Please note: Due to scheduled maintenance for OceanQuest, our Divemaster courses commencing January and February 2025 will not have a liveaboard component, and the Great Barrier Reef portion of the training will happen onboard day trips to the Outer Reef.
Want to become a divemaster with world class training? There’s no better place to do it than in Cairns, gateway to the Great Barrier Reef, and no one better to guide you than Divers Den!
The PADI Divemaster course is the first step in becoming a professional scuba diver, leading others as they experience their own underwater adventures. If you want to work at a dive company, this will give you the skills you need, like supervising diving activities, helping with diver training, giving safety briefings, mapping sites and polishing your rescue techniques.
Your course will begin with online theory learning at your own pace through PADI eLearning. The eLearning system includes interactive presentations, videos, audio, graphics and reading, with quizzes to help you review your progress.
Once you’ve completed the eLearning portion, we’ll be notified that you are ready for the practical phase (see schedule below). You’ll then complete practical tests, workshops and assignments with a PADI instructor at our Career Development Centre, and spend time in our heated dive pool refining your skills.
Your course will include a few days in the classroom and pool with our Master instructors and senior instructors, perfecting your skills and learning to run Divemaster-conducted PADI programs. You will then spend seven days at the Outer Great Barrier Reef, shadowing PADI courses and learning how to manage a dive environment.
During your training you’ll assist with Open Water and Advanced dive courses. You’ll supervise snorkellers, map a dive site, guide certified divers and take part in a Discover SCUBA workshop before taking your final exam.
During your liveaboard stay you’ll enjoy the comforts of our ‘floating hotel’ OceanQuest, staying in a twin share cabin with en suite bathroom and enjoying chef-prepared meals.
This course is an immersive experience in a fully operational dive company. You will learn from multiple dive professionals as you develop good judgement and your own sense of style as a PADI Divemaster.
Flexible starting dates are available upon request – please contact our career development staff directly before booking at gopro@diversden.com.au.
Includes all equipment and tuition. Prices valid to 31 March 2026. Price is per person and includes all applicable fees, taxes and levies.
The basic course schedule will follow a Wednesday to Sunday week with Monday and Tuesdays off. Flexible course schedules are available, but must coincide with our minimum course requirements – feel free to discuss this with your course directors when booking.
Pool training will include; a skills circuit and perfecting skills to a demonstration quality, water skills evaluation in the form of a 400m swim, 800m snorkel test, 15-minute treading water and tired diver tow, all for timed periods. You will also conduct all programs that you will be able to conduct as a PADI divemaster with real or simulated students.
We will also have some classroom based knowledge development sessions, including discussion of emergency plans, dive mapping and a final written exams.
During your time on the Great Barrier Reef you’ll assist with qualified PADI Instructors as they conduct Open Water courses, Snorkel guiding, Advanced Open Water course (or continuing education) on our Great Barrier Reef day trip and or liveaboard vessels.
At the reef you will also complete a dive mapping project and gain experience in search and recovery, night and deep diving. We’ll undertake various other practical assessments and workshops out at the Great Barrier Reef to help you perfect your technique and ability conducting dive briefings and being a dive leader!
You will also need to complete the Final Exam as well as meet the professionalism criteria.
All scuba participants must meet medical questionnaire requirements. Some conditions or medications may prevent you from diving.
It is required by Queensland law that you must wait at least 24 hours after diving before going to altitude or flying – there is no guarantee that this requirement will prevent decompression sickness. There are no current guidelines regarding diving after flying.
Altitude is defined as 300m/1000ft above sea level. Certain other tourist attractions around Cairns and Tropical North Queensland involve travelling to altitude. These include the Atherton Tablelands and the Skyrail Rainforest Cableway, so we recommend a gap between booking these experiences and any dive course or trip. Under normal circumstances, you should be out of the water on your last dive at 12pm (midday).
