PADI Master Scuba Diver - what does it give you?

[Griffo]

Around here the ops are anal about you having the relevant c-card. So the Master Diver card is useful as a single piece of plastic that has all the night/nitrox/deep/wreck/rescue/whatever certs all written in one place.

 

[Rogersea]

So you can teach scuba with only 50 dives and a card? That doesn't even seem right. I may do the nitrox thing because some folks actually want to see a card.

No, you can not teach SCUBA with 50 dives and a card. The discussion is about the PADI Master Diver Certification which recognizes the fact that you have the following:

PADI Open Water Cert or another agencies equivalent rating
PADI Advanced Open Water Cert or another agencies equivalent rating
PADI Rescue Diver Cert or another agencies equivalent rating

5 PADI Specialties
minimum of 50 logged dives.

here in the Asia Pacific Region, the processing fee has been waived for the last 2.5 years.

Cheers,
Roger

 

[OldNSalty]

I think you are confusing training (not education) with experience. Diver one hasn't done anything to prove his abilities to you other then demonstrate that he collects c-cards. Dive two is being dismissed summarily on the incorrect assumption that because he eschews the 'PADI way' that he hasn't bothered to master those skills in other ways.

You just painted me as diver two but that's ok. I rarely dive with a 'pro'. Master Sergeants don't need 2nd Lieutenants.

The same as "Master of Science", "Master of Engineering", and just about every other "Master" out there? Practically useless, in the sense that it is not required for any type of job I heard of and rarely is worth the time invested (in terms of financial gains), does not really prove anything, but it does motivate you to study in a focused manner for a period of time. I think it is good to have excuses to push oneself a bit harder, even if this means getting just a silly title...

No, you can not teach SCUBA with 50 dives and a card. The discussion is about the PADI Master Diver Certification which recognizes the fact that you have the following:

PADI Open Water Cert or another agencies equivalent rating
PADI Advanced Open Water Cert or another agencies equivalent rating
PADI Rescue Diver Cert or another agencies equivalent rating

5 PADI Specialties
minimum of 50 logged dives.

here in the Asia Pacific Region, the processing fee has been waived for the last 2.5 years.

Cheers,
Roger

So do the specialties have to be PADI or can someone just show up with all the requirements but from different agencies and pay the $50 to get the card? For the record-I am not planning on doing this-just asking.

 

[tursiops]

So you can teach scuba with only 50 dives and a card? .

No, you can't. Who said that?

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

 

[chrpai]

here in the Asia Pacific Region, the processing fee has been waived for the last 2.5 years.

Does that have anything to do with how easy I've read that it is to find counterfeit cards over there?

---------- Post Merged at 08:01 PM ---------- Previous Post was at 07:58 PM ----------

From reading this thread, it seems that PADI Instructors and Dive Masters will respect your perceived abilities if you are in possession of the Master Diver card.

I'll leave it to you to determine what that might be worth.

-Mitch

I think that pretty much sums it up. Those who are part of the "tribe" seem to be truly convinced that it means something. The customers that their industry serves on the other hand generally have a different opinion. But hey, what do we know?

 

[4dawgma]

Sorry, didn't mean to piss on anyone's pancakes.

 

[scubadiver888]

Not true at all. Diver one has proof that he has done 8 training courses including deep diving, navigation, rescue skills, and logged 50 dives. He has proven his abilities to an instructor.

Its actually a lot beyond AOW. 5 specialty courses, Rescue Diver, and 50 total logged dives. This is more training and experience than 99% of all divers.

The training can be valuable but the card is not. If I get my OW, I get a card. If I get my AOW, I get a card. If I get my Rescue Diver, I get a card. When I meet all the requirements for Master Scuba Diver I'll have 8 cards (possibly more) and at least 50 logged dives. If you aren't just collecting cards and doing nothing but training, you'll have more than 50 logged dives. So why do you need a Master Scuba Diver card? If you get the Master Scuba Diver card you still need to carry some of the other cards. For example, you need to carry your Enriched Air Nitrox (EAN) card to get nitrox fills. Some boats require you to have your AOW card to go on deep dives. Showing them a Master Scuba Diver card might not work for some boats because not everyone knows it implies AOW. You can get a Master Scuba Diver card without getting the EAN card. So you still need to carry your EAN card.

Get the training, YES. Get the card, NO.

Also, there are people who will get the required training but not be good divers. I remember someone showing me there are enough PADI specialty cards that you can get OW, AOW, Rescue, do 50 dives then never go in the water again but get your Master Scuba Diver card.

The PADI Master Diver cert. provides:

It isn't a certification. It is a rating.

1.) Encouragement (via a goal) to some (not all) to seek more formal training than they might otherwise (e.g.: perhaps Rescue Diver, or a couple of extra specialties.

I would hope the specialty is more important than a Master Scuba Diver card. Getting my Rescue Diver was something I was proud of. Getting a card that signifies I have a bunch of other cards doesn't mean anything to me. Getting the bunch of other cards means something. For $50 you can get 5 to 8 tank fills. Forget the card and go diving!!!

