Percentage of divers who go beyond openwater?

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Our Certification History is part of the details stored in our SB Account. I assume that it would be possible for one of the SB board members to compile this information for us all to learn.

I guess you could run a survey as to what is your top cert and list a half al dozen ow aow rescue nitrox master dm tech other

that should generate a good set of data atlaeeast form the SB members which is probably not the best set to represent the globe
 
I would guess that both ends of the bell curve are overrepresented on SB--eager noobs like me with lots of questions, and highly trained/experienced/involved divers. The mass of casual vacation divers and those who got certified once but life got in the way don't come around here.
 
When I became a Master Diver I was mentioned in the dive shop's newsletter and they indicated that it's a level less than 2% of divers reach. Now I am a Divemaster so I'm thinking I'm probably now in the top 1% of divers.

This is totally anecdotal, but I've noticed their are 2 types of divers. Ones like me who got certified and it became such an addiction that they are diving all the time. Then there are the ones that get certified because they wanna dive on vacation or it's on their bucket list and after 10 years they have maybe 20 dives.
 
I am content with my Master Diver...working on Deco and Adv Nitrox now to dabble in the tech side as I love wrecks. BUT here lately I have been considering the Dive Master program as I am pretty mobile for the most part and could use it after retirement in a few years
 
BUT here lately I have been considering the Dive Master program as I am pretty mobile for the most part and could use it after retirement in a few years

That's why I went Pro too. Something to do during retirement. You should really consider it. Working with students is so incredibly satisfying and fun. I love watching their confidence grow, especially during the ocean checkout weekend.
 
When I became a Master Diver I was mentioned in the dive shop's newsletter and they indicated that it's a level less than 2% of divers reach. Now I am a Divemaster so I'm thinking I'm probably now in the top 1% of divers

I think you may find higher percentage of DMs than MSD. The MSD is a backstop cert for those that don't get into the dive proffessional pipeline, the sales pitch is started in OW. Those that give up on the dream of dive proffessional may not be inclined to settle on second best.

Since one only sees the few DMs that are working part time at the shop, one assumes that's how many there are. In fact they certified one, another was seheduled for later in the year, and had more DMCs in training, I was the only MSD that year.

That what I saw in the PADI shop I was using, the instructor mentioned to me that he had cerertified more DMs than MSDs when I received mine.


Bob
 
That what I saw in the PADI shop I was using, the instructor mentioned to me that he had cerertified more DMs than MSDs when I received mine.

So a lot of DMs don't have a bunch of specialties I guess. Interesting. Thanks.
 
So a lot of DMs don't have a bunch of specialties I guess. Interesting. Thanks.

I wouldn't know, and would that be before or after DM. What I saw was a progression OW, AOW, Rescue, and then DM. No requirement for specialties, and why get a MSD when you already have a DM.

The only reason I went to MSD was a bet with my daughter. She was away at college and got involved with diving. She kept talking about certifying Dive Con (SSI) but kept procrastinating, so I bet her I could get MSD first. Two years later I won, but she did certify Dive Con and a while later did a cross to PADI. The real win I was going for was to get her more training so her mom (not a diver) and I would not worry so much about her diving.

I was only planning to pick up AOW because a dive op I was going to use required it for their dives. Even though it was a windfall for the instructor, he kept giving me the go Pro pitch. It ended when he asked me, in front of everyone, why I wouldn't go pro and I told him, loud enough for everyone to hear, "Because l like diving".


Bob
 
but how expensive is it to go tech?

10K is gone before you realise. And after that it really starts, scooter, ccr,

Tech diving is a lot like rec diving in that it gets as expensive as you let it. For someone who is already rec deep certified to 130', the investment to do a Deco40 or Tec40 type course is not really big. Around here, the cost is about 1000 USD for an entry level Tec course, give or take. If all you want to do is to do longer dives in the rec depth range then that may be all you ever do.

If the bug bites, then you do have a very clear path to spending a lot of money laid out for you, but that is up to the individual. I know myself too well, so I have given myself a hard limit of 50m / 165' for my own diving, or I will end up spending my food money on boltsnaps. Again.

Of course, as I type this I am waiting for an email to confirm scheduling of my IANTD CCR Normoxic Plus course, so take what I say with a large bag of salt...
 

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