PADI Master Diver Rating

[Phil_218]

I see info all of the time for Dive Master, but haven't found anything for a class on the Master Diver rating. For awhile I had been thinking about completing the requirements for Master Diver and then go the Dive Master route later if I wanted to pursue it. But, then I started thinking, is there really a reason to spend the extra money just to say you're a "Master Diver"?

My questions are:

#1. Is there an actual Master Diver course, or simly meet the requirements and send in your money for a new C-Card?

#2. Is it worth spending the money to get the Master Diver rating?

I'm all for learning new skills, but I don't believe I'd want to spend money just to say I'm a "Master Diver" if it doesn't come with some good knowledge attached with the training.

Thanks,

Phillip

 

[Indian Valley Scuba]

Speaking strictly from a PADI perspective, there is no Master Scuba Diver course - it is really a recognition of your own diving involvement, continuing education and training. For PADI it requires certification as a Rescue Diver, completion of five specialty certifications, and a minimum of 50 logged dives. The only cost could be the certification fee itself, which costs your shop $13.00 (Yes, I know, many shops and instructors charge much more than that, but that is the real number that PADI charges). At Indian Valley Scuba our Master Scuba Diver certifications are FREE - we love to see our divers get more into the sport, and since they have already paid for core and specialty courses, and did all those dives with us, how can we, in our right mind, charge them for a recognition of what they have already accomplished?

Hope this info helps.

 

[Jim Ernst]

The Master Scuba Diver rating/cert, Is both what you and your instructor put into it.
If your Instructor is just out for the Cert... Well then it is just another card and money spent.

That said, If you have a good Instructor and you also put out the effort to get a GOOD education out of it, Then you will get some great training and a Lot of GREAT experience from the class/dives you will do and that makes it all worth the time and money.

Hope you get what I am saying to you!

 

[mts0628]

Speaking strictly from a PADI perspective, there is no Master Scuba Diver course - it is really a recognition of your own diving involvement, continuing education and training. For PADI it requires certification as a Rescue Diver, completion of five specialty certifications, and a minimum of 50 logged dives. The only cost could be the certification fee itself, which costs your shop $13.00 (Yes, I know, many shops and instructors charge much more than that, but that is the real number that PADI charges). At Indian Valley Scuba our Master Scuba Diver certifications are FREE - we love to see our divers get more into the sport, and since they have already paid for core and specialty courses, and did all those dives with us, how can we, in our right mind, charge them for a recognition of what they have already accomplished?

Hope this info helps.

Hey Phil_218:

Indian Valley Scuba seems to have a good deal, at least from a scuba diver's perspective while adhering to PADI standards. PADI on the other hand, is to me simply a money making machine. So, you get OW, AOW, Rescue, and THEN 5 specialties. That's 8 courses to get your Master Diver or you could look at it only 8 courses to get your Master Diver. I do believe that as a Master Scuba Diver, which to me again is the pinnacle of non-professional scuba diving, should know a lot about a lot of anything aquatic and have more than 50 dives under their weight belt. The way PADI has it, you pick the 5 specialties, but you could simply pick the five cheapest, and be considered a MSD. The old mnemonic PADI= Put Another Dollar In rings so true in this instance.

The training among PADI MSDs is not standard though. So, you could pick all of the naturalist type courses and be a MSD. But then could you explain differences between a piston and diaphragm first stage? Balanced and unbalanced? Advanced Navgation? Buoyancy and trim methods? Knots and lashings? A draggin' bowline? Just kidding on that one. Sure you could take another course for each, but at the additional cost. I would expect a person to get a lot of different dives, and a ****load, to learn as much as they can through various courses that may interest them or may prove necessary for their diving style and conditions, and then take a structured Master Scuba Diver Course to learn even more but also to reinforce what they don't know and ultimately pulling it all together. It is long, not hard but sometimes tedious, and has exams testing didactic material on an array of subjects and practical skills to beat the band. The right instructor will not just pass you because he or she likes you and you did good on the written parts. You should be able to perform expertly as well. Any pencil whipping is an insult to you and those who may look up to you as a Master Scuba Diver.

That's my spin on it. I hope it helps.

With kind regards from North Carolina,
Thomas

 

[Walter]

#1. Is there an actual Master Diver course, or simly meet the requirements and send in your money for a new C-Card?

Since you are specifically asking about PADI, the answer is there is no course, it's a vanity certification you can buy if you meet all the qualifications. There are other agencies who do actually have a Master Diver class.

#2. Is it worth spending the money to get the Master Diver rating?

No, it's a joke.

The Master Scuba Diver rating/cert, Is both what you and your instructor put into it.
If your Instructor is just out for the Cert... Well then it is just another card and money spent.

