DIVEMASTER

The SSI Divemaster programme at Arrecifal runs 20 days — the longest and most demanding offering on their course calendar. The qualification recognises candidates with the knowledge and training to work as a certified dive professional: assisting SSI instructors with beginner and continuing education programmes, planning and guiding dives, and taking on the responsibilities that come with being the most experienced person in the water for a group of recreational divers.

Prerequisites are specific and non-negotiable at this level. Candidates must hold both SSI Diver Stress and Rescue and SSI Science of Diving, and must have SSI Professional Dive Guide in active status — non-SSI equivalents are not accepted for these prerequisites, unlike at recreational course levels. The 60-dive minimum with at least 40 hours of bottom time ensures candidates have real experience before the training begins. At Arrecifal, the guided dive programme and specialty courses provide a natural path toward building that log.

Twenty days at Arrecifal means twenty days diving El Hierro as a student diver turning professional. The variety of sites in the Mar de Las Calmas — volcanic walls, pinnacles, sandy channels, caves, the post-eruption structure of El Bajón — provides a range of environments and conditions to train across. Guiding in a marine reserve with permanent moorings and site-specific protocols is a more demanding context than guiding on open, unregulated sites, which benefits the quality of the training.

For candidates considering a Divemaster at El Hierro, the practical aspect of working in a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve with active conservation protocols and a marine biologist on the Arrecifal team is a meaningful professional context. Minimum age is 18 years.