Master Diver - worth getting?

[TMHeimer]

I got it in 2007. Had the money then so why not get the card after doing all the specialties? I've always been a "collector" of many things--shells, photographs, tapes of my music, whatever. This thread has popped up countless times and I always advise taking 5 specialties that improve your diving (nothing wrong with them, but Photography, Fish I.D., etc. don't). I think "core" specialties should be the requirement. Then you can get into the PADI vs. NAUI Master Diver thing. I've compared the two at length years ago and both have plusses & minuses. From reading the NAUI stuff required, I don't think it's all the big Whoop Dee Doo some say. Yes, lots of theory that a PADI DM (used to?) takes--a lot of which is extra info. you may never use--explaining the "whys" of much of the basics we were taught to do in OW.
I have 7 specialties and most of my diving makes very little use of the extra info. I picked up doing them--but, no education is a waste. As a Band Teacher I probably used maybe 30% of my college education, if that. But again, not a waste and bigger pool of info. to draw from.
Another angle is "I got my MSD with 50 logged dives and didn't feel I was really a Master". Well, of course not. Let's define "Master" and how OW students "Master" the 20 basic skills--in perhaps two weekends?
Don't forget, you still get the wall certificate suitable for framing. I was lucky to get the free MSD back pack back then and still use it to collect beads at Mardi Gras. I even put the patch on my ball cap (not to be worn around experienced divers). A campground neighbour once said "You're not REALLY a Master Scuba Diver are you". "Why yes, I am".

 

[stuartv]

Baa haa haaaa! 2500+ dives and you're asking this? The OP is in jest, methinks.

 

[stuartv]

Ps. I got the SDI version. The first time I presented it at sign-in, the guy looked at it, said "Master scuba diver, huh?", chuckled, and handed it back to me.

No, I am not aware of any actual advantages to having it.

 

[cmrangel]

I got mine, more for a sense of accomplishment. Early on, I decided what specialties and certifications I thought would be my "basic" training. I felt that getting the certifications through Rescue with additional training in Nitrox, Deep, Wreck, Peak Perf Buoyancy, etc. was what I wanted to have to be a reasonably trained recreational diver. It so happens that it coincided with the requirements for the Master Scuba Diver. So, to me, getting it signaled that I had completed what I had set out for myself for this "Basic" training and that I had accomplished that goal.

 

[TMHeimer]

Baa haa haaaa! 2500+ dives and you're asking this? The OP is in jest, methinks.

Yeah..... I didn't see that.

 

[Imbodie]

I HATE the Master Diver c-card.... people confuse it with Dive Master which is a totally different thing.....

 

[TMHeimer]

I HATE the Master Diver c-card.... people confuse it with Dive Master which is a totally different thing.....

What people? I never noticed that at our shop or anywhere. The non-diving public perhaps, but that would be me in 2005 prior to taking OW and not knowing what a PADI was.

 

[Imbodie]

What people? I never noticed that at our shop or anywhere. The non-diving public perhaps, but that would be me in 2005 prior to taking OW and not knowing what a PADI was.

I had several think that the Master Diver was the same as a Dive Master.... All fairly new divers... by the time they were doing rescue they all seem to know the difference...

 

[japan-diver]

There is absolutely no advantage or plus to getting that card unless it somehow makes you feel better- but you do not get any special recognition or respect from dive ops from showing that card- and as it does not list the specialties you took to get it really does not show any level of training achieved. So if its free why not but if it costs any money - save the bucks for dive kit or to go diving.

 

[mockney]

Well lets be fair it does show you are at least Rescue Diver Trained, have completed a minimum of 50 dives and have committed to additional training. So it does hold some value over and above AOW or Rescue.