PADI Master Scuba Diver - what does it give you?

[OldNSalty]

And by the way, I do not qualify for the Master Scuba Diver card, and I don't have it.

Slacker

 

[boulderjohn]

Slacker

I know. I am usually too embarrassed to mention it.

 

[vcblklion]

5 specialties required plus a small fee. OK, let's add up the value:

1) Oxygen Provider- gotta have it for Rescue.
2) Deep- Required for tech courses with some agencies.
3) Nitrox- Required to buy fills and for Advanced Nitrox and up.
4) Drysuit/Scooter- Required to rent a drysuit or scooter
5) Wreck/Cavern- May save your life in an overhead, reel skills, required for cave.

Ok, how much did you just spend on that stuff and what percentage of tbat is the feel good card. Why not buy it?

Now if PADI would just print all your certs on the back...

Sent from my SPH-P100 using Tapatalk 2

Few corrections. You are certified for Deep when you do Advanced. 130ft. any deeper is commercial diving and not taught by PADI. Nitrox is a good one to take. Drysuit....I bought my own drysuit and learned how to use it at the DUI Demo Day. I bought the PADI books, did the reading I would normally do anyway, and had my instructor freinds dive with me and give me supervision...I just didn't pay PADI for their card and am diving drysuit plus $250....Wreck/Cavern you can get in Divemaster...so...like I said...unless you're going pro you will learn most of these things anyway. PADI is designed to make money....there's a reason people call it the "McDonald's of scuba diving".....

 

[nimoh]

Few corrections. You are certified for Deep when you do Advanced. 130ft. any deeper is commercial diving and not taught by PADI. Nitrox is a good one to take. Drysuit....I bought my own drysuit and learned how to use it at the DUI Demo Day. I bought the PADI books, did the reading I would normally do anyway, and had my instructor freinds dive with me and give me supervision...I just didn't pay PADI for their card and am diving drysuit plus $250....Wreck/Cavern you can get in Divemaster...so...like I said...unless you're going pro you will learn most of these things anyway. PADI is designed to make money....there's a reason people call it the "McDonald's of scuba diving".....

not entirely true.

With PADI, OW divers are certified to 130' (although recommended to stay above 60'). AOW and Deep Diver specialty are only intended to advance your knowledge.

Deeper than 130' might be commercial, and it might also be technical diving...and PADI teaches this.

Not sure what you mean by "Wreck/Cavern you can get in Divemaster". I am a Divemaster and have had no wreck or cavern training to date, and as such I don't lead dives into caves, caverns, or wrecks.

Also not sure what you mean by "unless you're going pro you will learn most of these things anyway". It seems you are saying those that go pro don't learn these things?

Never heard PADI referred to as "McDonald's of scuba diving", but I suppose it probably fits in many respects.

 

[vcblklion]

I think some of the confusion stems from the idea that people are treating recreational training as if its about becoming an expert diver. But, at least for PADI, its about enabling divers to have fun. These are recreational courses, and they are designed towards casual divers, tourist divers, to help them experience new things.

So someone may take a speciality in 'whale shark observation' which is no where near as technical as a 'cavern' speciality, but count equally towards MSD. As long as the student has fun, then I dont see a problem. PADI is effectively selling entertainment. And its totally ok that some people dont like that and think diving should be more technical. I respect that other people have different opinions.

Dude...."effectively selling entertainment"?? Is that why they make you sign a waiver when you get on a boat to go diving...? Cause they dont' want to take responsibility if you kill your self entertaining yourself? I'm not trying to be harsh but let's call a spade a spade....If PADI was genuinely interested in "entertainment", they would encourage dive clubs and have people go diving more. They don't need to charge people up the ying yang for "certifications" that don't mean anything. I have no problem with charging for Nitrox, Rescue, Photography...even Fish ID, but let's not delude ourselves into thinking that PADI really gives a damn about anything but money....

 

[boulderjohn]

Few corrections.

Sorry, but I am gonig to have to correct your corrections.

You are certified for Deep when you do Advanced. 130ft.

Advanced takes you to a depth between 60 to 100 feet. The deep specialty has several more dives and takes you to 130 feet.

any deeper is commercial diving and not taught by PADI.

Diving beyond 130 feet is the realm of technical diving, and quite a few agencies, including PADI teach it.

Drysuit....I bought my own drysuit and learned how to use it at the DUI Demo Day. I bought the PADI books, did the reading I would normally do anyway, and had my instructor freinds dive with me and give me supervision...I just didn't pay PADI for their card

which does not alter the fact that many shops require the card for renting a dry suit.

Wreck/Cavern you can get in Divemaster..

Neither one is part of Divemaster. I have no idea what you are talking about in this case.

so...like I said...unless you're going pro you will learn most of these things anyway.

