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Island Divers Hawaii Staff Members
How the SSI Master Diver program works
Matt Zimmerman
Table Of Content
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How to achieve the Master Diver rating with SSI
As Island Divers Hawaii shifts its training focus from PADI courses to SSI, one common questions is how does this affect my progress towards the Master Diver rating. SSI calls this rating Master Diver and PADI calls it Master Scuba Diver. They are very similar ratings. However, the SSI rating has some pretty large advantages..
To achieve the Master Diver rating with SSI you need to
- Log 50 dives
- These dives need to be logged in the MySSI app. Since not all divers are habitual dive loggers, this is the minor disadvantage mentioned earlier. If you have been logging elsewhere, there is a shortcut that a dive center can help you with. As an SSI dive center, we can access your SSI diver profile and manually change the number of logged dives in the system for you. We’d are happy to do this for our divers that have logged dives elsewhere.
- Complete the Stress and Rescue specialty
- SSI treats the Rescue course as a specialty course. There is no need to achieve the Advanced Open Water rating prior to starting the course.
- A prerequisite for stress and rescue is React Right or an equivalent CPR First Aid certification
- Complete 4 more Specialty courses
- There is an extensive list of specialty courses available. Interestingly with the SSI program, none of them have to be specialty courses that include diving. Meaning that a diver that is interested in pursuing the Master Diver certification with SSI can complete many of the course requirements from the comfort of their home. This includes Nitrox
- We recommend that one of these specialty certifications be the online nitrox course. Nitrox certification allows you to dive nitrox. While all the specialty certifications are going to expand your knowledge base, there are only a few that are required for a certain type of diving. Diving with nitrox is one of those that will require certification.
- Currently, almost all our specialty courses are $125 without dives. So, for ecology programs and the like that do not require diving, that is the final cost. Most other specialties can be completed with one set of boat dives. Again, if you are reading this from somewhere with no local diving, you can complete your online learning in advance and just schedule your dives when you are able to come to Hawaii.
Once these are completed, SSI will automatically recognize you with the Master Diver rating. Meaning, once your instructor certifies your last specialty in the SSI system and you have 50 dives you will be automatically awarded the Master Diver Rating. There is no $50+ application fee. The fee that PADI charges for this is one of the reasons we believe the SSI system is better.
It is worth noting that along the way to Master Diver in the SSI system, you will also get the Level II Specialty Diver* rating and teh Level III Advanced Open Water Diver** rating for free. Achieving each of these ratings is automatic upon getting the specialities and logging the dives and you also get entered to win dive trip prizes.
*12 dives logged and 2 Specialties ** 24 dives logged and 4 Specialties
What do you get with the SSI Master Diver rating?
Entry into a yearly drawing for a liveaboard dive trip for 2 people. Each year SSI takes all the people that achieved the SSI Master Diver rating and puts them into a drawing. In early 2020 the winner for the 2019 Master Diver Challenge was announced. Nate Kilgore is the lucky winner in the picture on the right. He won a liveaboard trip for two on the Belize Aggressor. In 2020 the winner will got a liveaboard trip for 2 on a liveaboard trip to Honduras. Here are the 2021 prizes.
Master Diver rating is Level 4 diver in the SSI recognition path, Level 5 diver is the next recognition level with 100 dives. The SSI Master Diver level is primarily a personal achievement. It is also the goal of our dive centers to encourage people to shoot for this goal. We have been doing this a long time. Many people come out of their certification course and just stall, not sure what to do next. We like Master Diver as a goal because it includes training that is going to help you be a better diver and be able to better assist dive buddies (Stress and Rescue). Also, if you make the 50 dives logged goal you really gone from being certified to being a true diver. For many of us that work here, this has been our primary hobby and source of friends and adventures for years. It is a worthwhile goal.
If I’m currently holding PADI certifications, how can I switch?
SSI is pretty generous in this regard. Your initial certification can be with ANY training agency. SSI lets you count any two specialty courses with any other training agency towards the Master Diver rating. Stress and Rescue and 2 other SSI Specialty courses must be part of your profile.
If you have specialty courses from another training agency SSI allows us to verify those certifications in the SSI app. Let us know if you need this. We will need photocopies of the card. Big bonus for doing this is that your card will go into your SSI diver profile and be available for free for life! Just like all of your SSI cards.
Remember, that as the dive center we call manually adjust your number of dives if you are not yet using the dive log on the MySSI App.
