Master Diver specialties

[TravelGas]

You claim tech level courses have a requirement for 50 logged dives.

This TDI Advanced Nitrox Diver - International Training - SDI | TDI | ERDI | PFI only has a requirement for 25 dives for an OW diver. Therefor it is for recreational divers or are you going to claim an OW diver is a technical diver?

First off, I don't claim anything. I read the TDI web site and you should too, or we would not even be discussing this.

Per TDI web site, the required # of Dives for different Technical level courses.
Helitrox 50 logged dives
Extended Range 100 logged dives
Trimix 100 logged dives
Advanced Trimix 100 logged dives + 25 dives below 100'

I also never said that you cant show by scrolling the dive history in your computer. A paper log book is but one way to meet the TDI requirements of proof that you have met or exceeded their minimum # of logged dives.

 

[Dody]

Uh no, you need to read the whole thread.

A member who I wont call out, said if I never plan on going below 60' why can't I still be a Master diver. I went thru the program, so I am familiar with the requirements.
PADI's MSD program is a watered down marketing tool to generate money for them, their Dive Shops and their Instrs., NAUI is trying to train better divers. Take the time to go to both web sites, review both MSD course descriptions, be honest with yourself and then tell me I am wrong.

Ok. I thought that to become MSD, you needed to be AOW first thus do a couple of dives at 100ft. That’s the way it is with SSI. Maybe not PADI.

 

[Dody]

Ok. I thought that to become MSD, you needed to be AOW first thus do a couple of dives at 100ft. That’s the way it is with SSI. Maybe not PADI.

 

[Marie13]

You have very limited experience with recreational divers then who use higher O2 content mixes for dives.
AN is not strictly for staged decompression dives. It can be and is used by recreational divers on dives who do not do required stop diving.
I know a number of recreational divers who will switch to a higher O2 for their ascent and safety stop. One who is older and took a DCS hit. He does this as a precaution now.
If the AN course is taught properly it includes a great deal of theory and tech diving philosophy that should be applied to ANY deep dives.
While AN does not require deep dives, it does provide a much more solid foundation in diving period than the average deep course. Buoyancy control, trim, rescue skills for O2 toxicity hits, gas management, dive planning, and use of a deco/stage bottle. In the AN class alone like this they would get 6 hours plus of bottom time drilling on skills over 5 dives. Then the DP class was a minimum of 5 so the combined course was 10 dives.
When I taught AN I found that students benefitted from taking the AN course then doing DP a bit later. This gave them time to work on their team skills with multiple bottles and refining their drills and planning procedures.
It was also less physically and mentally tasking so they absorbed more and were in better condition to do the dives.
When it came time for DP I had a solid team who needed no remedial time and we could get right into the DP skills and dives.
I've had students take AN with me and follow up with DP with another instructor because they could do it in a warmer location than I offered. Or because they wanted to switch to a higher O2 for the end of the dive. And at least one who was going to have to wait for DP at a later time because of finances. Which is perfectly fine as well.

To say AN by itself is worthless is narrow minded and uninformed about what a good AN class is and what mixes higher than 40% can be used for.

That may be, but do you ever post without going on about how far you go beyond standards? Because that’s pretty much all I ever see from you when actual diving courses are the topic.

 

[TravelGas]

Ok. I thought that to become MSD, you needed to be AOW first thus do a couple of dives at 100ft. That’s the way it is with SSI. Maybe not PADI.

Both NAUI and PADI have AOW as a pre req' before starting MSD course. I wonder if there is anyone on SB who has both the PADI and NAUI MSD certs ?

 

[divad]

I'm torn. I would like to complete master diver (PADI) but don't know which specialties I should do. I've done Nitrox already so that's one down. I thought about PPB but will I get anything from this if my buoyancy, trim and weighting are already good? Should I focus on something else then?

Certainly Wreck will be one of them. What are the most interesting specialties? Which ones will make me a better diver?

You could just cut to the chase and take GUE Fundamentals...after that everything is simple and clear.

 

[OMyMyOHellYes]

MSD for PADI requires:

• Rescue (which requires AOW (which requires OW) and EFR of some sort),
• 5 other completed specialties (value depends on what you want out of it, what courses you choose to take, the instructor, etc YMMV),
• 50 logged dives, and
• a credit card.

Ok. I thought that to become MSD, you needed to be AOW first thus do a couple of dives at 100ft. That’s the way it is with SSI. Maybe not PADI.

Not to be redundant....

Ok. To be redundant.

OMMOHY

 

[tursiops]

tell me I am wrong

You are wrong.

 

[Jim Lapenta]

That may be, but do you ever post without going on about how far you go beyond standards? Because that’s pretty much all I ever see from you when actual diving courses are the topic.

I do that in order to put context to my posts and illustrate that there is more to a class than what's in the book or what one person experienced with one instructor. As well as explaining why a particular class is beneficial. Too many courses go by the book and as a result students don't know that anything else is available or even possible. As an instructor I feel it's necessary to explain why, what, and how I do things instead of just saying do this or don't do that.

It's also why I've gotten students from all over the east coast and Midwest. They have an idea of what to expect and what I expect from them before they even give me a call or email me.

You make a lot of statements with no context and that sound like facts when they are not. They are just your opinion based on your limited experience.

Too many people get the wrong idea that something like AN/DP is for deep dives. That's just one of the areas where it is useful. AN/DP can be used by divers who never go below 80 - 100ft for numerous reasons.

One of the problems with stating narrow views of a particular discipline is that it can encourage risky behavior when someone decides "I have AN/DP now so I can start doing 150ft dives all the time because so and so says that to do anything else is a waste."

Or it may dissuade someone from taking the class and making use of that discipline to increase their safety when they will never go to the max depth the card indicates. AN by itself is a very valuable course and can be highly beneficial in terms of education, skills, planning, and execution of a dive if the instructor and student are open to the possibilities it offers.

 

[tursiops]

I'm saddened that several posters on this thread seem to think that the only courses you ought to take are those that "improve your diving skill" or "make you a better diver " Doesn't this miss the point of recreational diving, which is not a contest to get better and better but rather is a way to have fun? OK, maybe for you the fun is unimportant, or perhaps even the fun is kicking ever more efficiently, but please don't demand that everybody be like you. If someone gets their joy from observing and logging the fish they see, who are you to say that is a joke?