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

[Edward3c]

Real master divers:

 

[Wibble]

Got an email today from my LDS (text from it):

Master Diver Course

NAUI Master Scuba Diver Course – This course is designed to enhance and challenge your diving skills and it is the highest non-teaching recreational certification in the NAUI program. The course consists of 5 lectures and 5 days of diving from various locations throughout our local area. Not only will the Master Diver course help you develop a higher level of skills, it is a great starting point if you are interested in becoming a Divemaster or Instructor.

The Responsible Diver course is required to be taken first. The remaining 5 modules are designed to step up your skills in progressive steps, however, you may take them out of sequence. You will have this year and next year to complete all 5 modules. All lectures will be at Dip ’N Dive from 6pm – 9pm. You have 2 dive seasons to complete the Master Diver Certification if you’re unable to complete everything in one dive season.

Master Diver Certification Prerequisites:

Diver must be an Advanced Diver & Rescue Diver (Rescue Diver needs First Aid CPR/O2 course) upon completion of the Master Diver Course.

1. The Responsible Diver – (Tuesday, 3/25/25) 6pm-9pm

We will review the basics of scuba diving physics and physiology, emergency and rescue procedures, and dive planning in the classroom. The open water dives at Windmill Quarry will evaluate and improve on your skills and include both skin and scuba dives.

2. Diving Environment/Diving Equipment – (Tuesday, 4/1/25) 6pm-9pm

In classroom we will go over different types of cylinders, regulators, exposure suits, dive computers and dive lights. We will cover care and maintenance that you can do yourself, and we will show you what the service techs at the shop do. The open water dive for this module will be a Niagara River Drift Dive. We will show you how to set up a dive like this and each dive team will then scout the area and create a dive plan. We will also discuss the movement of water, marine life, and conservation. Some of the local dive sites and travel destination will be covered. The dives will include some advanced navigation skill, underwater mapping, and a night dive.

3. Shipwreck Diving – (Tuesday, 4/8/25) 6pm-9pm

We will discuss all the facets of shipwreck diving. Research, search and location, laws, hazards, and preservation. The dives will include an orientation dive on a local shipwreck and another dive to record physical measurement to help identify the wreck.

4. UW Navigation/Search & Recovery – (Tuesday, 4/15/25) 6pm-9pm

We will cover how to find objects using several different methods and different types of equipment, and how to retrieve them using the proper rigging and lifting equipment. The dives will include finding a target from approximate coordinates and successfully recovering it.

5. Deep & Simulated Decompression Diving – (Tuesday, 4/22/25) 6pm-9pm

We will cover Decompression sickness, nitrogen narcosis, dive tables, dive computers, equipment, and techniques to successfully complete a deep dive. The dives will be from Osprey Charters in Barcelona, NY* or you may complete them on a Dip ‘N Dive sponsored dive trip to Bonaire! Note: Osprey Charter dive will be a separate charge once we have the reservation made.

Course Cost: $1049 ($100 deposit required to reserve spot, balance is due before the first class)

Deadline to register for the Master Diver Course is Monday, 3/18/25

Have fun debating....

Seems just like something we normally call experience.

A lot of this "Master" blah-blah is aimed at novices and the inexperienced, which is a good thing. More experience will have a positive effect on skills.

Breadth and depth of experience makes mastery, not a paid-for card.

However, a paid for card will at least add some structured knowledge and experience. Main fact is that skills and knowledge atrophy if not used; if you only ever dive in a quarry, many of those skills won't be used.

 

[Davide Pusceddu]

While I have the PADI Master Dive card, I think my military training, coupled with taking open water/advanced open water/rescue from PADI instruction who is also an Army trainer. Couple that with over 1200 dives and multiple saves including a snorkeler that drowned. I think that speaks more about my ability then a card.

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...

 

[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.