SSI Divemaster course in Gozo, Malta
Your first professional rating.
The SSI Divemaster is where recreational diving ends and a career begins. Train as an intern inside Bubbles Dive Centre, a working dive centre, not a training bubble, led by Platinum Pro Instructor Trainer Lee Rigby on Gozo, one of the Mediterranean's finest year-round dive destinations.
Flexible start dates (Mar–Nov)
1-2 Months
at least 1 Fun Dive per day
All-inclusive pricing
The first professional rating in the SSI System
An SSI Divemaster is a certified dive professional. You can guide certified divers independently, assist instructors during training programmes, and teach SSI Ecology specialty programmes to certified divers. You're the person the group looks to underwater, and the training gets you genuinely ready for that.
It's also the entry point to everything above it, if you want it to be. Every SSI instructor was a Divemaster first, complete the Divemaster, decide you want to teach, and the route to the Instructor Training Course → is already open. Equally, plenty of people take their Divemaster and go no further, it's a serious qualification and a serious diving upgrade in its own right, whether or not you ever work a day of it.
Either way, it's a genuine professional-level rating, not a gap-year badge. You'll dive more, guide real students, and come out a noticeably better, more capable diver than when you started.
If you trained with PADI or another agency, your experience still counts. At Divemaster level, the agency on your card matters far less than your confidence, professionalism and ability in the water, Divemaster ratings are recognised across the major training agencies.
Agency choice becomes more important once you move into instructor training, because dive centres care which system you are qualified to teach. SSI is growing fast, and more dive centres worldwide are switching to SSI because of its modern digital system and dive-centre-focused approach.
Bubbles is an SSI Career Centre — the highest tier — and the only one in Malta.
Train as an intern inside one of the world's busiest SSI CAREER CENTERS
Every Divemaster candidate joins Bubbles as a trainee intern. Most Divemaster courses run candidates through a fixed sequence, tick the boxes and hand over a card. The Bubbles internship works differently: you'll be immersed in real courses, real students and real dive centre operations from day one. Your programme is tailored to your experience and progresses as your confidence grows. The programme advances as you do. One to two months is typical, we don't rush it to turn over the next intake. And you are more than welcome to stay longer if you want.
Deep Diving, Navigation and Night & Limited Visibility training, SSI Science of Diving, Stress & Rescue, demonstration-quality skill sessions, watermanship and fitness.
At least one fun dive a day on average while shadowing instructors, assisting on live courses and becoming part of the daily operation of the centre. There's always something happening, and another opportunity to learn.
Designed for learning, not free labour. As your skills develop, you take on more within the Divemaster team, supporting instructors, helping coordinate operations, building the confidence of a future professional.
One of the busiest SSI Career Centers in the world, on one of the Best islands to dive
Where you earn your Divemaster shapes the professional you become. Train somewhere quiet and you certify having done the minimum. Train at Bubbles and you certify having lived the job.
We do this constantly, and it shows: 30 Divemasters and 12 instructor courses a year. That volume means we know exactly what we're doing, and as an intern, you're never short of real courses to assist or real situations to learn from.
You learn from a deep, experienced team, not one person. The centre is led by Lee Rigby, an SSI Instructor Trainer who runs one of the most successful instructor-training operations in the world, backed by two Assistant Instructor Trainers and a full instructor team. That's a lot of experience in the building, and a lot of different people to learn from.
And it’s Gozo: one of Europe’s premier diving destinations, 30m visibility, wrecks, walls, caverns and deep sites all within minutes of the centre. The MV Karwela is legendary, the Blue Hole and Inland Sea are world-class, It is the kind of place where you can progress all the way to the pinnacle of diving.
You can join at any level, we'll get you everything you need
There's no minimum dive count to start your Divemaster internship with us. What matters is what you need to have in place by the time you certify and everything you're missing, we can deliver on Gozo as part of your programme.
To certify as an SSI Divemaster, you must have:
That's the normal starting point. Missing Stress & Rescue, specialties, or dive count, we fold everything into your programme so you're working toward the Divemaster from your first day in the water, not waiting to meet prerequisites before you can begin.
Come When you like, March to November
There's no rigid intake calendar to work around. We take Divemaster interns throughout the season, from March to November, you tell us roughly when you'd like to come, and we coordinate a start date that works for you and for the centre. We usually have our interns start around the start of a month. We don't run Divemaster programmes in December, January or February, as it's low season in the Mediterranean.
Nothing to pay SSI, ever, nothing extra to chase.
Price depends on your starting point, where you're at and what's left to complete.
One Price, everything in it
Tell us your current certification level and dive count and we'll send you a full programme scope and a proposed start date.
FAQ
How long does the SSI Divemaster course take?
Typically four to eight weeks, depending on your starting experience and how quickly you progress through the practical requirements. A lot of our interns also stay on longer after they met all the requirements to gain more experience.
Do I need to be an Advanced diver first?
No, you can get all the requirements done with us. Tell us what you hold and we’ll map out a plan.
Can I work as a Divemaster straight after qualifying?
Yes. The SSI Divemaster is a professional rating that allows you to work in dive centres worldwide, guide certified divers, assist courses and become part of a professional dive team.
At Bubbles, we like to hire the best candidates from our own training programme whenever possible.
Many Divemasters use the programme as their first serious step into the industry, while many others continue straight into Assistant Instructor or Open Water Instructor training to become more employable faster.
I trained with PADI (or another agency) , can I still join?
Yes. Certifications from PADI, NAUI, SDI, RAID, CMAS and other recognised agencies are accepted in place of their SSI equivalents. You don’t need to restart from scratch. Tell us what you hold and we’ll map what carries across before you commit.
What if I want to become an instructor after finishing the Divemaster?
The Divemaster is the entry qualification for the SSI Instructor Training Course. Complete it with us and you can move straight into the ITC, you already know the team, the sites and the standard we train to. Since we run an ITC every month, you can combine both certifications faster than anywhere else.
Your Divemaster Journey starts here
Bubbles Dive Centre runs almost year-round intakes, tell us where you are now and we'll map the pathway, prerequisites and timing to your situation.