Do something new on each of your next 20 dives Let me get this straight," I said when Alph and Kendra complained that diving was getting a bit same-old, same-old. "There's 137,900,000 square miles of ocean, and you've seen all of it." "No," laughed Alph, "It's not that." "No, it's new site, same drill," Kendra agreed. "We're basically blowing bubbles and looking at fish. 'Cept when a great white or something cruises by — that gets the blood flowing." "I'm not surprised your dives have lost some luster," I said, insight slowly percolating between my ears. "What? Why?" said Alph. "You're waiting for excitement to come to you. If you want adventure, go after it." "How?" Kendra asked. "Do something new — something you've never tried before. In fact, do something new on every one of your next 20 dives." "There aren't that many things to do, "Alph countered, "Sure there are," I insisted. "Think big and small. Learn to dive with enriched air nitrox or in a drysuit. Hover upside down. Navigate an intricate pattern. Dive in low viz. Night dive from shore. Count the invertebrates in a sand patch. Do an underwater cleanup. Drift dive. Go out on a small boat and ..." "OK, OK," Alph interrupted, "But 20 is a lot of dives." "I'll make it easy. Become PADI Master Scuba Divers."

"How does that help?" "Think of PADI Master Scuba Diver as the black belt in recreational diving. It makes you a safer, more skillful and more comfortable diver. And it's a door to new challenges and adventures. To become a Master Scuba Diver, you have to be certified as a PADI Advanced Open Water Diver, as a PADI Rescue Diver and in five PADI specialties." I handed them the course manual Adventures in Diving. "Believe me, take this road and you'll never get bored again." "You'll train in deep diving, navigation and three other activities." "Cool — scooter diving," said Kendra, pointing into the manual. "Can we do that?" "Sure! We use Squidmaster Maskripper DPVs — so fast they peel decals off tanks and you have to grease your wetsuit to avoid cavitation." "Okay," said Alph. "But after Master Scuba Diver, then what?" "It's really the beginning, and that's the whole point. Say you take the Underwater Photographer course. Are you a pro shooter when you're done? Of course not. You're a novice off to a good start. You'll make dozens of dives trying new techniques, looking for new subjects and using new equipment. That's maybe hundreds of new challenges just from one new activity. And as a Master Scuba Diver, you'll have at least five under your belt." Alph and Kendra committed themselves and started scheduling out the rest of their black belt progress. They pestered me about the Squidmaster Maskripper and their first DPV dive so much I was worried they'd missed the point. "Alph," I said solemnly, "Why do you and Kendra want to become Master Scuba Divers? Not just to ride a DPV, right?" "No, it's so we have better skills and more fun underwater. The Squidmaster Maskripper's just icing on the cake." "Good. And the part about greasing your wetsuit — I was kidding." "You were? Uh, we knew that."