PADI Master Scuba Diver

When you set out to do something, do you think “I’ll be like everybody else”  or do you think “I’ll be the best that I can”?   Would you start a karate class saying “I’m going to be a whitebelt!”  or do you crave that pinnacle of excellence, the black belt?   Master Scuba Diver is the black belt of recreational diving.

Requirements to become a PADI Master Scuba Diver:

• PADI Open Water Diver (or equivalent)
• PADI Advanced Open Water Diver (or equivalent)
• PADI Rescue Diver (or equivalent)
• Five(5) PADI Specialty certifications
• Fifty(50) logged dives

Let’s look at what this really means.   You learn the basics of diving in Open Water, primarily focusing on taking care of yourself.   In Advanced you begin to explore what divers do for fun.   In Rescue, you begin to focus on others: problem prevention and response.   To cap this off, you explore five specialty areas of diving in depth with five PADI Specialty Diver certifications.   You also need to log 50 dives.  They can be training dives, but the idea here is to make several dives without an instructor guiding you every step of the way.   Completion of all of the requirements for the PADI Master Scuba Diver rating shows that you are truly a master diver.   You’re now the ideal buddy.   Who wouldn’t want to dive with a Master Scuba Diver?

Does it take a long time?  No, not really.   Many specialty diver courses only take a day or so.   While you could just rack up dives to meet the 50 required, use those dives to practice what you’ve learned in training.   Practice setting up a backup breathing system for a deep dive, really dial in your buoyancy, practice fish identification, etc.

Check out the page for Specialty Diver courses to see what options you have for the specialties.

If you have some specific interests, a Master Scuba Diver program can be customized for you.   For example, I offer two themed Master Scuba Diver Programs:

Master Eco Diver:  Peak Performance Buoyancy, Coral Reef Conservation, Project AWARE, Shark Conservation, Underwater Naturalist and Fish Identification

Master Safety Diver: Oxygen First Aid, Marine Life Injuries, Neurological Exam, Peak Performance Buoyancy, Search & Recovery and Equipment

Note that these include six specialties rather than just the minimum of five.   After all, if you’re going to be the best, why settle for the bare minimum?

 

Master Scuba Diver is also a great path to take on your way towards Divemaster.   A great time to log quality training dives and develop your skills and abilities.   From my point of view as an Instructor, a Divemaster that is also a Master Scuba Diver is an ideal assistant.   I like to teach specialty courses, so a Divemaster that has experience in those specialties is very valuable.   Also, Divemaster requires some practical training in Search & Recovery and Deep Diving.   If you complete the Specialty courses, your instructor can credit those specialties towards those components of Divemaster.

 

To learn more about the PADI Master Scuba Diver program and get started on becoming an underwater black belt, contact me.