Become a Divemaster in Byron Bay! Living the life as a Divemaster in Australia in one of the coolest towns in Australia, Byron Bay! Diving every day at Julian rocks, one of the best dive sites in Australia. You will be living in the thick of the action as you discover why Byron Bay is one of the most fun towns in Australia.
Australia Divemaster
Book NowYou know the best thing about training to be a Divemaster? You are training to “work” in one of the most enjoyable jobs in the world. That ´s not the best part either, the “training” is great fun! You will complete a minimum of 60 dives at Byron Bays Julian Rocks dive site – one of the most bio diverse sites in Australia, attracting lots of large marine life. Dolphins and Whales often shadow the dive boat out to the site!
When the Xtreme Gap team paid a visit, we were in the water for 2 minutes and we had a leather-back turtle swim right up to us (Check out the video!) and saw plenty of huge Bull rays!
Australia Divemaster Highlights Include:
- Gaining your PADI open water, Advanced, Rescue and Divemaster Qualifications
- Seeing just how good looking you are in a wetsuit
- Diving one of the most interesting dive sites in Australia (Julian Rocks)
- Rental dive equipment included
- Gain the ultimate qualification allowing you to work anywhere in the world!
Photos
Full Details
The 10-week schedule is as follows (as a student you have your weekends off). This is for the Open Water (OW) to Divemaster programme.
Week 1 Open Water Course. Duration: 5 days
Course Content: Your diving experience starts with basics in the comfort of the swimming pool then you move on to the excitement of the ocean with six exciting dives, refining your skills to become a competent diver.
Week 2 Advanced Open Water Course. Duration: 5 days
Course Content: Experience the different elements of diving in the second part of your diving adventure. Deep diving, underwater navigation, drift diving and marine identification are just a few of the specialties to choose from. Your instructor will help choose the dives that best suit your needs.
Week 3 1st Aid. Duration: 2 days
Course Content: An internationally recognized CPR and 1st aid course that covers a wide range of scenarios including bleeding, spinal injuries, victim assessment and life support. This course is not only applicable to the dive industry but any work place. A prerequisite for the rescue diver course.
Week 3 O2 Provider. Duration: 1/2 day
Course Content: The effective use of oxygen is one of the most important skills in diving, cardiac and respiratory emergency. The course outlines various aspects of providing oxygen including, respiration, delivery systems, oxygen resuscitation and advanced life support techniques.
Week 4 Rescue course. Duration: 5 days
Course Content: Develop new skills in self-aid and buddy assist as well as search and recovery techniques. Understand how to recognize and deal with fellow divers suffering from stress. During the theory, pool and open water sessions you will cover areas such as accident prevention, under and above water rescues and full rescue scenarios.
Week 5 Vessel Handling and Nautical Knowledge
Get to know how to handle the ribs and get them in and out of the water, as well as learning boat setup and maintenance.
Week 6 Divemaster Study Week
In the week before your Divemaster Course starts you will have time to do pre-study and prepare yourself for your upcoming course. During this week you will be given all your Divemaster manuals.
Week 7 and 8 Divemaster Course. Duration: 10 days
Course Content: Knowledge – Communication, presentation and effective teaching techniques are some of the important skills you learn in this professional qualification. Knowledge of physics, physiology, and decompression theory along with a host of other dive related components will be covered, to enable you to become the best Divemaster possible.
Practical – In water training is conducted in confined water (swimming pool) and open water (Julian Rocks, Cape Byron Marine Park), with skill demonstration and assessment, leading dives and specialized assist techniques being taught. Your skill level will become second to none
Week 9 and 10 Divemaster Internship. Duration: 10 days
Internship – The real thing, under the guidance of a highly qualified instructor put your new but refined skill’s into action. Assist complete beginners in their open water course, teach specialty diver course’s and conduct scuba review sessions.
If you are already an Open Water diver you can start with the Advanced Open Water Course (AOW).
Your Qualification allows you to:
- Work on dive boats, at resorts and retail stores, take people diving
- Lead dive trips and tours
- Conduct discover Scuba programmes
- Teach and certify Skin diver programmes
- Teach selected specialty diver programmes
- Assist instructors in the pool and open water
- Teach skills in the pool under instructor supervision
- Enjoy a lifestyle like no other
So why do your Divemaster course here?
Are you kidding? If you decide to do your Divemaster course in Australia, Byron Bay is the pace to do it. Next to excellent diving with a big chance to see and dive with whales and dolphins, you live in the coolest town in Australia. Byron Bay is a really trendy and young coastal town with beautiful beaches, great surfing and people watching. There is always a buzz about the place. Also Byron Bay has it all.
Nice clubs, bars, cool little restaurants, friendly people and a great coastline!
Getting Qualified in Byron Bay
Your Australia Divemaster programme gives you the ability to work in any tropical dive location worldwide and it is designed to train you from beginner too professional Divemaster. The perfect gap year qualification for earning money after your course. With the Australian Divemaster programme you will have the time of your life, gain professional diving qualifications and with that in your back pocket you will be able to hang out in tropical locations, swim in the largest marine park on the planet or live on luxurious yachts in the Caribbean; these are just some of the possibilities that await you as a qualified Divemaster.