2.) A single card summarizing a fairly substantial listing of formal training.

Actually, it doesn't. It says you have 8 specialties. It doesn't say which ones. I would be far more impressed with someone whipping out 11 cards that actually show me what they learned than 1 card which is a little vague.

3.) A sense of accomplishment and pride for those who value it so.

Again, the cards you earned to become a Master Scuba Diver should give you a sense of accomplishment and pride. A twelfth card that says you have 11 other cards isn't really adding much to the 11 cards you already have.

 

[agilis]

Pathetic gullible fools, seduced by the illusion that a piece of plastic really means something.

I have a few cards, but only carry and show one, a basic scuba diver card from 40 years ago. On that card, my hair is long, dark and curly. In general I like the way I looked in 1972, all things considered. I also am willing to show my nitrox card when I want to.

Some of the dive operators I've known in the Caribbean and Mexico have died or retired, but a few still remember that it was me who taught them a few basics long ago. I didn't give them a card and they don't ask me for one.

People who ask for my certification card are either satisfied with what I show them (it's pretty funny) or I go snorkeling, exploring the forests and fields, looking for artifacts, old foundations, buried or hidden history, maybe learning some local lore, language.

Somehow the agencies never got aroung to issuing cards certifying knowledge of the fascinating places we sometimes visit and not infrequently trash. Maybe because they are collectively as ignorant as Congress.

 

[-hh]

...I have a dive buddy with 30+ years diving with over 3000 dives and just have a open water card. Cause all he want to do is dive.

And he's probably quite an accomplished gentleman within the borders of whatever dive profiles he's willing to do. What this illustrates is that regardless of what the Agencies might try to suggest, a shiny Card is merely evidence of some formalized exposure - - there's still mentoring and other paths to skill mastery. Unfortunately, there are always the less enlightened individuals who one runs into who end up demanding nothing less than the "Right Card" for a particular dive boat, etc...yes, they would have turned away Jacques Cousteau.

...Its actually a lot beyond AOW. 5 specialty courses, Rescue Diver, and 50 total logged dives. This is more training and experience than 99% of all divers.

Sure, but so too is Rescue, so the pragmatic question is that from the perspective of a diver who's shown a Rescue card, just how much more 'proficiency' does a Master card really mean?

Since specializations can vary so widely, we can't be assured of their content, so the answer must be: "Not Much". That's IMO where the popular cynicism comes from where the poster is that the Master is merely a demonstration of a willingness to buy a 'useless' product.

Sorry, didn't mean to piss on anyone's pancakes.

No worries. I do have to say that my experience from meeting divers with Master cards is that they tend to be nice people. They're usually pretty well-travelled (although typically just in warm water), have ~100 dives and that conversations will reveal that they've been diving around five years and had been picking up a certification or two on each vacation. Pretty much the only thing that differentiates them from most of the other holiday divers on the boat is that they have been picking up cards along the way (and hopefully learning a bit of stuff)...

...but even so, Master doesn't require Nitrox to be one of the specialities, so it isn't like it really is able to replace all of your other cards when checking into a dive shop. Besides, I still have more fun with laying down a card that was issued before the paperwork DM was born


-hh

 

[jviehe]

Sure, but so too is Rescue, so the pragmatic question is that from the perspective of a diver who's shown a Rescue card, just how much more 'proficiency' does a Master card really mean?

Since specializations can vary so widely, we can't be assured of their content, so the answer must be: "Not Much". That's IMO where the popular cynicism comes from where the poster is that the Master is merely a demonstration of a willingness to buy a 'useless' product.

No, the answer is 'it depends' which goes for any certification in anything. The idea that is nothing more than a willingness to buy a useless product is obviously false unless you are referring to only the award itself, and not the journey that led to the award. I highly doubt the op was asking whether he should pay for the card after completing the requirements. Rather, he was asking about whether he should pursue the training that leads to the certification.

---------- Post Merged at 09:57 PM ---------- Previous Post was at 09:56 PM ----------

Pathetic gullible fools, seduced by the illusion that a piece of plastic really means something.

I have a few cards, but only carry and show one, a basic scuba diver card from 40 years ago. On that card, my hair is long, dark and curly. In general I like the way I looked in 1972, all things considered. I also am willing to show my nitrox card when I want to.

Some of the dive operators I've known in the Caribbean and Mexico have died or retired, but a few still remember that it was me who taught them a few basics long ago. I didn't give them a card and they don't ask me for one.

People who ask for my certification card are either satisfied with what I show them (it's pretty funny) or I go snorkeling, exploring the forests and fields, looking for artifacts, old foundations, buried or hidden history, maybe learning some local lore, language.

Somehow the agencies never got aroung to issuing cards certifying knowledge of the fascinating places we sometimes visit and not infrequently trash. Maybe because they are collectively as ignorant as Congress.

A piece of plastic does mean something, in fact it appears to mean a lot to you.