Next, in relation to the following
I agree that the NAUI MSD cert and the PADI MSD cert are very different, but the above is an oversimplification that I believe gives a false impression. I base my objection partly on personal experience and partly on NAUI's published course requirements.
... and I base my objection as the originator, developer and author of the NAUI Master Diver Program.
I realize that NAUI instructors are permitted and even encouraged to beef up the curriculum and add dives to the minimums published by NAUI, but they are not compelled to do so. The effect of this is that a NAUI course offered by a particular instructor may not actually follow the same curriculum as the "same" course given by a different instructor. Therefore, the only real way to compare PADI MSD and NAUI MSD certs is to look at what each requires at minimum, not at what each "might" include when under the direction of a superlative instructor.
Put it like this, how you get there is each individual NAUI Instructor's business as long as minimum standards are met, but the bottom line is that at the end of the course the student should posses both the diving knowledge and diving skills that are expected of a NAUI Instructor.
I earned the NAUI Advanced cert, and it is nothing at all like the PADI MSD. In fact, it's very similar to the PADI Advanced cert. So the assertion that PADI MSD is equivalent to NAUI Advanced is quite simply untrue.
Today, after the depauperization of all the courses what you say is partially true, PADI and NAUI Advanced courses are similar and nothing is similar to PADI Master Diver, since it is not a course, but rather a recognition patch.
In terms of comparing the NAUI Master Diver cert and the PADI MSD cert, it's not clear cut. NAUI's cert appears to be more demanding than the PADI cert in some ways and less in others, based on the published course requirements available online from the NAUI website. If a current NAUI instructor can demonstrate that the published information is incomplete, perhaps we can make a more informed comparison.
What you are seeing on NAUI's website today is the dumbed down Master Diver Course, which (even in it's stupid state) is completely different from the PADI course, if only in the fact that it has actual dive requirements, skill requirements and knowledge requirements.
- The overt theoretical knowledge required of the NAUI MSD cert is more explicit than for the PADI MSD cert, which requires no written tests beyond those required for particular specialties and for Rescue Diver.
- Would it be possible to put together the right suite of 5 PADI specialties with a few non-testable "embelishments" and come out roughly the same, or even more rigorous? ... perhaps.
[*]For NAUI, some Rescue Diver information is folded in to the course with classwork and a single required dive, whereas for PADI it's a separate required course which takes several days to complete and includes a written test. (NAUI does have a Rescue cert, but it's a specialty and is not a listed requirement for the MSD program.)
Rescue is built into just about every NAUI course, what a diver would get from a NAUI Open Water Course and the Master Diver course will at least equal what PADI describes as it's, "challenging and rewarding" Rescue Diver course."
[*]The PADI program requires CPR + First Aid training since that in itself is a pre-req for Rescue; no such requirement is listed for the NAUI cert.
It, along with NAUI Oxygen Administration (the Jim Corey course), used to be, but unfortunately NAUI has learned how to play the dumb down game too.
[*]The NAUI cert is more strict with the obligatory dive skills, which include additional work on nav and low viz diving plus search and recovery and introduction to deco diving, as well as the emergency/rescue dive. The PADI cert allows the divers to select which specialties will meet their particular interest, even if these specialties are not specifically designed to enhance dive skills such as navigation.
The skills area that are there are what NAUI currently considers to be the critical diving skill areas for an Instructor.
[*]The NAUI cert is less rigorous in terms of the number of dives required to achieve the status. PADI requires a minimum of 50 dives. For NAUI's MSD, the minimum number of training dives is 8 (and one of the eight can be a skin dive).
In theory, NAUI requires a total of 19 training dives and no "on your own experience dives" to reach that status while PADI requires somewhere between 4 and about 19 training dives plus enough dives on your own to reach 50 total.
In sum, a diver is able to earn the NAUI MSD with a few dives and a lot of study/written testing on theory. To earn the PADI cert, a diver needs a lot of dives and far less study/written testing on theory.
There is still the standard of performance that the knowledge and skills are at the level of a NAUI Instructor, which makes it rather unlikely that your normal diver could complete the class with no dives under their belt except the required training dives.
I am not offering an opinion for or against either approach. They are different, and the differences simply cannot be reduced to blanket assertions comparing various ratings between different agencies.
They are different, NAUI's program is a course with specific desired learning outcomes (dumbed down that they may be from what was originally in place) while PADI's is a $50 vanity plate. That's what I see as the primary distinctions.
