I just got my MSD card and for me it's just the next step in my diving. It was certainly a goal but likely won't end there. I always find it hilarious how people talk about the MSD not being an actual course as you just need to pay for specialties and log dives etc however people fail to recognize that PADI's Advanced Open Water course is pretty much the same. The advanced course isn't really a course either. Sure you do a knowledge review and a few basic skills on each of your 5 adventure dives but really that's all it is: complete 5 dives which fall under PADI's tree of courses and as long as one is a nav dive and one is a deep dive then you qualify for the Advanced card and you are simply paying for a card. Think about the Adventure diver card too, all you need is 3 adventure dives and once you've done the 3rd dive you qualify yet how many people actually have that card. Most if not all just go straight to Advanced which is still only 5 dives with 2 required ones and you can do them whenever you want and wherever you want. Sure the Master card is the same too but the pre-requisites are higher and have much more value and actually add to your diving ability through the specialties you do and the number of logged dives you must have.
If you think about it after my 9th dive I was an Advanced Diver..............hmmmmmmm...........NOT!!! I certainly didn't feel like I was an advanced diver at that point just because I went on a few guided dives doing some basic "adventure" dives. I wouldn't necessarily say I'm a "MASTER" either as I still have lots to learn but what I would say is accurate is that I have Mastered the type of diving I typically do which is: high altitude, cold, low to no viz diving in a drysuit. When I went diving with my instructor doing my last specialty (which completed my 5th specialty and last dive to qualify for MSD) she was escorting someone on their first night dive who ended up having a run away ascent however we were both confident in my abilities that she could address the issue with the other diver and didn't have to worry about me due to the fact that I don't panic, and have my buoyancy and trim nailed down. It's comforting and rewarding to know I don't need anyone to hold my hand and micro manage me and that I feel completely capable to conduct myself accordingly while diving. To reach that point is rewarding and I feel I have mastered the type of diving I typically do and therefore deserve the title of Master Scuba Diver. Do I absolutely need a card to state that? No. However it goes on my CV and serves as an accomplishment and proof of completion and shows my willingness to follow through and complete what I started. You wouldn't goto University and take a degree and then at the end simply say "no I don't want the diploma I know I've accomplished what I need to and in my mind that's good enough" you take the diploma, frame it and proudly show it as an accomplishment.
If you think about it after my 9th dive I was an Advanced Diver..............hmmmmmmm...........NOT!!! I certainly didn't feel like I was an advanced diver at that point just because I went on a few guided dives doing some basic "adventure" dives. I wouldn't necessarily say I'm a "MASTER" either as I still have lots to learn but what I would say is accurate is that I have Mastered the type of diving I typically do which is: high altitude, cold, low to no viz diving in a drysuit. When I went diving with my instructor doing my last specialty (which completed my 5th specialty and last dive to qualify for MSD) she was escorting someone on their first night dive who ended up having a run away ascent however we were both confident in my abilities that she could address the issue with the other diver and didn't have to worry about me due to the fact that I don't panic, and have my buoyancy and trim nailed down. It's comforting and rewarding to know I don't need anyone to hold my hand and micro manage me and that I feel completely capable to conduct myself accordingly while diving. To reach that point is rewarding and I feel I have mastered the type of diving I typically do and therefore deserve the title of Master Scuba Diver. Do I absolutely need a card to state that? No. However it goes on my CV and serves as an accomplishment and proof of completion and shows my willingness to follow through and complete what I started. You wouldn't goto University and take a degree and then at the end simply say "no I don't want the diploma I know I've accomplished what I need to and in my mind that's good enough" you take the diploma, frame it and proudly show it as an accomplishment.