Accommodation
One of the things that sets this course apart is the location. You will be living in the heart of Byron Bay – near the beach in a self-contained Divemaster’s accommodation. The lodge houses up to 10 Divemaster’s – in single sex dorms, and has everything you could need to make your stay comfortable. Even a pool! ?
- Kitchen
- Pool
- Single Sex Dorms
- Living room and big veranda overlooking the centre of town
Trip Frequently Asked Questions
If you already have scuba diving qualifications, then we will tailor the training (and costs) to suit.
If you arrive a few days early, that is no problem. Cost of about 25 AUD a night may apply with early arrivals.
You can start the training and we include the use of all equipment but if you would like to buy (some) of your own, we would recommend purchasing the equipment here and then we can work out the best gear to suit you. Let us know if you want to know the prices for this.
You will be training 5 days a week and will be off on weekends, this gives you a great opportunity to explore the area. Nimbin is a popular location nearby and the surf in the area is first class.
If you want to learn to surf (Byron Bay is a great Surfing location and we will give you a free lesson to get you started!), hang out with the other Divemaster interns on the beautiful beach’s and meet lots of backpackers!
- Manta Rays
- Leopard Sharks
- Turtles
- Humpack whales
- Dolphins
- Grey Nurse sharks
- Wobbegong Sharks
- Eastern Blue Gropers
- And a wide array of schools of pelagic fish, including snapper, trevally, sweetlips, batfish and more!
No, there is no form of dive certification required to start the course. However, if you are joining the programme already holding an Open Water, Advanced Open Water or Rescue ticket, the relevant paperwork, card and log book will be needed. It is also necessary for you to be able to swim
at least 400m in under 20 mins.
A dive medical is required to participate in this program. To ensure there is no medical conditions preventing you from diving, it is advised to complete this before your arrival onto the program. The dive medical must be completed under the Australian SPUMS Standards. Please visit the SPUMS website to download a copy of the full medical.
THE FACILITIES…
Your campus throughout the programme is a purpose-built facility on 1000m2 of land right in the heart of Byron Bay! The Centre is one of the largest and best-equipped dive centres in all of Australia and includes:
- A large in-ground pool
- Multiple lecture rooms and briefing areas
- A wet gear storage area
- Equipment service workshop
- Full retail facility with a wide range of stock
- and an ENTIRELY self-contained diver´s lodge!
This means that you will improve your diving skills from a spacious, comfortable base with well-maintained equipment.
Further, the Dive Centre regularly invests in the quality of the diving facility, the safety of the equipment, and finding the best diving instructors available.
You will graduate the Academy as a fully certified Divemaster, ready to unleash your potential as a dive leader on live-aboard boats, tropical dive centres & resorts, or in dive retail outlets! Further, the skills that you will learn in this program will serve you well in careers out of the water as well! The Australian Divemaster programme will give you an advantage over your peers in an increasingly competitive business world. In the dive industry, you will be able to:
- Work on dive boats, at resorts & retail stores, take people diving
- Lead dive trips & tours
- Assist instructors in the pool & open water
- Teach skills in the pool under instructor supervision
- Teach the SCUBA Skills refresher courses
- Teach selected specialty courses
- Teach selected First Aid and CPR programs
- Teach and certify PADI skindivers
- Conduct Discover Local Diving orientations
- BCD
- Regulators
- Mask
- Snorkel
- Fins
- Wetsuit
- Safety sausage
- Dive knife
- Whistle
- Dive slate
- Occy holder
You do need to buy your own dive computer.
The Australian Working Holiday Visa subclass 417 costs around £180, which is the equivalent of AUD$320. Rates change constantly so use this only as an indication. Furthermore, you need to have around £2,000 in your bank account when you enter Australia with a Working Holiday Visa. You will apply for a visa before you go and will do this online at the website of the Department of Immigration and Citizenship of the Australian Government.
There are no extra costs in regards to the course during the time you are with us. The only other costs would be money for personal spending money, breakfast and lunch and any other personal trips they may choose to take. If you go and work as a Divemaster somewhere else in Australia, then you will be required to purchase dive insurance from PADI.
Included
- Airport transfers to/from Brisbane and Coolangatta international airports and Ballina domestic airport
- PADI-accredited dive courses from Open Water to Divemaster, including instruction & all classroom materials
- All dives
- Divemaster manual & registration
- First Aid & O2 administration course
- Equipment service technician course
- Marine vessel care & maintenance certificate
- Compressed air cylinder filling qualification
- Accommodation in a spacious self-contained diver´s lodge
- Evening meals
- The PADI registration fee
- All dive equipment for rent
- Weekly BBQ every Sunday night
- And most importantly, the CONFIDENCE & LEADERSHIP skills to excel both in and out of the water!
Excluded
- Flights
- Meals
- Visas
- Travel insurance
- Medical costs (about $88 AUD)
- Dive computer
Dates
06 February 2017 – 14 April 2017
03 April 2017 – 09 June 2017
05 June 2017 – 11 August 2017
02 October 2017 – 04 December 2017
05 February 2018 – 13 April 2018
02 April 2018 – 08 June 2018
04 June 2018 – 10 August 2018
06 August 2018 – 12 October 2018
01 October 2018 – 07 December 2018
