Matt And His Dive Master Course

In July 2012 I was introduced to scuba diving through BSAC and following 17 years military service I decided to travel for a few months prior to seeking out another career path with the intention of diving somewhere amazing. So, where to dive, how to choose from the many global destinations available. Whilst discussing this with a friend she recommended Thailand for the reefs and the opportunity to see the various aquatic life that inhabit the waters’ and the fact she had a friend that ran a Dive Centre in Koh Tao; Perfect! When I arrived at Koh Tao I was unsure on what I wanted to do with regards to furthering my qualifications in scuba diving and as such Siam Scuba accommodated my needs and I dove at least twice a day for fun and to get a feel for the place. The next 10 days flew past and having got settled in to the lifestyle and renting my own place month by month I made the decision to start the Dive Master Training course. Diaa (the manager) presented me with a freshly delivered box, upon opening it I found various items including an encyclopaedia, Dive Master course manual, dive slates, a digital dive planner and more importantly the binder containing the instructors manual. I was impressed, everything is high quality and has more detail than I had seen previously. So, the course commences after 40 dives attained, the day had arrived at last. The first opportunity I had was to dive with an Instructor and assist/ observe her teaching an Open Water student for the duration of the course. I sat in for the theory lessons, video watching and of course the practical exercises including the dives. I found it fantastically interesting and had several opportunities to assist along the way. Whilst reading my Dive Master manual I noticed that emphasis is put on the fact that students may feel that the DM is more approachable at times, this was proven to be true during this first course as the student told me of some physical restrictions that he had not told the Instructor. Not only did this help the Instructor but also added to my feeling of being needed in an important role and gave the student a route to passing the information to us. the course lasted 3 days and was truly rewarding, it also reinforced my thoughts that I had made the right decision in starting the course. There is a fair amount of reading to do on the DM course but if you knuckle down it doesn’t take long to get through. the important thing to note is that although you are assigned to an Instructor for the duration of the course he/she is not the only Instructor available for questions and queries, here at Siam the whole team help in any which way they can, which is great when you just need a quick answer or a detailed explanation. Currently there are 5 of us doing DM training and we have 2 Instructors on hand, Paul and Aude. The two work excellently together and are very keen to reinforce all basic skills and cover all elements to the N’th degree which is excellent news for us students. We have a calender of events so we know exactly what is coming up day by day and what to prepare for; hopefully we should be aiming to complete the course over the next few weeks and start our new hobby/pastime/ career in assisting instructors and guiding divers around the amazing underwater world wherever we may be on the globe.