Milestone Reached - Master Scuba Diver

[XS-NRG]

By the way, how much does it cost for the extra certification over at your side(s) because for us in the Asia Pacific region, it's free until the end of this year?

Which extra cert: the specialties or the MSD card? Specialties are $150-175ish. I heard the MSD card was only $50 but I'm paying $100. My package costs includes a certificate and emblem and card etc.

 

[Progen]

I meant for the MSD. By the way, the average cost of most specialties over at my side is around USD300 or more.

 

[victorzamora]

Congrats on the cert!

Now, let me ask: Why did you go for MSD?

 

[Progen]

...

Now, let me ask: Why did you go for MSD?

Because he could?

In my case, I'm going to apply for it because it's free and there are some specialties which I think will make me a better diver. <dreams of the Cavern Diver specialty>

 

[tplyons]

Nitrox, Shark Diver (from Australia), Dry Suit, Altitude, Night

Shark Diver sounds cool... unfortunately I haven't had the opportunity to look into that one. Anyway, congrats again!

 

[victorzamora]

Progen: I wasn't asking to be rude, I was honestly curious. Some people treat Master Scuba Diver as the end-all, be-all cert. I had someone tell me they didn't need deco training because they had MSD. I was simply curious as to why. Did he get five specialties he though would be useful, or did he do five specialties he thought would be easy just to get to MSD. There's a lot of good with PADI's specialties, but there's a lot of bad as well....mostly at the fault of the instructor.

Sidenote: Progen, feel free to PM me a reply....but PADI's Cavern Specialty isn't what I'd consider a true Cavern cert, much in the same way that PADI's Wreck Specialty isn't real Wreck Training. If you want to do cavern diving, let me talk you out of assuming that's good enough. You really need to find a good instructor that does nothing but cave/cavern and does dives FAR beyond his teaching. Same thing with sidemount. I don't recommend PADI's SM Specialty to anybody, but recommend training to everybody.

 

[Peter Guy]

OP -- Congratulations.

Now some free advice -- and worth every penny you have paid for it!

a. Go dive -- a lot.

b. Go dive some more off Vancouver Island -- Race Rocks, Nanaimo, Hornby Island, Browning Wall

c. Go dive some more!

Now a question -- what do you feel you learned that you now feel was valuable from your various specialties, AOW and Rescue? As an instructor, I'm always looking for feedback as to what provides value as opposed to what just provides filler.

Victor -- there is nothing, in and of itself, wrong with the PADI Cavern class nor, for that matter, the PADI Wreck Class. It really is all about what the instructor, and the student, put into the class -- which is just as true of a TDI or other agency class. It really IS all about the instructor.

 

[victorzamora]

No, there's nothing wrong with the classes in-and-of themselves. However, PADI has like 4 PADI Cave Instructors. Cave is a distinctive specialty taught only by a handful of instructors that are Cave instructors for other agencies. I wouldn't trust ANY overhead training from an agency without very strict training guidelines and requirements. PADI has some instructors with strict requirements, but overall PADI is lacking quite aggressively. I progressed more as a diver on any ONE of my days of Cavern/Intro/Apprentice/Full Cave classes through a REAL instructor with a REAL agency than I did through PADI's OW, AOW, Rescue, SM, Drysuit, EANx, AED/EFR/CPR, or even DM training. All I had to do was purchase the book to finish DM (I had done the book work, I didn't have the sticker. I also hadn't taken the test, but that's easy). I was one dive short of PADI Tec40. I learned very little through any of that. Having said that, if you get a GOOD, THOROUGH instructor that has skills based on REAL Cave diving then even the PADI Cavern course can be useful. However, there are too many "instructors" that have 3 dives in the Vortex Springs cavern and are now teaching the specialty.

So, to sum it up, there's nothing wrong with the course but I wouldn't want any of my loved ones to depend on typical PADI training to survive ANY emergency, technical/overhead or rec & OW.

Edit: But, like I said, I'm glad the OP got MSD. That is good. It means he clearly wants to continue learning and growing as a diver. I didn't mean for this to become another PADI-bashing thread. I don't hate PADI. I really think they do a wonderful job of growing the sport/hobby of SCUBA like no other agency has or could. However, there are VERY certain drawbacks to a cert agency as big and powerful as PADI. One of those negatives is that they certify a LOT of sub-par divers and a LOT of VERY sub-par (borderline criminally dangerous) instructors. While that is fine for PPB, OW, Night, Drift, etc...I wouldn't trust the majority of them for really, truly dangerous things.

 

[Progen]

Progen: I wasn't asking to be rude, I was honestly curious. Some people treat Master Scuba Diver as the end-all, be-all cert. I had someone tell me they didn't need deco training because they had MSD. I was simply curious as to why. Did he get five specialties he though would be useful, or did he do five specialties he thought would be easy just to get to MSD. There's a lot of good with PADI's specialties, but there's a lot of bad as well....mostly at the fault of the instructor.

As far as I was concerned, I really wasn't kidding when I said that I was going for it because it was free. Considering that anyone with cash to spend and time to spare can get the MSD certification easily, it's as useful as errrr...... nothing? If I had to pay for it, I might as well spend the money on a day's worth of diving and add 2 - 3 hours of diving experience to my belt.

Sidenote: Progen, feel free to PM me a reply....but PADI's Cavern Specialty isn't what I'd consider a true Cavern cert, much in the same way that PADI's Wreck Specialty isn't real Wreck Training. If you want to do cavern diving, let me talk you out of assuming that's good enough. You really need to find a good instructor that does nothing but cave/cavern and does dives FAR beyond his teaching. Same thing with sidemount. I don't recommend PADI's SM Specialty to anybody, but recommend training to everybody.

I know it doesn't mean much but the instructor I had in mind for the Cavern Diver specialty is also an ANDI Level 4 Cave Explorer instructor. We don't really have any underwater caves where I am and the cave where I'll be trained (IF I go for it) will be what they call the Turtle Tomb (around Sipadan, Sabah) because many turtles had gotten lost and drowned inside.

As for the Wreck Diver one, yeah, I know it doesn't teach penetration which was why I got really pissed and disturbed to hear a friend tell me that an instructor (someone I knew as well) was going to bring them INSIDE a rather large wreck during that course. Seeing photos of them with poor trim and nothing else but flutter kicks, it was only a matter of time that one of them got hurt.

 

[DiveMonkeyDive]

Having just completed my 5th specialty (night diving cert) this past weekend I have now reached the title of PADI Master Scuba Diver!!! This has always been a goal of mine since sitting in my OW class looking at the poster for the various levels you can get to (without becoming an instructor). Feels like only yesterday I was here blogging about my OW class experience and making more mistakes than I care to admit to. I have come a long way in my diving life!

This has taken 2 years for me to accomplish and has taken me to some pretty exotic places on this planet. I love diving and my next goal is to take the NAUI Master Diver course as well and then explore even more specialties such as ice diving, wreck, and maybe cavern diving. So glad I decided to do a couple of DSDs back in 2009 when I was in the Whitsundays in Australia. It has changed my life so much. I own all my own gear now and have no plans to stop anytime soon. :cool2:

Congrats, I just finished up my Master(PADI) as well. Just waiting on the card. Curious, why would you want to earn a NAUI Master Diver cert when you're already PADI?