First, a clarification. Of course I already have Rescue and per OP, I've already done Nitrox. I like your thoughts
@tursiops - depending on the instructor. Couldn't agree more.
I'm not sure what fish ID can give me that I can't find out on my own - a personal interest of mine. But U/W photography absolutely is. Wreck too.
As for specialties, don't you do 5 full specialties for Master Diver? So nothing is watered down. The only watering down is when you have a sh!tty instructor.
Can someone tell me more about the Deep specialty?
I don't teach Fish ID, I refer people to a guy who happens to have a PhD in Marine Biology. He can teach a Fish ID class worth taking. I teach a workshop on skills for UW Photography. Then I send students to a guy who makes his living as an underwater photographer and has shot for Nat Geo, Discovery, Smithsonian, and a couple other entities.
Don't take a wreck specialty from anyone who doesn't dive wrecks on a regular basis and dives or teaches at least one level above where you want to be. They should be an Advanced Wreck instructor.
I never saw the need to get that master diver card even though I got sold more than enough PADI courses to get it.
At this point I tell my students that unless an op requires a specific card, don't go for the card. Go for the education. That means forget the agency and look for an instructor that teaches what you want to learn.
A recreational wreck course card will not give you any special access to recreational wrecks.
Hell, a technical wreck card won't be worth as much as Advanced Nitrox, Deco Procedures, and some type of trimix cert so you can get the good gas to do those wrecks because at that level, they expect that if you signed up for the dive you can do it.
As for Deep, the standards for what has to be taught are pretty thin.
Take a Deep course from someone who is doing 150-200 ft dives and teaches others to do them. They'll teach you the skills to do the dive safely. When I was teaching deep class was 5 dives and every student has to have at least 100cu ft of back gas and a 30 cu ft slung bottle. I cover gas management, gas matching, emergency deco procedures, narcosis management, and how many ways deep dives can kill you.
All dives save the 1st one are in excess of 100 ft and no more than 2 per day. So it's a 3 day course. Plus the classroom and confined water skills eval if I haven't trained the person previously.
If your buoyancy and trim are not dead on, no class until you get them up to snuff.
I no longer am teaching deep or deco classes because I've gotten older and while I am ok with doing 200 ft dives, I don't want to do them with students. It's not fun anymore.
