Two young divers helping each other with their BCDs at the pool

Junior Divemaster

Name: Junior Divemaster
Brand: PADI
SKU: JDM001
Price: 9500.00 ZAR
Availability: InStock

SKU JDM001

R 9,500.00 ZAR

Product variants

Fifteen, serious about diving, and three years short of Divemaster. This is for them.

Every dive centre knows the type. A teenager who finished Rescue Diver and immediately asked what's next, who's at the pool whether or not there's a reason to be, and who is quietly better in the water than most of the adults. The honest answer used to be wait until you're eighteen. It isn't any more.

The PADI Junior Divemaster course is a subset of the full Divemaster programme, designed for divers aged 15 to 17. They work through the Divemaster eLearning, sit a Junior Divemaster exam, build an Emergency Assistance Plan for a real dive site, complete the waterskills development exercises, and work through practical application skills including a mapping project and a search and recovery scenario.

It's a genuinely demanding course, and it's meant to be. What it gives a young diver is three years of real responsibility and purpose instead of three years of waiting. Equipment isn't included in the course fee; scuba gear can be hired separately if you don't have your own.

What A Junior Divemaster Can And Cannot Do

Junior Divemasters are qualified to help and shadow a PADI Professional with dive site set-up and management, beach master duties, dive class organisation, skills demonstrations where the skill requires a buddy, and dive site briefings under direct supervision. They can also give presentations on the benefits of diving and on the environment to schools, clubs and dive centres.

Being equally clear about the limits: Junior Divemasters are not PADI Members, may not act as certified assistants, and may never be placed in a supervisory situation. This is a recognition of achievement and a way to give a capable young diver real involvement, not a working qualification.

At 18, they enrol in the full Divemaster course, carrying credit for the Emergency Assistance Plan, the Mapping Project and the Search and Recovery Scenario if the training was within the previous 36 months. Ready to give them somewhere to put it? Book below, or get in touch with our team to talk it through.

What This Course Entails

The course opens with PADI Divemaster eLearning, including every knowledge development segment and knowledge review, followed by the Junior Divemaster exam, which requires at least 75 percent with remediation to full mastery. They'll also create an Emergency Assistance Plan for a designated dive site, which is a genuinely useful piece of work rather than an exercise.

Waterskills development exercises follow, covering the swimming and stamina assessments that underpin the Divemaster rating, along with the rescue assessment and dive skills evaluation.

Practical application then puts them alongside a PADI Professional: helping set up and manage a dive site including all predive preparation, completing a mapping project under indirect supervision, and running a search and recovery scenario. Equipment isn't included in the course fee; scuba gear can be hired separately if you don't have your own.

Prerequisites

Certified PADI Advanced Open Water Diver and PADI Rescue Diver.
Minimum age is 15. The Junior Divemaster rating is designed for divers aged 15 to 17.
20 logged scuba dives, with experience in night diving, deep diving and underwater navigation.
Emergency First Response Primary and Secondary Care training, or qualifying training, within the last 24 months. This can be completed during the Junior Divemaster course if needed.
The PADI Emergency Oxygen Provider specialty is recommended.
Medical clearance. Complete the Diver Medical form, signed by a parent or guardian as appropriate.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are the prerequisites?

PADI Advanced Open Water Diver and PADI Rescue Diver, a minimum age of 15, and 20 logged scuba dives, with experience in night diving, deep diving and underwater navigation. Emergency First Response Primary and Secondary Care training is required within the last 24 months, and can be completed during the course itself.

What does the course actually involve?

PADI Divemaster eLearning including every knowledge review, the Junior Divemaster exam at 75 percent or better, an Emergency Assistance Plan for a real dive site, the waterskills development exercises, and practical application work alongside a PADI Professional including a mapping project and a search and recovery scenario. It's the Divemaster course in substance, not a watered-down version.

What can a Junior Divemaster actually do?

Help and shadow a PADI Professional with dive site set-up and management, beach master duties, dive class organisation, skills demonstrations where the skill needs a buddy, and dive site briefings under direct supervision. They can also give presentations to schools, clubs and dive centres. What they cannot do is supervise divers or act as a certified assistant, and PADI is explicit that a Junior Divemaster must never be placed in a supervisory situation.

Is a Junior Divemaster a PADI Member?

No, and it's worth being clear about that. Junior Divemasters are not PADI Members, cannot act as certified assistants, and cannot supervise divers. The rating recognises genuine achievement and gives a young diver real responsibility alongside a professional, but it isn't a working qualification.

What happens when they turn 18?

They enrol in the full PADI Divemaster course, and a good deal of the work carries across. PADI credits Junior Divemasters for the Emergency Assistance Plan, the Mapping Project and the Search and Recovery Scenario, provided the training was within 36 months of enrolling. Everything else is completed as normal, but it goes considerably faster because they've already mastered much of it.