SSI "Master Diver"......or not.

[txgoose]

To original OP: Its purely a marketing gimmick. Think about it: Do you consider yourself a master even if they give you the card.
I am humbled frequently diving after I realize I should have done x while I did y. Enjoy the diving without all the labels.

I appreciate the encouragement. I do understand the marketing part. I was only trying to bring some levity (myself being humbled) and poke some fun at the use of "master" titles a bit too loosely. I suspect that it will be some time before I would begin to consider myself as getting close to a scuba mastery of any kind. Unless losing stuff becomes a specialty. Well, not to humble brag, but I am pretty good at diving with a tiny bit of water in my mask to wipe any fog that creeps up.

I am enjoying my progress. Enjoying the learning and growth. My scuba life is pretty good.

 

[rhwestfall]

there is nothing wrong about continuing education. One must however, have humility too.....

 

[Compressor]

I appreciate the encouragement. I do understand the marketing part. I was only trying to bring some levity (myself being humbled) and poke some fun at the use of "master" titles a bit too loosely. I suspect that it will be some time before I would begin to consider myself as getting close to a scuba mastery of any kind. Unless losing stuff becomes a specialty. Well, not to humble brag, but I am pretty good at diving with a tiny bit of water in my mask to wipe any fog that creeps up.

I am enjoying my progress. Enjoying the learning and growth. My scuba life is pretty good.

there is nothing wrong about continuing education. One must however, have humility too.....

Wonderful comments.

 

[boulderjohn]

The closer you get to being a true master diver, the more important the humility becomes.

For many experienced divers in the recreational world, they have achieved a level of expertise that appears to be in the same league as the best divers they know. I call this the "I'm about the best diver I've ever seen" syndrome. These divers have never seen the truly great divers diving in the truly challenging environments, the kinds of divers, for example, that rescued the soccer team in Thailand. If they did see them, they would not have the ability to recognize the unique skills being used, and they especially would not understand how much hard work and training went into gaining those skills. They would not have the training to understand why the dive being done challenges even those superior skills.

Being among the best divers they have ever seen, these divers are all too apt to overestimate their own abilities and attempt a dive that they did not realize was beyond their abilities. That is, for example, why so many open water scuba instructors have died in relatively benign caves.

That need for humility never goes away, because there is always a dive that is beyond your ability. I met a truly great diver on a cave exploration project, and we became instant friends in large part because of his outgoing nature. In my opinion, the dive on which he died during that project was at least on the very edge of his considerable ability. It was far beyond mine.

 

[JamesBon92007]

Other than a little genuflection, what does the Master Scuba Diver card get you? Will it get you on a Cave dive without a specific Cave certification? Will they let you dive Solo without a separate Solo certification? Whenever I book a boat dive they don't seem to give a flying rat's butt about my Master Diver card, rather they want to know when was my last dive and how many dives I've done. For that matter, they let my girlfriend do dives that I would have thought required an AOW cert but she only has OW. If a Master Diver card will supersede all of those other cards then I'd say go for it, just as I would recommend TSA Pre-Select. If not, well...