Master Scuba Diver

[Dirty-Dog]

PADI sent you a "bent" patch? Dude, that's some seriously bad mojo!

You better start rubbing a good luck token!

I've heard you can go blind from doing that...

 

[rhuntley]

Ello, Rene. Great to see another teen diver out there.

My MSD application was accepted last week, so I am yet to receive my card, but I have been told you get:

* Certification card
* Master Scuba Diver Patch
* A formal certificate

Example: http://www.padi.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/PADI-Master-Scuba-Diver-Certificate.jpg

Thats what you get standard, your LDS might give you something else if you have done all the training through them though (Mine gave $150 in-store credit and they covered the cost of the MSD application)

Application cost was something like $60.

Some say the MSD route isn't worth it, but personally, with or without the MSD rating I had an interest in taking more specialities and I believe those specialities made me a better diver to date because of the extra time with an instructor and practicing skills.

Good luck with the rest of your training.

Forgot to mention; you also get a MSD sticker!!

 

[TMHeimer]

Forgot to mention; you also get a MSD sticker!!

The MSD application is $60 now? But you got a STICKER??!! In '07 I got no STICKER! But I DID get the special offer MSD backpack, which I've used several times to collect beads & stuff thrown from Mardi Gras floats. We may hit Nola again in Feb., so the backpack must be packed.

 

[Crush]

Diving is a highly perishable skill with many facets. The more opportunities you have to practice correctly all the different skills you have, and the more you acquire new skills, the better a diver you will be. Keep diving and enjoy the card.

 

[Rayallyn]

I got mine this year and consider it not really special but nice to have. Though if you mess up on dive (nothing big but something like not trimming your weight right) you will feel even stupider with a higher rating. So, the rating does have the advantage of making you try harder to get everything right, not that you shouldn't in the first place.

 

[Dirty-Dog]

Diving is a highly perishable skill with many facets. The more opportunities you have to practice correctly all the different skills you have, and the more you acquire new skills, the better a diver you will be. Keep diving and enjoy the card.

You would be correct, if the PADI MSD card involved any diving. Or any skills development. But since it doesn't...

Spend the money they'd charge for the card on actual diving.
Or an actual class. With dives. And skills development.

 

[rhuntley]

I got mine this year and consider it not really special but nice to have. Though if you mess up on dive (nothing big but something like not trimming your weight right) you will feel even stupider with a higher rating. So, the rating does have the advantage of making you try harder to get everything right, not that you shouldn't in the first place.

Another option, is just to show the highest card needed for the dive, not your highest cert.

You would be correct, if the PADI MSD card involved any diving. Or any skills development. But since it doesn't...

Spend the money they'd charge for the card on actual diving.
Or an actual class. With dives. And skills development.

True, the card involves no diving. However, the prerequisites to get the card does, and because of that, there is skill developed along the journey. But really... The cert is $60, there are worse ways to waste money (I'm assuming that is what you think it is.) and again, perhaps it's doesn't in your mind, but as shown by the OP, it motivates divers to get out, dive and learn. (which is never a bad thing)

 

[Dirty-Dog]

I got mine this year and consider it not really special but nice to have. Though if you mess up on dive (nothing big but something like not trimming your weight right) you will feel even stupider with a higher rating. So, the rating does have the advantage of making you try harder to get everything right, not that you shouldn't in the first place.

The PADI MSD card is not a "higher" rating than anything. You cannot show it to get nitrox. You cannot show it to do a deep dive. It's not a certification of anything except the willingness to write a check.

---------- Post added September 18th, 2014 at 09:58 AM ----------

Another option, is just to show the highest card needed for the dive, not your highest cert.



True, the card involves no diving. However, the prerequisites to get the card does, and because of that, there is skill developed along the journey. But really... The cert is $60, there are worse ways to waste money (I'm assuming that is what you think it is.) and again, perhaps it's doesn't in your mind, but as shown by the OP, it motivates divers to get out, dive and learn. (which is never a bad thing)

The only thing the PADI MSD proves is that P.T. Barnum was correct...

 

[boulderjohn]

Another option, is just to show the highest card needed for the dive, not your highest cert.



True, the card involves no diving. However, the prerequisites to get the card does, and because of that, there is skill developed along the journey. But really... The cert is $60, there are worse ways to waste money (I'm assuming that is what you think it is.) and again, perhaps it's doesn't in your mind, but as shown by the OP, it motivates divers to get out, dive and learn. (which is never a bad thing)

That was always the purpose.

Since certification began, the first certification agencies (Los Angeles County and NAUI especially) noticed that divers were getting their OW certification and then quitting altogether after only a few dives. They tried to think of ways to motivate divers to stay with it. First came the AOW certification (created by those two agencies in that order), then specialties, then the master diver rating. The purpose always was to provide some sort of incentive to keep students interested and learning. For those who think that the motivation from those two agencies was to raise more income, forget it. Los Angeles County was supported by tax dollars, and NAUI was then a non-profit that relied heavily upon financial support from outside sources. Other agencies followed their lead in time.

The model for the master Scuba Diver rating was Boy Scouts. In Boy Scouts, once you were a first class scout, you advanced in rank by accumulating merit badges. When a first class scout got 5 merit badges, he became a star scout. When that model developed for the Master Scuba Diver rating, there weren't many more than 5 specialties a student could take, so someone who got that rating had pretty much exhausted the instructional possibilities of the time. (There was nothing in the realm of technical training then.)

 

[Mustard Dave]

True, the card involves no diving. However, the prerequisites to get the card does, and because of that, there is skill developed along the journey. But really... The cert is $60, there are worse ways to waste money (I'm assuming that is what you think it is.) and again, perhaps it's doesn't in your mind, but as shown by the OP, it motivates divers to get out, dive and learn. (which is never a bad thing)

You could put the money in the shredder, then you won't have the handy plastic card that can double as an ice scraper and you'll be down $60. You could not put the money in the shredder and also not bother spending it on a useless card. I cannot see how the MSD card would motivate you to dive - I just flew back from Malta yesterday, and I can assure you that by living there, the OP has plenty to motivate him.