In 2025, the PADI Master Scuba Diver™ Challenge invited divers around the world to push their limits, continue their education and earn recreational scuba diving’s highest non-professional rating: Master Scuba Diver (MSD). Achieved by fewer than 2% of divers worldwide, the MSD rating represents experience, commitment and a passion for continuous learning underwater.
2025’s Challenge also came with an unforgettable reward — the chance to win a dream dive trip to Fiji.
Today, we’re excited to celebrate the winner of the 2025 PADI Master Scuba Diver Challenge: Curt Tomlinson.
Inspired? The 2026 PADI Master Scuba Diver Challenge is now open, and this year’s Grand Prize might be the best one yet. In 2026, we’re giving away a liveaboard trip for two aboard the M/Y Galaxy Diver 2 in the Galápagos, including roundtrip airfare – worth US $18,000.
Divers can enter by visiting the MSD Challenge entry page and sharing why they want to become a Master Scuba Diver. From there, earn more chances to win by completing qualifying PADI courses, purchasing certification cards, joining PADI Club and more.
How Tomlinson Earned His Master Scuba Diver Rating
Before we dive into Tomlinson’s story, let’s quickly recap what it takes to become a PADI Master Scuba Diver. To earn the rating, divers must:
- Be certified as a PADI Advanced Open Water Diver
- Be certified as a PADI Rescue Diver
- Earn 5 PADI Specialty certifications
- Log at least 50 dives
Tomlinson’s journey to Master Scuba Diver was anything but casual. In just five months, he far exceeded the requirements and completed an impressive list of certifications, all the while balancing retirement, major life changes and intense training.
Among the courses Tomlinson completed during the 2025 Master Scuba Diver Challenge were:
- Enriched Air (Nitrox) Diver
- Deep Diver
- Night Diver
- Drift Diver
- Boat Diver
- Peak Performance Buoyancy
- Digital Underwater Photographer
- Underwater Navigator
- Equipment Specialist
- Full Face Mask Diver
- Diver Propulsion Vehicle
- Emergency Oxygen Provider
And he’s not slowing down anytime soon. He’s currently training to become a PADI Divemaster, with future plans to continue on to Assistant Instructor and eventually full Instructor status.
In fact, he has recently written his journey to Master Scuba Diver into a book, From Boardroom to Seabed: How to Pursue Elite Mastery at any Stage of Life.
Turning Retirement Into a New Adventure
For Tomlinson, the journey toward MSD became much bigger than collecting certifications. It marked the beginning of an entirely new chapter.
After retiring in 2024, Tomlinson reconnected with his lifelong best friend, George Hart. The two had known each other since they were five years old. Looking for a new challenge and shared adventure, Tomlinson invited Hart to try a Discover Scuba® Diving experience.
That single experience quickly turned into what Tomlinson describes as, “an incredible year of diving.”
Together, the pair completed 16 certifications and both achieved their Master Scuba Diver ratings within the same year. Their progress underwater mirrored major changes happening in their personal lives as well.
Both men were also committed to improving their health after retirement, and the journey towards MSD helped in that goal. Tomlinson lost 85 pounds during the process, while Hart lost 45. At the same time, Hart was recovering from major back surgery, which temporarily interrupted their training schedule.
“We focused on completing his Advanced Open Water Diver before surgery,” Tomlinson explained. “Then, during recovery, we focused on neutral buoyancy aqua therapy and exercise.”
A Lifelong Connection to Diving
While Tomlinson’s path to Master Scuba Diver accelerated quickly over the past year, his connection to the underwater world started much earlier.
Tomlinson grew up inspired by his uncle, Jack Tomlinson, who served on the Navy’s Underwater Demolition Team during World War II and the Korean War. Jack Tomlinson also designed the famous “Freddie the Frog” UDT patch worn by Navy divers and later helped develop the core SEAL team training curriculum.
As a child, Tomlinson spent hours watching his uncle’s training films and episodes of Sea Hunt, the classic underwater television series that introduced many people to scuba diving for the first time.
“He taught me to snorkel at seven and scuba dive at 14,” Tomlinson said of his uncle.
That early exposure to diving and underwater exploration stayed with him throughout his life and eventually helped shape the journey that led him to earning the Master Scuba Diver rating decades later.
The Team Behind the Achievement
Tomlinson was quick to emphasize that earning his Master Scuba Diver rating was far from a solo accomplishment. He credits much of his success to his dive buddy Hart, along with instructor Frank Velardo and the team at Lancaster Scuba Center in Pennsylvania, USA.
Tomlinson described the dive center as, “an incredible training environment with the highest level of safety and professionalism.”
