What makes a master diver?

[Jim Lapenta]

Not sure what the origin was but now it has been so watered down by some agencies that any dip looking to get his student numbers up can write the most idiotic specialty and have it count towards the so-called "master diver" cert. I have enough specialties(6 in fact) that I consider necessary for my needs but refuse to send 40 bucks for a piece of plastic.

 

[julio]

I guess the master diver program depends on the agency, because you all talk of the padi company.

How about the NAUI master scuba program? Has anyone ever seen about that?

I read through the manuel the other day at my lds and it was pretty impressive. How many books do you have from PADI, SSI or SDI, or any other agency who have so much information to even cover types of gas embolisms, scuba compressors, dcs, and more.

It isn't a course I have experience with, but it seems very nifty.

I have many dives and have dived in many environments, but I think that people who want to pay dollars for a master scuba course, could actually benefit from over 20hrs of academics and 8 dives minium, like they state in the course outline.

The PADI course may give you a FREE backpack, but the NAUI course may actually give the recreational diver a few new skills.

My friend just took the NAUI Intro to Tech course and said it was wicked cool too, even though he needs to take 1 or 2 more dives on it he thought it was very informative and loved the gear he was subjected too.

I don't know how I want to go, but I think for now Naui has more than the others, although it depends on who teaches the courses like anything.

 

[Thalassamania]

Does anyone know the history of the Master Diver rating (for any agency)? Has it been around since the beginning of scuba certifications, or is it a relatively new rating?

(I am not referring to Navy Master Diver or similar, just the scuba certification agency rating)

The NAUI Master Diver course was an outgrowth of a revision of all of NAUI standards in the mid 1980s. It was designed to be two things, the first was the penultimate non-leadership certification and the second was a way to streamline the Instructor Training Course.

The concept was that a NAUI Master Diver would have to meet all the pool skill, open water skill and knowledge objectives that were contained within the NAUI ITC with the exception of those that related only to the training of divers. Thus a NAUI Master Diver would only have to take two written exam sections (teaching and NAUI) and demonstrate the ability to deal with students in the open water and pool as well as with a classroom setting.

The time saved would be applied to mentoring the ITC candidate in the individualized development of their course (remember NAUI has no modules).

 

[MikeFerrara]

Isn't "Master Diver" a rank in the military?

What menaing could it possibly have in a recreational context? Think about it. An OW card, nitrox, trimix, wreck, cavern, cave or whatever, state a specific subject that the diver received training in. In recreational diving the term "master" is just a marketing tool.

 

[MikeFerrara]

fisheyeview: and why would you even want a master diver card if youre dive master? DM is a higher cert level anyways?

Not in the PADI course lineup of courses DM isn't higher.

Master Scuba Diver = OW, AOW, Rescue, 5 specialties and 50 dives.
Divemaster = OW, AOW, rescue, the DM course (which focuses on supervision) and 60 dives.

Depending on the specialties the "master" could have quit a bit more actual dive training than the DM. Unfortunately, there's a prety good chance that niether of them can dive worth a darn.

 

[Thalassamania]

Mike,

The meaning that it had, in the context of the time, was that the holder of the NAUI Master Diver card (remember, NITROX and GAS only existed in the science and commercial communities, Technical Diving did not exist as a "discipline," the only CCRs about were military, etc.) was the equal (as a diver) to the Instructor that you'd trust to teach your loved ones to dive. That was a very real meaning and not a marketing tool, as it now is in the corrupted form of send us your money after taking 1 from column A and two from column B, etc.

And yes, a Master Diver was held to a higher standard than a Divemaster or an AI, the same standard as an Instructor.

 

[Tigerman]

Does a "Master of Chemistry" truely "master" every single bit of chemistry? Does a "Master of Economy" truely master every single aspect of economy?
I think not, and should the Masters degrees therefore change? Following some of the argumentation in this thread, they should be..

 

[Thalassamania]

Does a "Master of Chemistry" truely "master" every single bit of chemistry? Does a "Master of Economy" truely master every single aspect of economy?
I think not, and should the Masters degrees therefore change? Following some of the argumentation in this thread, they should be..

Those titles evolved quite differently, that's a different discussion and a red herring here.

 

[Tigerman]

Those titles evolved quite differently, that's a different discussion and a red herring here.

They might have evolved differently, but they are in other ways very similar, both in the way that its a step along a ladder and that they are - like the rec diving certs - not accurate if you take them out of context nor the most advanced level you can hold..

Or to put it in short "every title youll ever get will be inaccurate"

 

[Thalassamania]

History of the Master's degree and other such stuff.

Please, if you really want to discuss this after reading ... open a new thread.