Mix and match agencies/certs?
- Thread starter NCK
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Yes, the PADI MSD cert requires OW, AOW, and Rescue as prereqs, but any or all three of those (if equivalent) can be from other agencies.
Only the five full Specialty classes must be PADI.
Plus 50 logged dives.
I'm hesitant to sign MSD papers (Yes, an instructor must sign your application) if the five specialties are "weak" (IMHO) and the 50 dives do not show a "breadth" of experience and challenges.
By "weak" I would include specialties that do not challenge the student underwater (like Nitrox), and/or do not really improve the diving perhaps because they have no dives (like Equipment), and/or do not provide new and useful knowledge (possibly Boat), and/or are "corrective" specialties for things you perhaps should have already gotten (like PPB). Fish ID or Underwater Naturalist can be trivial classes. or a serious look at fish identification or u/w life, respectively; if the latter I'm OK with it. The "high-end" specialties (IMHO) are things like Deep, Navigation, Search and Recovery, NIght, Cavern, Ice, Self-Reliant, Wreck.
By "breadth" I mean not all in a quarry, but rather a mixture of shore and boat dives, deep and shallow, colder and warmer, no and moderate currents, good and crappy viz, day and night, drift and stationary, just as a buddy-pair or following a guide....a little bit of everything.
And, as many have said, the quality of the training depends on the instructor, not the agency.
For those who do not understand the history of all of this, many decades ago, there were two certifications--diver and instructor. AOW was added with the primary purpose of offering the diver an introduction to different aspects of diving. Eventually people started asking about other kinds of instruction, and specialties were created. When the Master Scuba Diver certification was created, there really weren't much more than 5 specialties in existence. You got the master scuba diver certification when you had essentially completed all the non-instructor instruction there was. There were then no technical diving courses; the term "technical diving" had not even been invented.
Things have changed since then, but the certification names remain.
Things have changed since then, but the certification names remain.
I am pretty sure SDI that you need to do the specialty certs (although TDI tech certs also apply) with them. But I'm not an instructor.
NAUI's Master Diver is a specific class, it is different than everyone else's.
And it sounds like you are confusing the AOW requirements with the master diver requirements. AOW is dive 1 from five different specialties, you can continue and finish the other dives completing those specialties for master diver. Or you can do any other five specialties.
Does the distinctive cave specialty count as high end?
I would hope it would. It would get me one specialty closer to MSD.Is the distinctive cave specialty count as high end?
My cave instructor said he was going to try to get qualified to teach that. I should ask him if he submitted it the next time I talk to him.
Although I kind of want IANTD's "Elite" scuba diver. Everyone knows elite is better than master.
Although if I ever get any of them, it will probably be through SDI, I already have three tech certs through TDI, I just need one more to qualify. The only problem is that most of my diving is in caves or caverns, I don't think I have the breath of diving experience to qualify under @tursiops standards.
How about Boat? I bet you can squeak by even without prior experience.Although if I ever get any of them, it will probably be through SDI, I already have three tech certs through TDI, I just need one more to qualify. The only problem is that most of my diving is in caves or caverns, I don't think I have the breath of diving experience to qualify under @tursiops standards.
Yes, but I've never met anybody teaching that. You can't be a PADI cave instructor without already being a certified cave instructor from some other agency. So you probably want the card from that other agency...it will be more recognizable.
Yes, Distinctive Specialties count toward MSD, but I didn't list any because there are many, there is no central list of them, and I have no way to ascertain how "good" they are. I teach a Distinctive Specialty on Coral Identification modeled after the Fish ID/REEF class and the Humann-Deloach books. It is a "high-end" class....three dives with a lot of learning involved. I'm sure there are many others that are good....I just don't know what they are.
pauldw
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