Why is our DMT program so popular? Well, it’s because we don’t just assign you a teacher, we assign you a divemaster mentor. We staff a team of exceptionally experienced, fun, knowledgable, and supportive divemaster mentors to guide our students through the training program. One of the most successful sections of Big Blue Diving is Big Blue Pro, the section that handles training all of our professional candidates. Led by SSI legend, Simon Garrity, Big Blue Pro has almost become the engine room behind our success. And the fuel in that engine is our divemaster training program.
Our divemaster mentors are a hand-picked group of our most experienced instructors. They are the absolute best that the island has to offer. These are the instructors that will run the academic sessions that form the two-week academic portion of the DMT course. They teach our DMT’s about how to be excellent dive guides to future customers, how to work in a dive centre as a divemaster, the science behind diving and how diving affects the human body, how to perform water-based rescues – everything a diver needs to know to move from a recreational scuba diver to a professional scuba diver.
But we do call them Mentors for a reason. They are dedicated to teaching you everything they know about scuba diving so that you can be the best you can be. Are you having trouble mastering your buoyancy? No problem, one of our mentors will go out diving with you to fine-tune your buoyancy skills. Lacking the confidence you need to lead a group underwater? Our mentors will band together to pretend to be customers and will run through as many scenarios as you need to prove to yourself that you can be a dive leader. Our mentor team is what separates our DMT program from regular DMT programs.
Last month we welcomed a new member to our outstanding divemaster mentor team – Graeme Scott. Graeme has been with us at Big Blue Diving for years and knows the ropes in both recreational diving and technical diving. Loved by all his students and his colleagues, when a spot came up on our mentor team, he was the only choice! We already know Graeme pretty well, but you may not. So we asked him a bunch of questions to help introduce him to the world.
Welcome to the Mentor Team, Graeme!
How did your diving life begin?
I did my open water course 12 years ago in January in a quarry in England…the water was 4 degrees Celcius! I did 4 dives and saw a total of 4 fish. As cold as it was, I actually loved every minute of it. About two weeks later I flew to Thailand and did my next dive. That was it – I was hooked!
Why did you decide to do your Divemaster training?
After diving regularly in the UK in inland dive sites and UK coastal dive sites, I found that as well as enjoying the dives I also enjoyed helping the newer members of our dive club so it was just a natural progression to go and do my Dive Master training.
When you started diving, did you ever think you would one day be a divemaster mentor?
Not at all, when I first started diving I had no idea that I would become a dive professional but here I am – Mentor for the Big Blue Dive Master program – probably the best dive program in the world!!!
What part of the DMT program are you most excited to teach?
That’s hard to say since every part of the program is interesting, important and fun. But if I had to choose, I’d say that I’m looking forward to developing the individual’s skills and also teaching them to guide and look after customers.
In your opinion, what is the hardest part of learning to become a divemaster?
I’d say developing the skills and confidence to guide customers, navigating the dive sites and ensuring the customers have a fun and interesting time. And learning to keep everyone safe at all times. Being a divemaster isn’t as easy as you may think!
How do you think your experience with tech diving help you to be a better divemaster mentor?
Technical diving is as much about planning and preparation as it is dealing with the extra equipment and maintaining control in the water. Tech diving is a more military-like mindset. Me passing that mindset onto the divemasters in training will make them better prepared to plan and execute any dives they’re called to do as professionals.
Tell us about a diving mentor you’ve had in your life. How did they inspire you?
That will have to be Vinnie Howlett (Owner of Aquasport International in Birmingham). He was both my divemaster instructor and my course director for all of my instructor training. He gave me valuable advice on customer service and how to ensure it’s always the highest standard. He also instilled in me the safety aspects that go with being responsible for other people underwater. He also has years of technical diving experience that he passed onto me.
What’s next for you in the world of diving?
I’m really just looking forward to being part of the divemaster mentor team at Big Blue Diving for the time being and also getting involved more with the Instructor Trainer program with the legend, Simon Garrity. So probably my next step will be to become an instructor trainer.
What would you say to people who are thinking about doing their DMT but haven’t quite decided yet?
Just do it! It’s one course you will definitely not regret doing. No matter where your diving takes you in the future, the course will give you the foundations to build upon. As well as being a lot of fun it’s really interesting and makes you a much better diver.
Get to know Graeme by signing up to do a dive course with him. He teaches loads of courses – like Open Water, Nitrox Specialty, Technical Sidemount, Advanced Wreck, and Divemaster training, of course! Get in touch with us today to reserve your place on Graeme’s next course.
Not sure how to get to the island right now, or what restrictions you may face? Check out the Lomprayah website for their most up to date ferry schedules and information on rules when travelling.
