Taking Dive classes to learn, should i go with master diver or dive master

[mathauck0814]

People on SB always recommend "go diving" and while I certainly agree with that (especially over taking a dive master class at your experience level) sometimes it is not quite that simple. There *is* also something to be said for getting experience by taking classes

There is: After you have some experience.

If you don't feel comfortable going diving after your open water course, go back to the shop and demand your money back (or more instruction). Then go diving - a lot. Get 30-50 dives under your belt, then go back and get more training when you have some actual experience to draw upon.

OP - what is it that has given you the indication that you are a "Master Diver" candidate after just four months diving? Given that this is an activity that some people dedicate their lifetime to, doesn't it strike you as odd that such a designation is available to you at this point in your diving career? Shops are there to sell you things. You're being sold a fabrication at this point.

 

[boulderjohn]

. But unless you are truly interested in helping out with classes and doing unpaid work, divemaster is not the direction you should head. ...

On the other hand, just diving can ingrain bad habits very quickly. Unless you get feedback that changes your technique, you may not actually be improving. ...

Con Ed classes can be a good way to improve, if you take the right classes from the right people. ...

So, the bottom line from me is to mix diving experience and carefully chosen continuing education classes, picking your instructors carefully. Don't even think about "Going Pro" until you've been diving for several years, have a couple hundred dives under your belt, and find yourself wanting to guide or help teach.

I tried to distill Lynne's excellent post to the key ideas.

To me, the biggest problem with the way continuing education is marketed is that you get the idea there are only two choices. That is not true. There are lots of classes you can take from excellent instructors that will totally transform your diving. There are also weak classes you can take from instructors teaching the minimum that will do nothing for you. There are diving experiences you can have that will help you grow quickly. There are diving experiences you can have that will ingrain bad habits and make you a poorer diver than you were when you were first certified. I believe many of the poor divers we see around forgot their initial training and developed bad habits by following the "just go diving" advice.

You need a combination of good diving and good instruction to be all you can be. That means thinking carefully about what individual classes will help you succeed at what you really want to do. It means picking dive buddies with good skills and habits to emulate. It means always having your eyes on the prize of continual improvement.

 

[mathauck0814]

I just got OW certified in april and AOW last week.

If you are really detail oriented something more like Intro to Tech or Gue Fundamentals would be better.

Seriously?

 

[KeithG]

Plus 1 for going diving. Competence and confidence come with experience, not with piles of plastic cards. After you engage in about 100 more dives, evaluate your areas of interest and pursue classes in them., You may end up interested in technical diving and rebreathers, or just taking pretty pictures. Go dive, a bunch, and then you can answer your own questions more competently than anyone else ever could.
DivemasterDennis

What he said.

You should focus on gaining more dive experience to understand what "style" of diving you prefer. Additional training is generally a good idea as long as you can utilize the content is some way. Learn what you want to do and then get better at it.

 

[Peter Guy]

Perhaps mentioned, and certainly implied, is the notion that you should take instruction from several different instructors -- PROVIDED all the instructors are GOOD instructors. It is important you get varied experience as well as varied experiences -- two different, but related, things.

I believe I'm a good instructor with broad experience and experiences -- I also know other instructors who will teach "X" much better than I do and I tell my students that.

Last point -- one doesn't learn much, if anything, about "diving" in a Dive Master class which is about teaching one how to be a Dive Master, NOT a diver.

 

[boulderjohn]

Let me give you an example of two things that can happen after you are certified.

1. I have had a number of students tell me during the OW class that their friends who were already divers, and with whom they were planning to dive, told them that all the dive planning information in the class could be tossed out the window as soon as they are certified. "In the real world of diving," they were told, all of that is done by the DM. All you have to do is follow the DM on the dives. I am sure many people have done hundreds of dives like that. They have forgotten how to set up their gear, because the DMs do it. They don't have to plan depths, times, etc. The DM reminds them when they need to check their SPGs, and the DM tells them when it is time to ascend.

2. Divers can instead go out and do shore and boat dives with skilled buddies in areas that do not put DMs in the water. They will need to do all the planning themselves, using what they learned in their classes and what they can glean from their buddies.

Questions:

1. How will those two sets of divers compare after 100 dives?

2. Which of those two choices do you have in mind when you tell people to just go diving for a while so that they can improve?

 

[TSandM]

Originally Posted by 00wabbit If you are really detail oriented something more like Intro to Tech or Gue Fundamentals would be better.

Seriously

Lamont took Fundies with 20 dives. I don't remember if he passed it, but he doesn't regret having done it. I would not recommend the OP run out and jump into a class, but GUE Primer would be totally appropriate, and probably a very good way to jumpstart her diving skills.

 

[Lorenzoid]

Lamont took Fundies with 20 dives. I don't remember if he passed it, but he doesn't regret having done it. I would not recommend the OP run out and jump into a class, but GUE Primer would be totally appropriate, and probably a very good way to jumpstart her diving skills.

If the OP isn't diving in hogarthian gear configuration, that could be a hurdle. It was for me when I was looking to jumpstart my skills.

 

[TSandM]

Oh, no doubt. I was just objecting to the offhand dismissal of taking such a class when relatively inexperienced.

 

[TMHeimer]

Go diving. Take rescue. Go diving. Take an actual master diver stand alone class from naui or sei. Go diving. Take an intro to tech class. Go diving.

Agree.
Take Rescue for sure.
Divemaster=you have to want to teach/supervise, and that has little to do with your personal diving for pleasure. You do have to get your (20) skills up to "demonstration" level, which is good. And you do learn a lot of other stuff, a small amount of which will help you with normal rec. diving and divemastering.
Master Diver is neat to have. Not a "course" with PADI, but a nice recognition and "wall certificate".
The NAUI MSD is a course. Lots of discussions on SB on PADI MSD vs. NAUI MSD.