A Little Bragging

[Aqua-Andy]

Congrats buddy.

Don't listen to the cynics. I'd rather dive with anyone who showed a serious commitment to self-improvement and perfecting their diving - than any diver who felt he was 'too cool for school'. It's easy for those people to cast stones on the internet - a forum where they can talk-the-talk, but don't have to walk-the-walk.

MSD takes some time, effort and commitment. That proves something.

Devon it's not about being "too cool for school" I just think some titles and classes are just there just to make money for the agencies, dive shops and instructors. Do you honestly believe you could call someone a "master diver" after only 50 dives and what 5? other courses? What I would consider a master diver is someone who has probably made around 1000 or more dives, has made dives in many different conditions and would have way more than six classes under his belt. The OP may in fact be an excellent diver but to I just would not consider someone with that experience a "master diver". It just seams to me that the diving industry in general is always trying to get more money out of us every chance they can get. In the side mount forum there was a thread about dive centers not letting people dive sidemount unless they have that cert now, but before the cert came out it was just fine. I was forced by my shop to take a drysuit class because when I took other classes from them I would have to dive wet unless I had a drysuit class, this was for "insurance purposes". What did I get out of the drysuit class? Almost nothing, except for the card. Yes some people may need it but I did a lot of research before diving it and educated myself on the use of a drysuit and did all the drills the class has you do. Just read the OP's comments about what he received back from PADI, going pro material. That is just as good as saying "hay congrats on your new cert, now give us more money". I even think the Advanced Diver rating is a joke. I don't know about PADI but with SSI you can take OW, fish id, photography, waves tides and currents, and the new nitrox no dives required course, and be an advanced diver. What really counts is your experience in the water. Flame away!

 

[boulderjohn]

Flame away!

This isn't the place for it.

The OP did something he was proud of, and he said so. That was the purpose of the thread. He received a lot of heart felt and sincere congratulations, as he would be appropriate.

On the other hand, you don't like the way that agencies promote continuing dive education, so you want to attack them. If that's what you want to do, go start a new thread on this topic, or else resurrect and of the 100 or so other old threads on this topic. In this thread it's just a hijack.

 

[bbarnett51]

Devon it's not about being "too cool for school" I just think some titles and classes are just there just to make money for the agencies, dive shops and instructors. Do you honestly believe you could call someone a "master diver" after only 50 dives and what 5? other courses? What I would consider a master diver is someone who has probably made around 1000 or more dives, has made dives in many different conditions and would have way more than six classes under his belt. The OP may in fact be an excellent diver but to I just would not consider someone with that experience a "master diver". It just seams to me that the diving industry in general is always trying to get more money out of us every chance they can get. In the side mount forum there was a thread about dive centers not letting people dive sidemount unless they have that cert now, but before the cert came out it was just fine. I was forced by my shop to take a drysuit class because when I took other classes from them I would have to dive wet unless I had a drysuit class, this was for "insurance purposes". What did I get out of the drysuit class? Almost nothing, except for the card. Yes some people may need it but I did a lot of research before diving it and educated myself on the use of a drysuit and did all the drills the class has you do. Just read the OP's comments about what he received back from PADI, going pro material. That is just as good as saying "hay congrats on your new cert, now give us more money". I even think the Advanced Diver rating is a joke. I don't know about PADI but with SSI you can take OW, fish id, photography, waves tides and currents, and the new nitrox no dives required course, and be an advanced diver. What really counts is your experience in the water. Flame away!

divers WANT

The courses are not required. Should PADI not charge for classes that divers WANT to take? Although it is possible to take those easy courses I dont think it happens often. PPl that take extra courses do so to learn. My deep divinng course is cheap IMO. I pay $85 and get the course work PLUS two boat dives with a pro!!! The entire experience will give me tons of knowledge.

The good news is that you can stay OW all your life and teach yourself if that is what you want to do. No money from your pocket.


CONGRATS TO THE OP!

 

[Aqua-Andy]

This isn't the place for it.

