How to answer "what is your highest certification level"?

[Cdncoldwater]

Has anyone ever passed Rescue without more than 50 dives? If so then have to question the certification standards!

$69 to PADI -- that really is money for old rope.

I did it with less than 50 dives; around the 30-40 mark with AOW and a few other specialties; my course mates had more dives but I did as well or better than them on the course. I had a lot of non-scuba experience that helped me, military, paratrooper, first aid instructor trainer etc. I've learned that the number of dives one has does not equal ability. My son had less than 15 dives when we went on a scuba trip and his buoyancy, trim and awareness was better than some boat mates who claimed to have a few hundred, obviously vacation dives.

 

[Bert van den Berg]

I’ve always called myself a wreck diver that happens to dive in caves. But I have to say: a 30 foot walk on firm ground to enter a nice, calm, crystal clear freshwater spring is way better then an hour of nausea and stingy eye water...

At least our Great Lakes wrecks don’t have saltwater — it’s just 40 degree colder... :/

Try deep salt water cave diving! Search YouTube "Fraggle Rock Poor Knights". Entry at 28M, exit at 39M (128 feet) with spaces so tight you have to use sidemount or swim sideways. And cold water.

 

[rhwestfall]

NAUI does the same thing.

but quite different....

 

[rhwestfall]

and now we shall go down the rabbit hole...

The NAUI Master Scuba Diver is the same (or at least how it is done here) curriculum as the NAUI DM, without the "demonstration level skill" requirement, without the "how to teach" component, and without the "dive shop" component. The shop specifies the dives you are to do (oh, drift diver here is a 3kt, low visibility ride in a river, deep is a cold water 130' deep wreck out on the lake, it involves a chamber dive to test/demonstrate tour narcosis tolerance, night, navigation and search and recovery are in low vis water at a quarry, and is also a multiple dive weekend in deep/cold water). All under the watchful eye of instructors and DM's.

I found it interesting that my signatures (I'm not a professional) in a buddy's log book on a two tank day on some deep wrecks allowed for him to submit to PADI his Master Diver paperwork...

Anyhow, I may have been misinformed, but that is how it is presented here...

YMMV

 

[MichaelMc]

Let's avoid the Padi MSD vs NAUI MSD rehash. And I say that having trained towards NAUI DM. @rhwestfall did a quick summary above.

I would highly recommend NAUI MSD though.

My summary from this 2017 thread Achieving master diver recognition:

Actually NAUI's Master Scuba Diver is a specific class that is 23 hours of academics and 8 dives including Emergency/Rescue, Deep/SimDeco, LimVis/Night, Nav, Search/Recovery, + 3 elective dives. Naui rescue is a separate class that Master does not actually require, though Naui requires rescue skills from OW on, and Master requires AOW. Master was apparently meant as all the leadership content except the leading/teaching parts. (Though except the stand alone rescue class itself; and some personal water skills have been harder in DM than Master. Master, rescue, and now leadership prep FIT, are prerequisites for AI/DM, plus Nitrox, O2, and professional diver first aid)

And this 2017 thread PADI v NAUI Master Scuba Diver Rating

NAUI Master diver was designed as everything NAUI felt their diver leaders, AI/DM/Instructor, should know that did not involve actual leading or teaching. So all the physics, physiology, water and rescue skills. There are some small differences now, but according to Thalassamania, who apparently designed the class, that was the original intent. I'm currently a NAUI DM candidate so fairly familiar with NAUI. I do not know the Padi DM requirements.

I'm not saying those are definitive, and things may have changed. Folks can read the other threads on it. Some random other ones are:
Naui master diver vs divemaster water skills?
NAUI Master Scuba Diver: what exactly is it

 

[rhwestfall]

apologies...

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

Has anyone ever passed Rescue without more than 50 dives? If so then have to question the certification standards!

$69 to PADI -- that really is money for old rope.

What performance requirements are so difficult in rescue diver that are so arduous that a person with less than 50 dives would not be able to perform? Please cite the standards. A number of instructors from other agencies do include most, if not all, of the skills in PADI's rescue course in their open water classes.

 

[MichaelMc]

apologies...

All good. It is a very good distinction, and why I separately specified NAUI MSD and Padi MSD above. NAUI MSD is a good contender for top rec cert. Yet it does not require the separate rescue class as a prereq, though it does include a rescue dive and NAUI incorporates rescue starting in OW, and it does not have a minimum dive requirement. So it is not clear cut.

Padi MSD is a consolidation card and certification of 50 dives. NAUI MSD represents the core non-leadership and non-agency things their leaders are supposed to know and be able to do.

ETA: But see boulderjohn's note, #29, that when Padi MSD was created 5 specializes about exhausted all of scuba instruction at the time, so it meant you had 'mastered' all of the classes. Which apparently were just what we now call rec. Today, all the rec MSDs are contending for 'master' of the shallow non-rust-prone parts of the pond that have the big air tank above them.

 

[Manatee Diver]

All the chest thumping cave divers say that cave diving is the hardest diving in the world. Every time I go to the ocean, that notion, makes me laugh.

Cave diving is so easy. I don’t have to deal with 20 divers on a boat, 5’ seas, a ripping current, or a ladder trying to bash my teeth in when you add it all together. Oh, and the water tastes funny and you have to rinse all your gear. Wtf!?!?

Don't disagree that the surface segments of cave diving is so much easier.

But we still do it on occasion, and we are reminded how much easier it is to get in the water cave diving.

 

[TTPaws]

Back to what do you show them, most often today is my CCR40 & IANTD trimix if they ask. If on OC I just show my nitrox instructor card as it punch the highest cert and am I certified for NITROX. It's easy as i have them on the PADI app so i can show them what they want to see.