Question True requirements to deserve the title of Master Diver???

[Wibble]

I think you've raised here a very important point: the "cards" you have don't reflect your real skills. The problem is that this goes both ways - I've seen Master Dive with terrible buoyancy and air consumption panicking for a bit of current...
Recreational certs often only tell how much money you spent more than what you can do but it's a complex topic...

Similarly I’ve seen MOD2 rebreather divers with awful skills too. The difference being that they should be fully competent to pass that level as their lives are seriously at risk should they mess up.

 

[brsnow]

Funny to bring that up - I know lots of folks with a piece of paper that names them "Masters of Science" and I don't think anyone assumes they are masters of all science. Ditto for the Arts. In fact, lots of them barely know the rudiments of their fields.

It's interesting to me that the way it's been presented by agencies and interpreted by divers has led to this conflation of meanings.

It is just diving, if people don’t care for it, don’t try to get it .

 

[Davide Pusceddu]

Similarly I’ve seen MOD2 rebreather divers with awful skills too. The difference being that they should be fully competent to pass that level as their lives are seriously at risk should they mess up.

100% agree - anything beyond recreational it's a different topic entirely

 

[happy-diver]

I guarantee there are people having the experience of their lives challenging themselves
and becoming Master Divers, without any inkling of you lot, challenging our intelligence

 

[gordonscuba]

If I see a MSD card, I'm going to essentially view it as a rescue diver card, because that's the main prerequisite. A good rescue diver should already be competent at search & recovery techniques. Any additional value that MSD adds beyond rescue is highly dependent on the actual course / instructor / dives that were done. The NAUI e-learning for MSD is quite long and takes many hours, but no e-learning done in a dry apartment is really going to make you that much better where it counts, in the water. With that said, I wish more people would progress at least through rescue / master because it may make them safer or better buddies, especially the rescue part. No one should assign any meaning to the use of the word "master" because if you progress to any agency's MSD with like 50 dives, you will probably still be green as a fresh blade of grass.

 

[elgringoperdido]

In Cozumel, at 300 feet there is old, non-living reef, and everything is kind of a blue/gray color. There aren't many fish. As you ascend, you will find some black coral and lion fish at around 200 feet.

Is it like that everywhere? I have been below 300 feet in Cozumel several times with trimix and I have also noticed a dearth of sea life. But then all my really deep dives there were in the north, near Playa San Juan and Las Rocas. Maybe at Maracaibo or Colombia it is more interesting at that depth?

You do have to go deep to hunt for lionfish. I don't see them much above 100 feet anymore. In fact, all my lionfish hunting dives there have been planned deco dives with some helium in the mixture. They're fairly bland, but they soak up whatever hot sauce or other savory flavors are put on them. They're also very low in fat (and therefore low in mercury and cadmium), so they're good to eat.

 

[boulderjohn]

Is it like that everywhere? I have been below 300 feet in Cozumel several times with trimix and I have also noticed a dearth of sea life. But then all my really deep dives there were in the north, near Playa San Juan and Las Rocas. Maybe at Maracaibo or Colombia it is more interesting at that depth?

You do have to go deep to hunt for lionfish. I don't see them much above 100 feet anymore. In fact, all my lionfish hunting dives there have been planned deco dives with some helium in the mixture. They're fairly bland, but they soak up whatever hot sauce or other savory flavors are put on them. They're also very low in fat (and therefore low in mercury and cadmium), so they're good to eat.

I have only been below 300 feet in the Palancar region. It was not often, and it was a while ago. The nice thing about that is that the ascent had excellent scenery until the last deco stops, quite the opposite of other deep ocean dives I have done.

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

The book is 20+ years old, and the course requires no actual diving experience. Hmmm.

https://resources.naui.org/media/1580/2024-s-and-p-v10.pdf?_gl=1*1njopl4*_ga*MTg3ODY0NjMyMS4xNzM1NDE2MTkx*_ga_L558FCL13P*MTczNTQxNjE5MC4xLjAuMTczNTQxNjE5MC4wLjAuMA..*_ga_655SYESQ2T*MTczNTQxNjE5MC4xLjAuMTczNTQxNjE5MC4wLjAuMA..#page=85

This is why I ignore your posts Mel as much as possible.

 

[diver257a]

The book is 20+ years old, and the course requires no actual diving experience. Hmmm.

Hi Tursiops,

I have two comments.

Firstly, I have the 2020 (sic) edition of the NAUI Master Scuba Diver textbook in PDF format. It contains 288 pages and can be printed as hardcopy.

I obtained it in 2021 when NAUI was providing free access for people trapped at home etc during the Pandemic to its e-learning system (i.e. one could download the materials and do the e-learning, but payment was required if one wished to do the openwater training etc).

The textbook's ISBN (i.e. International Standard Book Number) is 978-1-57743-041-4. Searching on dedicated ISBN search websites reveals that the textbook is recorded as being published either during 2019 or in August 2019. Hardcopies can be purchased via the NAUI website (i.e. Master Scuba Diver Textbook), however it is likely that the hardcopy is 'out of stock' as it is in my part of the world.

Secondly, I will not argue with you about the matter of the absence of logged dive experience. I personally do not have a problem with logging dives, but my observation is that many divers do not log their dives. In particular, I know of a situation where a group of divers falsified their diving experience in order to get a certification.

 

[pauldw]

I would think that the first step toward becoming a Master Diver would be nine weeks of boot camp, then seven weeks of diver preparation course, then fifteen weeks of second class dive schooling, then several months of practical training with other divers in a fleet, and that's just the first step, to second class diver. So that with, what, maybe forty four weeks of hard work, you'd be a second class diver. Then more training to be a first class diver. Then more training to be a Master Diver.

It might be easier to become a Master Scuba Diver, which just requires being pencil whipped through some short courses at a dive shop, and getting in a few dozen recreational dives. Then you could maybe have this: