After completing the Rescue diver course, contemplating the next step of your dive journey will be the obvious next step. Yet ask yourself one important question, do you wish to delve into the professional routes, earning money from diving, and encountering the responsibilities that come with such a task, or in turn continue the non-professional route, focusing o your own skills, and becoming a more competent diver with many more factors to be learnt.
Master Scuba Diver
Less than 2% of divers ever achieve this qualification, a factor that makes this course highly unique. Achieving such a qualification indicates that the diver has completed a variety of courses before the MSD, and is as competent as a diver can be before becoming a professional.
There are a number of pre-requisites before being able to achieve the Master Scuba Diver rating, for example,
- Divers must be at least 12 Years old, and to earn the Junior MSD between 12 and 14 years of age.
- PADI Junior Advanced & Rescue certified
- Earned 5 PADI Specialty Diver Certifications, such as Deep, Wreck or Night.
- Have logged over 50 dives
- Complete all necessary paperwork
The MSD is more of a rating than a qualification, meaning it doesn’t have a stand-alone course in particular, yet is more of a summary of everything you have learnt, yet in a more compact and definitive package. While people may ask why they should complete the MSD, it is a rating that will evoke respect within the diving community, and if not pursuing the professional qualifications is the highest part of the PADI system that can be obtained.
Divemaster
As many know, the main reason to become a divemaster is for the professional rating, and the ability to secure a job and financial benefit from diving. If one is not interested in these factors, look no further. Being a divemaster can be as tough as it is rewarding, joining a fraternity where there is as much competition as, there is demand for jobs creates long working days, exhausting conditions (at times), and normally lower than average pay. Despite these points, the thrill, travel, life experience, responsibility, and comradery of a divemaster is unparralled.
Here are the prerequisites to become a PADI divemaster;
- At least 18 years years old
- PADI rescue diver qualified
- Emergency First Response (EFR) Primary & Secondary Care completed within two years
- Medical Statement ‘fit to dive’
- 40 logged dives before the course
- 60 logged dives after the course.
One substantial difference between the MSD and Divemaster courses is the responsibility of the divemaster. You are now in charge of not only others having a good time, but in turn their safety. If you cannot commit to this philosophy of hard work and dedication as well as professionalism and responsibility, the divemaster is not for you, if you can, welcome to the professional dive community.
Ready to find out more? Visit our course section on our website or www.padi.com