The OP did something he was proud of, and he said so. That was the purpose of the thread. He received a lot of heart felt and sincere congratulations, as he would be appropriate.

On the other hand, you don't like the way that agencies promote continuing dive education, so you want to attack them. If that's what you want to do, go start a new thread on this topic, or else resurrect and of the 100 or so other old threads on this topic. In this thread it's just a hijack.

I agree this is not the place for it, And yes the OP should be proud of his accomplishments, but as a moderator on this board was refering to me as being cynical and too cool for school, I thought I would explain myself.

divers WANT

The courses are not required. Should PADI not charge for classes that divers WANT to take? Although it is possible to take those easy courses I dont think it happens often. PPl that take extra courses do so to learn. My deep divinng course is cheap IMO. I pay $85 and get the course work PLUS two boat dives with a pro!!! The entire experience will give me tons of knowledge.

The good news is that you can stay OW all your life and teach yourself if that is what you want to do. No money from your pocket.


CONGRATS TO THE OP!

Yes divers do want these classes and I have wanted some also. My deep diver course was awesome we spent around 45 minutes on the SSI deep diver book then around four hours on dive and gas planning then two dives, yours sounds just as good. I never said anything about not charging for a class what I don't like is being strong armed into a class under the pretense of liability. And to my question, with the minimum requirements do you really consider someone a "master diver"? I sure don't.

 

[mselenaous]

Congrats!

 

[lowviz]

...//...the OP should be proud of [-]his[/-] (her) accomplishments...//....

That's the whole point of this thread, thanks for adding your voice.

 

[Aqua-Andy]

Because all of you have been wonderful in answering all my newbie questions, I have to brag a little. Got my Master Scuba Diver certification in the mail today. Yay!

I did not realize you were a HER and not a HIM and sorry for hijacking your thread. But if I were you I would just go out have fun and dive. Just remember to practice your skills every once and a while, safety stops are a great opportunity to practice air sharing, mask drills, and just going over your gear so you know where everything is.

 

[cwhite6]

Devon it's not about being "too cool for school" I just think some titles and classes are just there just to make money for the agencies, dive shops and instructors. Do you honestly believe you could call someone a "master diver" after only 50 dives and what 5? other courses? What I would consider a master diver is someone who has probably made around 1000 or more dives, has made dives in many different conditions and would have way more than six classes under his belt. The OP may in fact be an excellent diver but to I just would not consider someone with that experience a "master diver". It just seams to me that the diving industry in general is always trying to get more money out of us every chance they can get. In the side mount forum there was a thread about dive centers not letting people dive sidemount unless they have that cert now, but before the cert came out it was just fine. I was forced by my shop to take a drysuit class because when I took other classes from them I would have to dive wet unless I had a drysuit class, this was for "insurance purposes". What did I get out of the drysuit class? Almost nothing, except for the card. Yes some people may need it but I did a lot of research before diving it and educated myself on the use of a drysuit and did all the drills the class has you do. Just read the OP's comments about what he received back from PADI, going pro material. That is just as good as saying "hay congrats on your new cert, now give us more money". I even think the Advanced Diver rating is a joke. I don't know about PADI but with SSI you can take OW, fish id, photography, waves tides and currents, and the new nitrox no dives required course, and be an advanced diver. What really counts is your experience in the water. Flame away!

SSI requires you to do the dives for at least two of their classes to count towards AOW. You also have to have 25 dives and take four full classes, not just a dive in each.

 

[Quero]

SSI requires you to do the dives for at least two of their classes to count towards AOW. You also have to have 25 dives and take four full classes, not just a dive in each.

SSI does have a cert that is nearly identical to the PADI AOW called Advanced Adventurer. The names of these certification levels mean nothing, and we cannot compare the requirements based only on these names. In other words, for a comparison of apples with apples, oranges with oranges, one would have to compare the PADI AOW to the SSI AA, and the SSI AOW to the PADI MSD, and the SSI DC with the PADI DM to really see how the requirements differ.

 

[soltari675]

That's the whole point of this thread, thanks for adding your voice.

Was just about to make a small comment. Her and She please