A PADI Divemaster is a certified dive professional eligible to lead certified divers on dive trips and to teach a limited selection of courses. A Divemaster is the first step on the ladder of professional diving. A Master Diver is the highest recreational, non-professional diving certification. While both qualifications are highly respectable in the diving community, a Master Diver has reached the highest recreational level, while a Divemaster is the beginning of a career.

The divemaster life is filled with adventure, excitement, and satisfaction. Instead of spending your days in an office making presentations and writing emails, you’ll find yourself on a boat or underwater in a tropical paradise, day in and day out. Furthermore, there’s no greater satisfaction than the ability to show customers the beauty and tranquility of the underwater world. You’ll never want to go back to the office again!

At Sairee Cottage Diving we offer a variety of Divemaster packages, including the “Zero to Hero” package that includes your Open Water, Advanced Open Water, and Rescue/Emergency first responder, and Divemaster course. Wherever you are in your training, we will get you on the path towards being a Divemaster.

You must organize a visa in your home country before you enter Thailand, or you will have to leave after 30 days and head to a neighboring country (Malaysia/Laos) to obtain one, which is annoying and expensive! Contact your nearest Thai embassy or consulate to apply for a double or triple entry TOURIST visa (educational visas are no longer valid for Scuba Diving Courses), which will give you plenty of time to complete your internship with us.

The PADI Divemaster course is the first step into the world of professional diving. As a certified Divemaster you’ll be responsible for the organization, logistics, safety, and enjoyment of customers during dive and snorkeling outings. Recreational divers will look to you as the professional for answers to questions about diving techniques, equipment, environment, and safety. They’ll expect you to have top-notch diving skills and to act as a role-model for aspiring recreational divers.

To start the PADI Divemaster course you must have 40 logged dives, be 18 years of age, Rescue Diver certified, and pass a diving physical examination. If you do not have 40 logged dives already don’t worry – as a part of your Divemaster trainee course you’ll have access to a 100 free dives which you can use to get to the minimum 40.

At Sairee Cottage the typical Divemaster course is scheduled over a period of four weeks. An extra two weeks are allotted at the end of the course to accommodate for missed activities and additional on the job training. Expedited schedules are available depending on staff availability and season.

During your training you won’t be expected to own a complete set of scuba equipment. However, certain items will be necessary for both personal comfort and diving safety. Equipment such as mask, snorkel, booties, rash-guards, and fins make diving more comfortable and more enjoyable and are highly recommended. Items like surface marker buoys, reels, slates, compasses, and whistle are required in order to stay safe while diving. Big ticket items such as dive computers, BCD’s, and regulators are provided by Sairee Cottage until your finish your course. As an additional benefit of diving with Sairee Cottage, we can get any piece of equipment you need at a discounted price.

No! You don’t need to be an Olympic athlete to complete the course. The only athletic activity involved are the watermanship evaluations which included time swims as well as a survival float. You don’t need to be Michael Phelps to complete them with passing scores, so no worries!

With Sairee Cottage Diving in Koh Tao, Thailand!

The divemaster course is divided into three sections: theory and lectures, workshops, and waterwork, with activities from each section every week. The theory and lectures encompass diving physics, physiology, equipment, dive planning, and the ins-and-outs of the PADI instructional system. The workshops how to manage dive trips, deep and rescue scenarios, mapping and emergency action plan projects, skill circuit practice, as well as dive briefing workshops. The waterwork includes assisting instructors on PADI Open Water, Advanced, and Rescue courses, watermanship evaluations, and underwater stress tests.

The theory and lectures do require studying and preparation, but not in an extreme amount. A candidate can expect to spend between 4 – 5 hours a week studying and preparing for that week’s academics. The majority of instruction is more hands on, in-water work.

While the course itself is taught in English, you do have access to the materials in a variety of languages for a small additional fee.

Whenever you want! While we do try and group trainees together in order to provide a team-orientated course, we can happily accommodate any start date. If you have questions about starting the course, please email info@saireecottagediving.com and we can plan for your arrival.