Things They Don’t Tell You in Divemaster Training
The Real DMT Experience (With Fewer Dolphins, More Lifting)
So, you’ve signed up for your PADI Divemaster course. You’re dreaming of coral reefs, marine life encounters, and gliding gracefully through the water while everyone applauds your perfect buoyancy. Spoiler alert: there’s a little more to it than that.
Let’s talk about the stuff no one tells you—until you’re already waist-deep in it.
1. You Will Become a Tank Sherpa
No, you’re not hallucinating. Yes, that is your sixth tank of the morning. Part of the DMT lifestyle is learning the fine art of tank lifting, stacking, and loading. If you’ve never had biceps, don’t worry—you’re about to.
Pro tip: Always lift with your legs, not your back. And if your instructor says “Can you just grab one more?” they mean three.
2. Gear Rinse Bins Will Become Your Natural Habitat
You’ll become intimately familiar with rinse tanks. So familiar, in fact, that you may begin to question if your dive gear is cleaner than you. The glamorous underwater life is balanced with the less glamorous reality of scrubbing booties, masks, and wetsuits that have seen… things.
3. You Will Give the Dive Briefing. Again. And Again.
At first, giving a dive briefing feels like public speaking in a spacesuit. By the 15th time, you’ll be able to recite “depth, direction, duration” in your sleep. You’ll also learn to improvise when your mind blanks and your instructor stares at you like a disappointed parent.
4. The Lost Fin Hunt is Real
One of the less talked-about DMT duties? Finding missing fins, weights, GoPros, and occasionally a mask that someone swears “was right here a second ago.” You’ll learn to channel your inner Sherlock Holmes—and be rewarded with weird sunburn patterns and grateful divers.
5. Your Free Time? That’s Cute.
Between early boat prep, late gear rinsing, theory reviews, and helping with courses, your “chill island lifestyle” might feel more like “dive intern bootcamp.” But hang in there—it’s worth it.
6. You’ll Laugh. A Lot.
The camaraderie is real. You’ll laugh over clumsy descents, bloopers with students, and awkward surface intervals. Being a DMT is hard work—but it’s also incredibly fun when shared with others on the same path.
Final Thoughts
The Divemaster course is intense, funny, tiring, and inspiring. It’s where you truly earn your stripes in the dive industry. It’s where your confidence builds, your skills sharpen, and your relationship with diving deepens—pun absolutely intended.
So yes, you’ll sweat. You’ll clean. You’ll brief, lift, and learn. But you’ll also gain a whole new perspective on what it means to be a dive professional. And by the end, you’ll realize: they didn’t tell you everything… because they couldn’t. You have to live it to understand it.
