career and where you would like to work. From my experience, most dive center’s sought after instructors. This is because they can do it all- guide and teach.

However, there are thousands and thousands of Divemaster’s across the globe that have work and are doing what they love. It is usually due to location, the dive operator and what they would like out of a staff member. If your role is purely guiding dives, great, you can be a Divemaster. If they are looking to run courses, you’re either going to have to become an instructor or find another operator. 

In saying that, there is a debate of how quickly should I become an Instructor after I complete my Divemaster course? 

When it comes to stepping into the realm of professional diving, it may take a few minutes to adjust to the fact that you’re not just ‘fun diving’ anymore, you’re leading the fun divers, you’re responsible for the fun divers. During the divemaster course, you learn how to react to underwater challenges and rescue scenarios in real-time. The phrase practice makes perfect is well suited. The more challenges you face (which may be small but will probably happen on every dive you guide), the better you will get at responding to them. As an instructor, you learn to read the problem before it has even happened, which of course, comes with experience. Depending on how quickly you completed your divemaster course and how many dives you actually lead ‘without assistance’ will affect how ready you feel for your instructor course. 

My advice is always- complete your divemaster course and follow it up by working a season in the industry somewhere around the world. This way, you will grain real-life experience away from the comfort of your divemaster instructor. After the season, if you’re feeling like you would like to grow your skills in the diving industry, it may just be that the instructor course is around the corner waiting for you!

How do I sign up? 

Here at Swan Dive, we teach all of these courses throughout the year and would love to see you get involved. We run personalized Divemaster courses to suit your schedule and are always happy to look into availability for IDC’s. Get in touch here. 

Written by Meg.