PADI Divemaster Internships

Why Go Pro?

Imagine living in the Caribbean and getting paid to do what you love, Scuba diving!

Becoming a Divemaster is the first step to turning your weekend and holiday diving hobby into a full time profession. PADI Divemasters and Instructors are qualified to work in the dive industry all over the world and there are many opportunities for divemasters here on Roatan and in other parts of Central America. You can begin the program with any certification level, even if you have never dove before.

Your main role as a Divemaster will be to supervise diving activities, including leading divers on fun dives, teaching refresher courses to rusty divers and assisting our Instructors with their courses. PADI Divemasters can also be certified to teach the EFR course from the Rescue Diver program, Discover Scuba Diving and digital underwater photography.

The length of your program will depend on a number of factors including your current certification level, your diving experience, personal goals and of course, your budget. Living expenses on Roatan are low, rent is usually between $300-$400 a month and walking is the preferred method of travel around town. Most of our trainees share furnished apartments or rent one bedroom's in West End and walk to work everyday. It isn't difficult to sort out your accommodations once you arrive and the staff and trainees at OC will be glad to help. To read more about what Roatan is like check out Roatan Online and our guide to West End.

practicing dive briefings	confined water training	juvenile lobster traps

Students do not need to have their own scuba diving equipment and are welcome to use our rental gear for the duration of the program. However, all students must have their own watch or dive computer in order to keep track of dive profiles and a safety marker for drift dives and training dives. We encourage students to invest in their own dive gear and we have equipment deals for Interns including regulators, BCD's and dive computers.

The Divemaster program is limited to no more than 4 Divemaster Trainees at any time. This ensures that you will work entirely with real customers and the day to day activities of the dive center. Your time will be spent with a mixture of diving activities; assisting our staff with fun divers and PADI courses, learning to drive boats, equipment repair, shop management and sales. You can also practice your Spanish (or perhaps Spanglish), develop your skills, log some time in the compressor room, learn more about marine ecology and of course enjoy the island lifestyle!

Below you will find descriptions of the PADI courses and requirements in the Divemaster Internship. Keep in mind the length of your internship will depend on your current certification level, your diving experience and your potential career goals as a PADI Divemaster. The core aspects of the Divemaster program take on average six weeks to complete. Any additional time spent working at the dive center will further prepare you to work in the dive industry, whether it be working as a DM on our daily trips or continuing your dive education and completing your DSD, EFR or Photography Instructor courses.

Please contact us if you have any questions concerning your internship choice.

All prices include Divemaster certification, Enriched air nitrox and Underwater Naturalist specialties as well as all required PADI materials

PADI Divemaster Course

prerequisites include Rescue diver and EFR certification.

Students will begin with an orientation to the dive center, taking a few days to acclimatize, check out the diving and try out any new dive gear they may have purchased or need to use for the program. After a few days of fun diving we jump right into practicing local rescue techniques and familiarizing yourself with the local hospitals, re-compression chamber and transportation routes before beginning the divemaster program.

The PADI Divemaster course is divided into three broad sections; divemaster theory, skill development and practical application. During the program, Divemaster trainees will be instructed on a broad range of dive theory, including dive equipment, marine ecology and the physics and physiology of diving. There are eight dive theory exams to complete as well as PADI specialty courses in coral reef conservation, fish and coral identification and reef ecology.

Divemaster trainees will also develop their skills through assisting with confined and open water training for new divers and helping out the Divemaster with the daily fun dives. Your main job as a divemaster trainee is to learn how to teach refresher courses for those divers who haven't been in the water for a while and to buddy up with the more in-experienced divers on our dive trips. Divemaster trainees will also lead students on the tour portions of their training dives and assist with Rescue training and specialty courses. We begin with re-learning the 20 skills from the Open Water diver course, practice until you are comfortable and than run a few mock refresher courses with the staff before you conduct your own under supervision. The refresher course includes both shallow water training and dives on the reef focusing on buoyancy control and coral reef awareness. This course is free for any certified diver at Ocean Connections ensuring you will get a lot of "hands on" experience during your program.

DMT's will also be trained to lead dive groups of up to eight people on our regularly scheduled trips. These trips go out three times a day and we can have very diverse groups which require several divemasters to manage properly. Depending on the conditions you may be buddied up with a few Junior open water divers or lead the two most experienced of the group, every dive we do is different. Drift diving and night diving are very popular on Roatan and learning how to mark the diver's positions, judge tides and currents and navigate underwater are important skills you will learn as Dmt. At the beginning of the program you will be assisting our Divemaster with his scheduled trips and eventually work up to leading divers and organizing the dive trips independently.

These core components of the Divemaster course and PADI professional level certification take at least 4 weeks to complete (6 to 8 weeks on average). Once you are PADI certified you will be working as a PADI Divemaster for us until the end of your program with the option to earn your DSD Instructor certification. PADI DM's can be certified to teach Discover Scuba Diving by conducting 5 of these courses under the supervision of one of our instructors. This additional certification is especially important for those seeking employment in tourist areas where the Discover Scuba Diving course is the focus of the dive center. As a PADI DM you can also participate in the Emergency First Responder and digital underwater photography instructor courses to further add to your diving resume.

Divemasters may also choose to continue their internship and complete either the PADI Assistant Instructor program here on Roatan or prepare themselves to complete the PADI Open Water Scuba Instructor program. Please have a look at our Diving Instructor Internship page for more information.

PADI Rescue and EFR

prerequisites include Advanced diver certification

Before starting the divemaster program students will need to have completed their PADI Rescue diver certification. This course is one of the first steps to becoming a diving professional and is one of the toughest but most rewarding PADI courses available. The course begins with Emergency First Responder (EFR), a one day course where students will learn CPR for the water, basic first aid, AED training and first aid for hazardous marine life injuries. This course is taught here at the dive center and we use our talented staff to do our best to make the scenarios as real as possible. Your course could include scenes from power tool and boat accidents, physical mishaps on the stairs, or jellyfish stings and sea urchin spines. This is followed by 3 days of Rescue training where we will learn self rescue techniques, managing panicked and tired divers, in-water rescue techniques and shore and boat rescues. On the final day, students will be put to the test with three final scenarios where they will use the skills they have learned to properly manage a number of different crisis.

PADI Advanced open water

prerequisites include open water certification

As an Open water diver the first step to becoming a Divemaster is learning techniques in the specialty areas of diving. Your advanced course includes training in 5 different areas including deep diving and underwater navigation. There is an extensive list of adventure dives available, for more information please have a look at our PADI advanced courses page.

PADI Open Water

no prerequisites

If you have never dove before this is your complete introductory certification. The course consists of a mixture of classroom/self study, confined water sessions in Half Moon Bay and 4 Open Water Dives on a variety of the sites in West End. The open water course leads directly into the advanced open water course.

There are additional opportunities for individuals interested in Marine Conservation and Education. The Roatan Marine Park office is located here in West End and as a Divemaster trainee you have the opportunity to volunteer with many Marine Park initiatives. This can include; mooring instillation, teaching/leading excursions for local school children, beach cleanups and many other opportunities for getting involved.