I have clients who are going to be at VH in a few weeks who will be diving. Their "main requirement" (their words) are that the dive master stay with them. They are experienced divers but like to be accompanied by the dive master. I know there was a thread on this a while ago but I cannot find it. Can anyone recommend a dive company or dive master that will pay particular close attention to 2 divers if requested?

All dives are guided here, with a guide per eight people. In Europe/Egypt divers are often put in the water at the entry point and told the exit point and make their own way there without a guide. You may want to confirm they fully understand the difference, as a regular Dive here might suffice. If they mean they physically want a Dive Master as their buddy you can custom hire a guide for just them at a higher rate.

There are two divemasters at Island Divers who can be allocated to a group of divers, so the divers have the same divemaster throughout their stay. They've done just this in the past.

Thanks. I think they do want the dive master as their buddy. Is this a common practice that most dive shops would be able to accommodate?

I have not found it to be common in any of my travels, however, if wanted, a dedicated divemaster could generally be found for an extra price. The other thing that can happen, is with a smaller shop, there may be just the two divers signed up for any given dive . . or in any event, a smaller number of overall divers, than if they go with a larger shop.

Some divers just hang really close to the diver master, which often works out fine because other divers like myself, prefer to be way at the back of the pack (out of the crush, so to speak).

Barbara I have no expertize on this ...But you know like I know on this island FOR MONEY YOU CAN GET HONEY ..Now I guess It also depends on the time of year and how busy they are .But I would make a wager you will find some one at A fair price.After all this place is A divers dream .

Hey Barbara

In Many countries a Dive Master does not even get in the water with certified divers he is there to over see the boats diving activities and check divers into the water checking there air and loggin them into and out of the water.

Basically what happens in Belize the divemaster is used as a dive guide and is allocated 8 divers per 1 guide.

Recently I had a client that was horrified when I told him it was 8 divers per 1 guide, i had to explain to him that he was actually certified to dive without a DM or guide and he was licensed to go diving and all the guide was there for was to show him around and comply with the law, he did not realize that and thought he had to dive with a Dm for the rest of his diving days.

In reality certified divers could buddy up with a buddy and go off diving without a guide or DM and this is perfectly acceptable within the dive industry and is conducted every day in places such as Bonaire and any other place that offers shore diving.

When I do a personal dive trip which is usually a liveaboard and in an advanced area such as the Galapagos island we rarely dive with a Dm or guide they actually do what a DM is supposed to do which is give a detailed dive briefing with illustrations of the underwater topography and safety considerations and we are let loose to dive with our buddy.

Unfortunately in this day and age of super fast certifications divers (some cases 3 days) and while the diver passes the requirments usually they only dive on vacation and sometimes dont dive for years before heading on a dive holiday again. This means they dont have the experience and many divers like this believe that they are supposed to dive with a DM on every dive and dont understand they are actually certified as an Open Water Diver and allowed dive with a buddy certified to the same level or better to 60ft Alone. They can also increase that depth if they dive with a diver with experience beyond the 60ft down to a max of 130ft.

Of course I am not saying that we should let loose all the divers that visit AC and let them dive the reef alone with there buddy but many a time I had divers diving with me that were very experienced they did not understand why they had to be hand held when diving and why they could not go off on there own diving when they were certified to do so and dive in the cold water fo canada or the Uk or CA, the correct way I beleive is to determine a divers experience and make a decision based on that.

In your clients case you may wish to ask how long it is since there last dive and how many dives they have done. and then if as I suspect they have not dove in a while you may suggest a refresher course which will automatically be just them and an instructor and he will make them comfortable in the water and then after that if they still feel they want a dedicated dive guide at an extra cost they can then make that choice.

Just re read your post and saw they are experienced divers so My suggestion is they dont need a extra personal Dm all they need to do is stick close to the regular guide and let him know they want to remain close to him and he should ajust his dive accordingly. I see no reason to pay extra for an additional dm in this case and many a time we had this happen at my dive shop and our Dm as a service, just took extra care of divers such as this and they tipped him accordingly at the end of the trip.


Gaz Cooper

Nonetheless if that is what the divers want it can readily be provided for them. The extra cost, if any, is likely to be fairly minimal.

Not unusually I disagree with Peter. The cost isn't likely to be zero or minimal. If it's just two people Diving the operator is losing the profit on a potential two to six other Divers being in the group with the same costs. Many Operators will have minimum numbers before they will go out otherwise they're running at a loss.

Contact Victoria House and they'll set this up for you with no problem I'm sure. Expect to pay more though as they're asking for a Premium service - and if it's only a bit more it's a bonus

Thanks all. I will let the client know and he can decide how he wants to do it.
Hope this isn't opening a can of worms but....how is the FantaSea Dive operation at VH these days?