Today we've completed the Stamina and Watermanship and Equipment Exchange portion of the PADI Divemaster course.
The Watermanship and Stamina is just timed swimming: 800 meters with snorkel gear, 400 meters swimming, 15 minutes survival float (last two minutes with your hands above the water) and 100 meters diver tow. For each of them you get 1-5 points (depending on your time), you must have at least 12 to pass. It's easiest to score 5 points on the survival float, to get 5 point for your swimming you must be a fairly good swimmer ( 400m below 6 minutes 30 seconds).
Equipment Exchange, however, is something quite different than what you normally do on PADI courses. Your goal is to exchange all your gear - BC, weights, mask, fins - with your partner while buddy breathing. This task is supposed to be a test of your problem solving skills and ability to stay calm under stress which, in my opinion, it tests quite well.
My advice for Divemaster trainees: try to enter the water wearing each others gear (at least mask), and take as much lead as possible, distributed between your weight belt and BC's weight system (so your BC is easy to hold at the bottom), keep calm, exchange one item at a time and help your partner don the gear. At least that's what worked for us:)
You can also check out this post at ScubaBoard.com.
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