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Your first professional step
PADI Divemaster is the first professional rating in diving. You learn to supervise dives, lead groups, assist instructors with real students and handle problems calmly, and you do a lot of diving along the way. At Bongo Bongo Divers in Dauin, 16 km south of Dumaguete, you train as part of a busy, friendly dive center, alongside the team that runs our PADI Instructor Development Courses.
What Divemaster training involves
Divemaster training mixes study, practical workshops and real work alongside our instructors. You will:
- Deepen your dive theory: physics, physiology, equipment and decompression
- Complete the PADI waterskills and stamina exercises
- Polish your skills to demonstration quality for the Divemaster skill circuit
- Plan and brief dives, and manage dive sites and groups
- Assist our instructors with real students in confined and open water
- Write an emergency assistance plan, including how to reach Dauin’s hyperbaric chamber, and practise rescue scenarios
- Map a dive site and get to know the local marine life
What it’s really like
Expect early mornings, heavy tanks, plenty of dive briefings and a lot of laughs. Our article Things they don’t tell you in Divemaster training gives you the honest version.
Thinking about a Divemaster internship instead? Read Divemaster internship or Divemaster course to see what that word usually means in the Philippines and why we run Divemaster training as a course.
Where you’ll dive
Dauin’s black-sand muck sites are right on our doorstep, full of frogfish, seahorses and octopus, and our Divemaster + IDC package includes a day trip to the protected coral reefs of Apo Island.
What’s included
Divemaster training (PHP 60,000)
- PADI Divemaster training and course materials
- As many dives as you like on our regular dive schedule (marine sanctuary fees are extra)
- Torches for night dives and a compass for your navigation skills
- Your snorkel test
- Food on day trips
- T-shirts, a mask strap and a logbook
- Discounts at the bar and on dive equipment
With the Divemaster + IDC package (PHP 160,000)
You also get free fun dives in Dauin, a day trip to Apo Island, your marine park fees, a staff discount in our dive shop, discounts on PADI specialty courses and a graduation party, plus everything in the IDC.
Not included: equipment rental (PHP 5,000 a month, without dive computer, wetsuit or booties), accommodation and meals. See your total in Build your IDC.
Before you start
- PADI Rescue Diver (or equivalent)
- Emergency First Response Primary and Secondary Care (or equivalent CPR and first aid) training within the past 24 months
- At least 40 logged dives to start, and 60 by the time you certify
- A medical statement signed by a doctor within the past 12 months
- At least 18 years old
Not a Rescue Diver yet?
We can help you get there first. Tell us your current certification and number of logged dives, and we will suggest the quickest route to starting your Divemaster training.
What it costs
Paid to Bongo Bongo Divers
| Divemaster training | PHP 60,000 |
|---|---|
| Extra weeks, if you need them | PHP 5,000 per week |
| Divemaster + IDC package (8 to 12 weeks) | PHP 160,000 |
| Trainee dorm bed (optional) | PHP 15,000 per month |
| Trainee single room (optional) | PHP 20,000 per month |
| Equipment rental (optional, without dive computer, wetsuit or booties) | PHP 5,000 per month |
Rooms are priced per month and billed by the week at a quarter of the monthly rate (PHP 3,750 a week for a dorm bed, PHP 5,000 for a single room), subject to availability. See our training facilities and accommodation.
Paid to PADI (2026 fee)
| PADI Divemaster application | AUD 286.00 |
|---|
PADI sets its fees and can change them. We confirm the fees that apply to you before you commit. If you continue to the IDC, PADI’s instructor fees are listed on our IDC page. AUD 286 is roughly PHP 12,500 at November 2026 exchange rates (approximate).
Prices checked November 2026.
Divemaster training on its own takes about 6 weeks. The Divemaster + IDC package takes 8 to 12 weeks because the IDC runs on fixed dates, so your Divemaster weeks are timed to finish shortly before the next IDC. Experienced divers can complete the package in as little as 6 weeks.
How payment works
A deposit of PHP 15,000 (about USD 240) secures your place and covers your PADI Divemaster materials, which we assign as eLearning before you arrive. Once the materials are issued, the deposit is non-refundable. The balance is settled before the end of your training. You can pay by PayPal (plus 4.7%), Wise (plus 1%), GCash, or bank transfer if you have a local bank account.
Why Dauin?
Dumaguete, just up the coast, has been a university town since Silliman University opened in 1901, and Silliman’s marine scientists helped local fishermen create the Apo Island marine reserve in 1982, a model for reef protection around the world. That mix of learning and care for the reef still shapes the area today.
It is also an easy place to live, with an airport, ferries, hospitals, good food and a friendly small-town feel all close by, and divers can now be treated at a hyperbaric chamber in Dauin itself. That is why so many dive professionals who start here stay for years, and why you will learn from people who know these reefs inside out.
After Divemaster: become an instructor
If teaching is your goal, you can go straight on to the Instructor Development Course. Book the Divemaster + IDC package for PHP 160,000, save PHP 10,000, and join one of our regular IDCs with PADI Course Director Anthony Cruz.
Your Course Director
If you continue to the IDC, your course is led by PADI Course Director Anthony Cruz, who also manages the dive centre. Since the first IDC here in 2016 the centre has certified more than 100 Open Water Scuba Instructors, with a 99% success rate. Anthony answers the WhatsApp line himself.
Ask about start dates
Tell us about your diving and when you would like to start. We check your certifications, suggest a start date and confirm the price with you. It is an enquiry, not a booking, and we reply the same day during our opening hours.
Prefer to chat? Message Anthony on WhatsApp. No reply within a day? Check your spam folder.
Ready to start your Divemaster training?
Tell us about your diving and when you would like to start. We will check your certifications, suggest a start date and confirm the price with you. It is an enquiry, not a booking.
Ask about start dates WhatsApp Anthony
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