🚀 go-pugleaf

> PADI has both Divemaster and Master Diver ratings, and ... there are a
> number of specialty ratings, but I don't understand the relationship
> between the different ratings.  Can somebody help?
> 				Karl M. Owen

After Open Water (OW) and Advanced OW, the next logical step is Rescue
Diver.  It's longer than AOW, requiring something like five sessions.
From there, things branch out in two directions: specialties and teaching.
The specialties are numerous and quite varied so I won't discuss those in
detail.  Suffice it to say that once you become proficient in five of these
specialties, that qualifies you for Master Scuba Diver, a rating extremely
few people hold.  Most PADI divers who stay interested as far as Rescue Diver
go the instructional route instead.  The first step in that direction is the
Divemaster course.  Following this, if one takes an Instructor Training Course
from a Course Director (see below) that qualifies the diver as an Assistant
Instructor.  Upwards from here, all certification is done by representatives
from PADI headquarters.  Assistant Instructors have to take an Instructor
Evaluation Course to become OW Scuba Instructors, I think it's called.  I'm
not too certain about the next step, but I think it's Instructor Trainer.
Then there's just Master Instructor and Course Director, I think.  I heard
most of this from a Course Director (he lives here in the midwest and went
from OW to CD in 8 years!) but I'm sure I got some of the upper stuff a
little messed up.  As far as a direction after AOW, the Rescue Diver course
is strongly recommended by most PADI instructors (since that's what they're
told to recommend).  It was recently split off from Divemaster just for that
reason.  A lot of divers were only going as far as AOW, thinking that Dive
master was too "instructional" for them.  Now PADI is saying that AOW is too
early too stop, that Rescue Diver is the minimum to be a truly competent
diver.  From there, one can dabble in specialties or whatever.
--
Roger Noe			ihnp4!riccb!rjnoe