Divemaster
A yacht divemaster looks after every dive that leaves the swim platform. You plan the sites, fill the tanks, service the kit, brief the guests and lead them underwater. On most yachts you also work as a deckhand between dives. On explorer yachts heading for the Maldives, Raja Ampat or the Red Sea, diving can be the main reason the owner is aboard.
The jobWhat fills the day
The job is part guide, part technician. You choose dive sites with the captain using charts, tide tables and local knowledge. You run the compressor and the nitrox system, log every fill, and keep regulators, BCDs, computers and tanks serviced and within test dates. Before each dive you give a clear briefing on depth, time, currents and hand signals. Underwater you lead, watch air and depth, and bring everyone back to the tender in one group.
With guests aboard, the day is built around their plans. Experienced owners may want two or three dives a day plus a night dive. Families may want snorkelling and a gentle reef with children. Without guests, you are a deckhand: washdowns, tender work, varnish and watches, plus kit maintenance and an air quality test on the compressor every quarter. On yachts under 50m the role is nearly always advertised as a combined deckhand and divemaster job. On large explorer yachts it can be a full-time specialist post.
Captains hire people who are safe first and personable second. They want a PADI Divemaster or equivalent with a few hundred logged dives, a clean safety record, good compressor knowledge and the ability to drive a tender. Experience from a busy dive centre in Egypt, Thailand or the Caribbean counts for a lot. Remember that a divemaster cannot teach courses. Yachts with children aboard or owners who want to certify friends will often prefer, or pay more for, an instructor.
Most people move up one of two ways. Some go for the PADI Instructor Development Course and become a yacht dive instructor, which pays more and opens the large explorer yachts. Others use diving as a way onto the deck team, then take their Yachtmaster Offshore and OOW 3000gt and work through lead deckhand, bosun and officer. Either way, the dive skills stay useful. Bosuns and mates who can dive are always in demand for hull checks and anchor work.
Skills captains look for
- Dive planning and briefing
- Compressor and nitrox operation
- Dive equipment servicing
- Tender driving
- Rescue and emergency response
- Guest care underwater
- General deck maintenance
A day aboardCharter day, 65m explorer yacht, North Malé Atoll, Maldives
Check the compressor oil, run the fills and analyse every nitrox tank. Log the results and label the tanks for each guest.
Crew breakfast, then a quick talk with the captain about wind, current and which channel to dive first.
Load the dive tender with kit, oxygen, first aid and spare masks. Brief the four guests on the drift dive, the reef hook and the pickup plan.
Lead a 50-minute drift along the channel with mantas at the cleaning station. The tender driver follows your surface marker buoy.
Rinse kit, refill tanks and log the dive. Check one guest's regulator, which was free-flowing.
Lunch in the crew mess and an hour off.
Take the owner's children snorkelling on a shallow house reef while the deck team runs the water toys.
Brief and guide a night dive for two experienced guests. Torches, strobes and a strict turn time.
Wash down, hang the wetsuits and charge the torches. Crew dinner, then off watch.
Pay by yacht sizeMonthly, before tips. Estimates. Bars share one scale.
Charter tips can add a month's salary or more over a busy season, and guests who dive often tip the divemaster on top. Instructors usually earn 500 to 1,000 USD a month more than divemasters. See the Bosun & Deckhand salary guide for figures from live adverts.
Tickets and visas
Must have
- STCW Basic Safety Training
- ENG1 medical
- PADI Divemaster or equivalent
- Emergency First Response or Elementary First Aid
- Oxygen Provider
Gets you hired
- PADI Open Water Scuba Instructor
- Nitrox gas blender certificate
- RYA Powerboat Level 2
- PDSD
- Compressor operator course
Visas
- Schengen visa (non-EU crew)
- B1/B2 US visa
Where it leadsA typical career path
Divemaster jobsOpen now on SuperyachtRoles.com
Questions crew ask
How many logged dives do I need for a yacht divemaster job?
Most captains want at least 200 logged dives, and many ask for 300 or more. Dives guiding paying customers at a busy dive centre count far more than recreational dives.
Should I become an instructor instead?
If diving is your long-term plan, yes. Instructors can teach courses, Discover Scuba and children, which owners often want, so they get more offers and better pay on large yachts.
Will I only dive?
Rarely. Below about 70m you will be part of the deck team, washing down, driving tenders and keeping watches. Even on large explorer yachts you will help on deck when guests are not diving.
Where is the work?
The Mediterranean in summer has some diving, but the best demand is on yachts heading to the Caribbean, Maldives, Red Sea, Indonesia and the South Pacific. Explorer yachts on world cruises hire the most specialist dive crew.