Master scuba diver - why the negativity?

[DevonDiver]

Not that long ago PADI required a night dive for Advanced. There were some people that couldn't handle a night dive so it was eliminated.

Absolute poppycock. Don't make things up...or regurgitate silly stories that you hear other morons passing around.

The mandatory night dive was removed in 2006. Many scuba centres/regions face restrictions on night diving, due to local legislation, conditions or dive site access. A mandatory night dive would mean that those dive centres/regions were unable to provide the AOW course. In particular, I have seen references that the PADI Nordic office requested the removal of the mandatory night dive, due to summer daylight times in Scandinavian countries.

I thought my Trimix card would get that job done ... till I ran into some idiot who wouldn't give me a nitrox fill ... because nitrox isn't trimix ...

 

[Blackwood]

There's often far more ego involved when someone touts ... an expensive DSLR rig.

More envy too. I've never looked at a cert card and thought, 'god damn I'd give my left foot for that.'

 

[Rhone Man]

In particular, I have seen references that the PADI Nordic office requested the removal of the mandatory night dive, due to summer daylight times in Scandinavian countries.

That was what I heard. Created a logjam in the PADI training ladder.
Not sure if it is true, but certainly plausible.

 

[The Kraken]

"Master scuba diver - why the negativity?"

I think, as been alluded to in other posts, that it is the word "Master" that generates such negativity.

Unfortunately, the "Master Scuba Diver" epithet sounds very much the U.S. Navy's "Master Diver" rating. I can assure you, the requirements to attain each rating are just a little bit more than different, and many ex-servicemen take exception to the correlation.

If push comes to shove, I think that most people that have gone through the drill feel that the PADI term implies a degree of diving ability far in excess of that actually required.

I would bet that if two divers were talking to a non-diver and stated their levels of diving advancement at "Master Scuba Diver" and "Dive Master", the non-diver would perceive that the "Master Scuba Diver" was the diver or higher accomplishment.

Personally, I don't like the designation.

Just thought I'd express my 2 cents worth.

 

[DevonDiver]

I would bet that if two divers were talking to a non-diver and stated their levels of diving advancement at "Master Scuba Diver" and "Dive Master", the non-diver would perceive that the "Master Scuba Diver" was the diver or higher accomplishment.

Who cares what a non-diver assumes? So... if you get an MSD card... it might get you laid once in a while when flashed around in a bar. Makes it worth the small cost.

To be honest... if someone wants to 'impress' non-divers, then a 'Rescue Diver' card could be used equally dishonestly.

 

[Rhone Man]

it might get you laid once in a while when flashed around in a bar.

If only....

 

[drrich2]

As someone posted, it might be better to have levels instead.
In skydiving they have 4 license levels , A,B,C and D. At a drop zone they
had certain jumps that require a certain license to participate in certain jumps.
We live in a psychological marketing driven world. If they can make someone feel better about themselves they'll do it.

And there we go. Would as many people go through the training to reach 'License Level D'? If not, is the current system not better since it leads more people to get the training, even if the terminology bothers some people?

Richard.

 

[TSandM]

Well, I stated my primary objection to the MSD card earlier (that you have to pay money for a card which is merely a summary of your other cards). But the more I think about it, the more I realize I have another objection, which is the implication that this is the summit of accomplishment and training for a recreational diver. In the PADI system, there IS nowhere else to go, which I think is part of the reason we see so many people asking about becoming divemasters. Yet, if you examine the curriculum and the in-water training, there is so much more to know . . . and so much more to "master", than the MSD may even have been exposed to! (Gas management, for example, is not taught ANYWHERE in the PADI recreational curriculum.)

It is rather a shame that, to polish skills and expand knowledge further, one either has to take professional-level classes (when professional diving may not even be the person's ambition) or technical classes (when technical diving may not be an ambition, either). This is one of the biggest reasons why I have been and remain an outspoken proponent of classes like GUE's Fundamentals, and UTD's Essentials. There IS more you can learn about diving, and it IS available to recreational divers. MSD is by no means the end of the road.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

Wouldn't dive masters be cheaper?

Perhaps ... but they're not half as much fun to produce ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[DevonDiver]

You're all a bunch of Master debaters....