Like many divers progressing quickly through multiple courses, having a strong support system made a huge difference. Between long training days, challenging conditions and mastering new equipment, the encouragement and patience of instructors and dive buddies helped keep momentum high.
The Most Challenging Skill To Master
Tomlinson found some courses more demanding than others. Out of all the courses he completed, the Dry Suit Diver specialty proved to be the biggest challenge for him.
According to our winner, “It took George and me 3 months and many suits to even begin to feel comfortable with trim and buoyancy.”
Anyone who has learned to dive in a drysuit knows the adjustment can be significant. Changes in weighting, air distribution, buoyancy control and trim all require practice and patience, especially in colder water environments.
But instead of getting frustrated, Tomlinson and Hart kept showing up, refining their skills dive after dive until things finally clicked. That persistence became one of the defining themes of Tomlinson’s entire journey through the Challenge. His advice for future MSD hopefuls reflects that mindset perfectly:
“Don’t think about it, just do it. Keep blowing bubbles as often as you can in the pool, quarry or warm water. Concentrate on trim, buoyancy and deep breathing.”
Diving in the Northeastern USA
Tomlinson completed much of his diving in the northeastern United States, where conditions can be dramatically different from tropical destinations.
“Yes,” Tomlinson said when asked whether he enjoys diving in the USA, “but in the Northeast, it is mostly cold, limited-visibility quarry diving. Nothing beats warm, clear water diving.”
Cold water, lower visibility and quarry environments often demand strong buoyancy control, navigation skills and comfort in challenging conditions, making them excellent training grounds for developing confident divers.
That said, these experiences likely helped prepare Tomlinson for the wide variety of courses and environments he tackled during the Challenge.
Winning the Grand Prize Trip to Fiji
When Tomlinson first received the email saying he had won the 2025 Master Scuba Diver Challenge, his reaction was immediate disbelief. “I had to be convinced it was not spam,” he laughed. That disbelief quickly turned into excitement and gratitude once he realized the news was indeed real. “How does it feel? Incredible,” Tomlinson said. “It is an incredible validation of the hard work my dive team performed.”
As this year’s winner, Tomlinson receives a once-in-a-lifetime dive trip to Fiji, including a stay at the Paradise Taveuni Resort & Spa along several days of diving and roundtrip airfare sponsored by Tourism Fiji. This bucket-list destination is famous for colorful reefs, soft corals, pelagic encounters and historic wrecks. When asked what he’s most excited about experiencing, Tomlinson didn’t hesitate, “WWII wreck diving and seeing many of the large fish in that area.”
What’s Next for Tomlinson?
For Tomlinson, becoming a Master Scuba Diver is just the beginning. Achieving the rating has only motivated him to keep progressing.
He is already deep into PADI Professional training and plans to continue through the professional levels in the coming years.
When asked whether he’d encourage others to join the 2026 Master Scuba Diver Challenge, Tomlinson’s answer was immediate, “Definitely. Even if you do not win, you will now be part of the incredible 2% Master Scuba Diver family worldwide.”
For Tomlinson, the Challenge wasn’t just about winning a prize, it was about building confidence, skills and a new direction after retirement. He added that earning the rating also opens doors and pushes divers to grow in ways they might not expect.
Our 2025 Rescue Diver and Advanced Open Water Diver Challenge Winners
In 2025, PADI also introduced two additional continuing education challenges celebrating diver progression and skill development. These were the Rescue Diver and Advanced Open Water Diver challenges, and we’re excited to celebrate those winners, too!
- Congratulations to Christine Olivarez (@dive.mom), winner of the 2025 Rescue Diver Challenge.
- Congratulations to Cameron Cloete (@cambam7777), winner of the 2025 Advanced Open Water Diver Challenge.
Their achievements highlight what continuing education is really about: building confidence, expanding skills and creating more opportunities to explore the underwater world safely and comfortably.
The 2026 Master Scuba Diver Challenge: Win a Dive Trip to the Galápagos
This year’s Master Scuba Diver Challenge winner will receive an unforgettable prize: a trip for two to the Galápagos Islands, including round-trip airfare and a seven-night liveaboard expedition aboard the M/Y Galaxy Diver 2.
Worth US $18,000, the experience includes diving some of the most legendary sites on Earth, including Darwin and Wolf islands, where hammerheads, manta rays, whale sharks, sea lions, penguins and marine iguanas thrive in one of the planet’s most extraordinary marine ecosystems.
The Master Scuba Diver rating is a reflection of dedication, experience and a commitment to becoming the best diver you can be. Every Specialty Diver course introduces new skills. Every dive builds confidence. And every challenge overcome underwater creates opportunities for even greater adventures ahead.
If you’re ready to challenge yourself, build confidence and become part of an elite group of divers, the Master Scuba Diver rating is waiting for you.