That said, If you have a good Instructor and you also put out the effort to get a GOOD education out of it, Then you will get some great training and a Lot of GREAT experience from the class/dives you will do and that makes it all worth the time and money.

That certainly does apply to the classes leading up to qualifying for the vanity card, but not to the master diver certification itself.

 

[knotical]

The only cost could be the certification fee itself, which costs your shop $13.00

nit-picking, but:
According to the 2009 PADI Price List, it actually costs a $44 fee to be submitted with the MSD application. (I'm guessing they have to manually confirm the individual certifications.)
You're probably thinking of the cost of a PIC, which doesn't work for MSD. And even the PIC has gone up. The lowest cost for a PIC (online / level 2 or higher dealer) is now $14.70.

 

[still new]

I see lots of posts about PADI MSD! I have just received the MSD Cert and I feel I have earned it by taking a variety of specialty courses ie Equipment Specialist, DD, Altitude etc. I picked programs not for the ease but for what they would give me in my situation. I live near the Rocky Mountains so every dive is an altitude dive...I'd be foolish to live and dive here without being trained. I am very proud of my MSD rating and will defend it wo anybody. Look at the programs that will suit you best with the situation you have and go for it!

 

[Phil_218]

Thank you for all of the replies. And, you've all said what I was pretty much expecting to hear. I know PADI is famous for "Put Another Dollar In", which is what prompted me to look at the question in the first place.

I have an awesome instructor/buddy whom I dive with almost weekly and have learned a lot from. He has trained me for my OW, AOW and now we're working on Deep Diver, Night Diver, Search & Rescue, Multi-Level, U/W Navigation, and Rescue Diver. He and I chose these specialties to be functional based on the type of diving I plan on doing, not on price.

I do my best to learn the most I can from each specialty to truly be knowledgable and skilled in the sport. By the end of this summer he says we should have finished all of the requirements for the Master Diver.

I can see that the certification is a vanity thing, but I also see the importance of recognizing your individual accomplishments and dedication to the sport. I will complete the requirements and get the certification and I am also interested in the possibilities of completing one of the Master Diver courses offered by other agencies.

I can't help but think of Robert Deniro's character in "Men of Honor" when I hear the term Master Diver, and I just don't see me at that level, but we're working on it. lol

Thanks again for the replies and helping to clear it up for me. BTW, I would have asked my buddy this question, but he's off enjoying dives in Hawaii right now. Lucky guy.

 

[Indian Valley Scuba]

Hello there Knotical!

I stand corrected, and I appreciate your very accurate response to the group. Yout are right, the application fee is in fact $44, and PICS are now $14.70. We are a Level 5 PADI IDC Center and they were $13.75 I believe last year, but I don't get involved with purchasing them now; I just sign off on invoices that come through! We process between 100 and 150 PIC's a month, and do them all on line. Our Shop Manager makes sure our on-line PIC processig account never runs dry.

Again, thanks, and I'll make sure to check my work better when I am on line after midnight!!

Dave

 

[Crowley]

I see lots of posts about PADI MSD! I have just received the MSD Cert and I feel I have earned it by taking a variety of specialty courses ie Equipment Specialist, DD, Altitude etc. I picked programs not for the ease but for what they would give me in my situation. I live near the Rocky Mountains so every dive is an altitude dive...I'd be foolish to live and dive here without being trained. I am very proud of my MSD rating and will defend it wo anybody. Look at the programs that will suit you best with the situation you have and go for it!

Congratulations and you should be proud of it! It's very easy for people to be cynical about MSD or master diver or whatever - but to me as an full time dive instructor, it represents somebody who has put a significant amount of time, effort and money into their diving in an effort to further their knowledge and enhance their diving abilities. Consider that, based on my own experiences as a recreational diver the requirements for MSD (50 dives, Rescue certified, 5 specialties for the PADI version), might cost a 'holiday' diver somewhere in the region of maybe $6,000 US dollars in air fares, hotels, course fees etc., and potentially a great deal more). That's a significant commitment, which may have taken as many as 5 years' worth of holidays (or more) to achieve.

Some of the specialties, I freely admit, don't pack much of a punch but some of them can be awesome fun and great learning experiences when conducted by a quality instrcutor. But they are *all* valid learning experiences, even if all you learned was 'I don't enjoy this'!!

If I had a waterproof red-carpet I'd roll it out for every MSD that came to my shop (we even give you a free hat and tshirt to help ease the sting of that certification fee!).

Yes, some people unfortunately do use it as a vanity, and think that MSD means they know everything there is to know about diving but some people will use anything as a vanity tool - and they occur in every profession and in every sport and thankfully they are in the minority.

To the rest of you that are considering undertaking the MSD or Master Diver rating, by whichever agency, good on ya! And for those of you who have already achieved it - congratulations again, and thank you, from the bottom of my heart.

Safe diving

Crowley