The only one you didn't mention is oxygen provider, which is a pretty good one to have if you provide oxygen to someone and you are later told that you are going to be sued because the family's estate decided you weren't qualified to provide it.

PADI is designed to make money....there's a reason people call it the "McDonald's of scuba diving".....

Just out of curiosity, can you name a single agency which does not have specialty classes like this, or do you just single out PADI for inaccurate attack?

---------- Post Merged at 01:34 PM ---------- Previous Post was at 01:23 PM ----------

Dude...."effectively selling entertainment"?? Is that why they make you sign a waiver when you get on a boat to go diving...? Cause they dont' want to take responsibility if you kill your self entertaining yourself? I'm not trying to be harsh but let's call a spade a spade....If PADI was genuinely interested in "entertainment", they would encourage dive clubs and have people go diving more. They don't need to charge people up the ying yang for "certifications" that don't mean anything. I have no problem with charging for Nitrox, Rescue, Photography...even Fish ID, but let's not delude ourselves into thinking that PADI really gives a damn about anything but money....

OK, in my last post I asked you to name another agency that does not promote specialty dives, and I pointed out that just about everything you had said in the previous post was dead wrong.

In this post I would like to point out that PADI does not have boats and it does not take you out diving. Dive operators do that, many of whom have no relationship with any agency whatsoever, and every one of them will make you sign that waiver. In fact, pretty much any activity you may participate in has such a waiver. Rent a jet ski. Take a look at the fine print on your snow ski ticket. Show me some activity that does not require this.

Next, I would like to point out that PADI does not make much money from these specialties. Yes, it gets dome money from the course materials and the card fee, but most of the money goes to the dive shop and the instructor who teach the courses, neither of which work for PADI.

So far every one of your posts in this thread consists of two elements:

1. a general attack on PADI because it apparently wants to earn enough money from its services to stay in business (Imagine that! Can you think of another business that would stoop so low?)

2. Supposed statements of fact, 100% of which are wildly inaccurate.

 

[vcblklion]

I was wrong about Wreck. I was considering the fact that I was offered to be trained for wreck/cave diving as part of my divemaster training but that is from a private instructor.

These are the NAUI "specialty" courses...NAUI Specialty Courses They are much more relevant IMO to advanced diving. Here is my problem with PADI...130ft is max depth for recreational diving. Why does PADI "recommend" you NOT dive to 130ft after Advanced training? Because they want to get more money out of you for diving that extra 30 ft....Look...a good instructor or agency will train you with everything you need to know for diving to 130ft after Advanced. My other problem with PADI is there are a lot of instructors under that agency that don't bother to teach the courses the way they should be taught....so if it seems like I'm "singling" PADI out...I am.

And if you OWN a drysuit, why do you need a card to rent one...? Your statement about the drysuit card didn't take into account the point I was making.

 

[boulderjohn]

I was wrong about Wreck. I was considering the fact that I was offered to be trained for wreck/cave diving as part of my divemaster training but that is from a private instructor.

You were wrong about all the others as well, too.

Here is my problem with PADI...130ft is max depth for recreational diving. Why does PADI "recommend" you NOT dive to 130ft after Advanced training? Because they want to get more money out of you for diving that extra 30 ft....Look...a good instructor or agency will train you with everything you need to know for diving to 130ft after Advanced.

As I said before, it is the instructor who makes the money, not PADI. I assume you are saying that all the other instructors for all the other agencies work for free?

My other problem with PADI is there are a lot of instructors under that agency that don't bother to teach the courses the way they should be taught....so if it seems like I'm "singling" PADI out...I am.

What percentage of PADI instructors have you observed that entitles you to tell what percentage don't do a job well? Here is a list of scuba diving agencies. Please list which ones you know well enough to make your comparison.

And if you OWN a drysuit, why do you need a card to rent one...? Your statement about the drysuit card didn't take into account the point I was making.

Your post said it was a "correction" to someone else's post, and that person said that the dry suit certification was useful for renting a dry suit. Your correction said that it is possible to learn how to use a dry suit on your own. I merely pointed out that this did not in fact "correct" the previous post, as you claimed it did. What you are saying is that if you buy a dry suit you don't have to rent one. That is indeed true, but what does that have to do with PADI?

 

[vcblklion]

You win dude...PADI is awesome....everyone should sign up for PADI and become a Master Diver..

 

[Texasguy]

Is it true that without a deep specialty a scuba boat DM will not allow you to do dives that are deeper than 100 feet?

---------- Post Merged at 02:59 PM ---------- Previous Post was at 02:56 PM ----------

You win dude...PADI is awesome....everyone should sign up for PADI and become a Master Diver..

Yay!