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

[OMyMyOHellYes]

Do I qualify for the cert card?

Did you pay your money?

 

[elgringoperdido]

Did you do the training in dry or wet suit?

In July in the Straits of Cozumel, I imagine that I was using my 3-mm wetsuit. Or maybe my 5-mm. I didn't get my first dry suit till about 6 or 7 years ago when I started diving locally. I live in PA in the exurbs about 50 minutes from Philadelphia. The water here is black and cold and I have a strong preference for the tropics. Unfortunately that's a long plane ride so, for the first 20 or so years that I was diving, I dived maybe 20 times per year. I decided that if I wanted to go more often then I needed to dive locally (wreck dives off the coast of NJ mostly but also some rivers and flooded quarries in PA). And to dive locally I needed to learn to love the cold and dark, and to get a dry suit. The coldest water I have been in so far is 46°F and I'd have to say that this is getting close to my tolerance limit. Even with a dry suit, at the end of an hour I felt numb in the face and had a painful chill all over. The guy who sold me the dry suit likes to break the ice and dive under it. Call me a wimp, but that does not appeal to me at all.

 

[Edward3c]

In July in the Straits of Cozumel, I imagine that I was using my 3-mm wetsuit. Or maybe my 5-mm. I didn't get my first dry suit till about 6 or 7 years ago when I started diving locally. I live in PA in the exurbs about 50 minutes from Philadelphia. The water here is black and cold and I have a strong preference for the tropics. Unfortunately that's a long plane ride so, for the first 20 or so years that I was diving, I dived maybe 20 times per year. I decided that if I wanted to go more often then I needed to dive locally (wreck dives off the coast of NJ mostly but also some rivers and flooded quarries in PA). And to dive locally I needed to learn to love the cold and dark, and to get a dry suit. The coldest water I have been in so far is 46°F and I'd have to say that this is getting close to my tolerance limit. Even with a dry suit, at the end of an hour I felt numb in the face and had a painful chill all over. The guy who sold me the dry suit likes to break the ice and dive under it. Call me a wimp, but that does not appeal to me at all.

If your cold in a drysuit, your not wearing enough undergarments. Many years ago I made the mistake of wearing a body warmer over three other thermal layers. I was sweating under ice.

 

[Nemrod]

There is just no such thing in the recreational world. The Master Diver card is just a card for those who collect cards and want a full set. It means nothing. I have seen holders of the Master Diver card from the well known source who installed their regulator and tank backwards in their single band BC. And were perplexed as to why the hoses went the wrong way. And I am serious.

 

[Leatherboot69]

So you go diving not because you, i don't know, like doing it, but because an agency will give you a plastic card?

Who cares?

 

[Leatherboot69]

The challenge is always that you can rush through all the components of the MASTER Scuba Diver, get the card, yet end up being nothing like a true master of scuba diving with a wealth of skills, knowledge and experience.

And you've Paid Another Dollar In to purchase a card with absolutely no additional training or validation.


Something like the BSAC First Class Diver is a qualification gained by people with a demonstrable broad range of skills, experience and knowledge.

But at the end of the day, who needs to shout about their skills? If you've got them, just use them.

Yawn

 

[Seaweed Doc]

So you go diving not because you, i don't know, like doing it, but because an agency will give you a plastic card?

Everybody has their own motivation. I dive a lot more because I teach than I would just for fun. With "fun," my Calvinist upbringing would say there's something else I SHOULD be doing rather than diving.

When it comes to motivation to dive, to each their own.

 

[elgringoperdido]

So you go diving not because you, i don't know, like doing it, but because an agency will give you a plastic card?

We engage in recreational diving because we like doing it. But training dives are another matter. I like to enroll in a new course every few years. I took the rescue course because I thought it would make me a better, a safer diver, not because I hoped to rescue anyone. I enrolled in other courses for the same reason. Those of us who dive maybe 25 times per year can become complacent. Even those who make 500 dives per year can experience that.

It is true that some courses are motivated by specific goals. I got certified for EAN because I wanted to use nitrox. I got technical certifications because I wanted to explore deeper and search for treasure. Sidemount and closed-circuit rebreather are courses people take for specific reasons as well, but in general any certification courses will freshen our skills. I think it's a good way to be reminded of dive safety, navigation, trim, buoyancy, boat etiquette, air conservation, and all the rest of the competencies that go into making SCUBA diving a safe and enjoyable experience.

 

[TMHeimer]

There is just no such thing in the recreational world. The Master Diver card is just a card for those who collect cards and want a full set. It means nothing. I have seen holders of the Master Diver card from the well known source who installed their regulator and tank backwards in their single band BC. And were perplexed as to why the hoses went the wrong way. And I am serious.

I think one could be a true master diver as a rec. diver (though as I posted, I'm not exactly sure what the criteria should be). You could be a complete master of every aspect of rec. diving and not know one end of a trimix tank or rebreather from the other.

 

[Wibble]

Courses are a means to an end; to get the skills and knowledge to do something (safely). Throughout my diving career I’ve done 15 of them (eeek!) at various levels. Just like my education, I’ve learned my times tables and joined up writing, and I’ve studied calculus and research at undergraduate level.

Looking back at all those courses, some were trivial when compared with others. Nitrox, for example, contains a very small subset of the information contained in the trimix and rebreather courses; just as arithmetic classes at age 10 were trivial compared with university level mathematics.

The early-stage diving “qualifications” is similar to attempting to compare school certificates to university certificates. A master of something at age 10 isn’t the same as a master of something aged 18.

A “Master” scuba something in the recreational flappy leg NDL diving world isn’t anywhere near the same standard as required for a diver’s skill levels doing long decompression or overhead diving where a single misplaced fin kick may ruin or endanger everyone’s day.

So please excuse my cynicism for a “Master” who cannot fin efficiently nor plan and execute complex dives safely with a plethora of redundant equipment. They’re apples and oranges, or Boy Scouts badges to college degrees.