Now - both are very different - one is the end of the recreational diving ladder, while the latter is the beginning of the professional diving ladder..
According to PADI, less than 2% of divers worldwide ever earned the PADI Master Scuba Diver rating, they akin it to like the black belt of diving, but is it?
In a way, it just means that one has attained various kinds of knowledge in their diving pursuits, all you need is just 5 PADI specialties, which can be from outright useless specialties to useful, prerequisites for advanced diving..
For me, I've chosen to take the specialties that added value to my diving career - namely:
- Enriched Air Nitrox
- EANx simply means anything above 21% oxygen up to 40% oxygen in the scuba cylinder. In diving, we do not dive with 100% oxygen or call it oxygen tank.. Normal scuba tanks have 21% oxygen which is what we breathe normally, so anything above that is Enriched Air, and in order to use Nitrox, one must be certified as it involves knowing exactly what percentage of oxygen is in the tank, as it will determine how deep you can dive to, otherwise it can be fatal.
- Deep
- In the Deep specialty, this allows you to dive to 40m, the limit of recreational diving.. Advanced Open Water allows you to dive to 30m, so in order to dive to 40m, you must be certified as a Deep diver.. Let me let you on a secret, you don't really see much at that depths - unless wrecks or some big marine animals are your interests..
- Wreck
- To be able to enter into wrecks, you must be certified in the Wreck specialty, which teaches you to dive in darkness, overhead obstructions, laying lines and what not.. The interesting thing about wreck diving is, yep, to know how to safely dive through a wreck..
- Equipment Specialist
- Very much focussed into equipment maintenance and doing simple repair work such as cleaning, changing O-rings and what not.. Kinda useful knowledge to know especially on the boat if something were to fail..
- Emergency Oxygen Provider
- This teaches you basically how to operate giving oxygen in an emergency.. Like it or not, scuba accidents happen, and when they do, you'll be glad you know how to help..
On the other hand, I have also certified as a Divemaster.. this allows me to teach limited diving courses such as ReActivate as well as assist instructors with real students in the water..
I think, for now, I am contented with what I've achieved so far..
