Belzelbub
Contributor
I guess the extra charge for the Master cert is with PADI, right?I agree about maintaining interest, never did I say otherwise. However if you are going to spend money, spend money on something that will actually do something for you like give you more depth or additional skills. The Master Diver card is something you pay money for that does nothing, just pay and get a card. IMO, it should be issued for free to anyone who does rescue and 5 specialties (I believe that is the criteria).
SSI does it the way you suggest (not sure about others). I did the following Specialties in roughly the order below. Throughout the process, SSI provided me with additional "certs" free of charge
- Enriched Air Nitrox
- Deep Diving
- Navigation
- Specialty Diver* (Free for completing 2 Specialties)
- Night/Limited Visibility
- Advanced Open Water (Free for completing 4 Specialties)
- Stress & Rescue
- Master Diver** (Free for completing 5 specialties, including Stress & Rescue)
Notes:
* My EAN course was done prior to SSI changing their system, so it didn't originally show up in the current system. Otherwise, Specialty Diver would have come after EAN and Deep.
** The Master Diver "cert" was not only free with SSI, they also gave me a challenge coin, and my instructor bought me a beer at the monthly get-together (that's shop policy). I was also entered in a contest for a Dive Trip. SSI ANNOUNCES ITS 2023 MASTER DIVER CHALLENGE - DiveNewswire