Below is a recap of Days 16-18 of my PADI Divemaster Course at Deep Sea Divers Den in Cairns, Australia and the Great Barrier Reef.
To read about Days 1-6, see Part 1 here.
To read about Days 7-15, see Part 2 here.
You can see all my favorite photos from the trip here and watch my favorite videos here.
Since I only had a few days of the course left, I actually only had a few requirements left to complete. These included leading a Discover Local Diving dive, guiding certified divers, and giving a dive briefing. In addition to fulfilling these requirements, I was able to get some extra practice guiding certified divers on days 17 and 18.
Day 16: Back on the boat!
After a couple days off, I was glad to get back out to the reef. I spent the first half of the day on a smaller boat, Sea Quest, before transferring to the liveaboard, Ocean Quest, in the afternoon.
For the first dive of the day, I assisted a group of certified divers who hadn’t been diving in over 10 years. They picked it up again quickly, and we caught sight of a couple unicornfish and a couple groups of anemonefish, including clownfish. The dive was at Turtle Bay in Norman Reef, and the dive site was stunning. The coral there was really healthy and colorful, and it was my favorite dive site yet. On top of that, the water was a balmy 30C (86F).
The second (and last) dive from Sea Quest was a buddy dive with a newly-certified Open Water Diver. We saw a pretty flatworm and another unicornfish, but not much else. We had moved to another side of Norman Reef for mooring-related reasons, and the visibility wasn’t nearly as good at this site.
A stunning flatworm.
Unicornfish.
After transferring over to Ocean Quest, I guided a group of certified divers on a Discover Local Diving dive. This is basically just a guided dive for certified divers new to the area. On this dive, we saw a couple nudibranchs and a few anemonefish, but I was focused on navigating the whole time because visibility was not very good. I did manage to keep myself oriented and find my way back to the boat though so it was a success!
The last dive of the day was a night dive. This time, I brought up the rear of a group of divers led by one of Divers Den’s instructors. Again, the visibility was pretty poor, but I did see a TON of tiny crabs and shrimp in the corals. We also saw a couple baby white-tip sharks.
Tiny crab (less than 1 inch) on coral at night.
Shrimp.
Day 17: Guiding certified divers and giving a dive briefing
All done! Today I finished the last couple remaining PADI Divemaster Course requirements. This included giving a dive briefing for the entire boat (about 40 divers) and guiding several groups of certified divers. Visibility wasn’t amazing, so navigation was a bit tricky, but I found the boat every time 🙂
Here’s what the day looked like:
5:20: wake up
5:30: help crew set up dive deck
6:00: dive. Guide certified divers.
7:30: breakfast
9:00: dive. Follow instructor guiding certified divers.
10:30 give dive briefing for next dive
11:00: dive. Guide certified divers.
12:30: lunch
13:30: break (look at photos, rest, fill out logbook)
15:30: dive. Guide certified divers.
16:30: help crew with night dive prep.
17:00: break
17:30: dinner
18:30: night dive with buddy
19:30: dessert
20:00: break
21:30: bed
Highlights:
- Fishished all divemaster requirements!
- Saw a couple sea turtles
- Had an absolute blast finding tiny crabs and shrimp in the coral on the night dive
- Saw several flatworms and nudibranchs
- Saw a bunch of anemonefish
Pink anemonefish.
Headshield slug.
Jellyfish.
Sea turtle.
Reef shark silhouette.
Day 18, part 1: Guiding certified divers
Even though I had finished all the PADI Divemaster Course requirements the day before, I was still technically in training for the first half of Day 18. This training included getting in more practice guiding certified divers. I guided groups of 3 to 4 divers for 3 dives this morning.
Schedule:
5:20: wake up
5:30: help crew set up dive deck
6:00: dive. Guide certified divers.
7:30: breakfast
9:00: dive. Guide certified divers.
10:30 give dive briefing for next dive
11:00: dive. Guide certified divers who had just finished their certification. One was just 12 years old!
12:30: lunch
13:30: break (look at photos, nap, fill out logbook)
14:30: move belongings to crew cabin and start work as a hostie (more on that in a future post)
Highlights:
- Sleeping turtle
- A couple large cuttlefish
- Lots of anemonefish/clownfish
- White-tip shark
Striped sweetlips.
Pipefish.
Porcelain crab taking cover in coral.
Blue-spotted stingray.
PADI Divemaster Course summary
And that’s it! In total, I finished the divemaster course in 18 days, including days off (plus the time I spent doing the e-learning beforehand).
Some divers insist that the divemaster course should be completed over the course of 2-3 months, not 2-3 weeks. However, I didn’t have the luxury of 2-3 months during this break and I’m glad Divers Den was able to help me complete the certification in the time I had available.
I don’t feel like I missed out, either. Sure, doing the training over a longer period of time will give you more experience, but I understood that when I signed up. And, between the divemaster training and the extra days I spent on board volunteering as a hostie (I’ll write more on this later), I got 44 dives in during this trip. Prior to the trip, I’d done 48 dives total, so I nearly doubled my dive count. I’m definitely satisfied with the experience I’ve gained in that span!
Dives so far this trip: 28
Total dives: 76
To read PADI Divemaster Course in Cairns, Australia (Part 1), click here!
To read PADI Divemaster Course in Cairns, Australia (Part 2), click here!
To see all my favorite photos from the trip, click here!
To watch my favorite videos from the trip, click here!
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