Mark and I were recently able to finish an epic 2 weeks of PADI Instructor Training in the Gulf of Thailand with an IDC on Koh Tao and another on Koh Phangan. Thanks to a great Thailand Gap Internships staff, a motivated group of Instructor candidates and some efficient scheduling, we were both able to participate in the furthering education of 9 New PADI Instructors.
Being our home base, the Koh Tao IDC was comprised of familiar faces from our PADI Divemaster courses and as always, familiarity and comfort made the course easy and fun. On our foray over to Koh Phangan, we weren’t so sure what awaited us as we’d never met the candidates before and only hoped that they had a firm grounding in all of the aspects of the Divemaster training before we were tasked with getting them through the Thailand IDC. As it happened, fate smiled on us as we were happy to see that the 5 people coming from Lotus Divers, Sail Rock Divers, Chaloklum Divers and Phangan International were very well prepared and made for an entertaining and exciting group.
Koh Tao IDC Group... from left- Daniel, Alberto, Graeme, Sally, Jun, Darius- the two in the back were photobombers!
Both IDC’s were laid-back and loads of fun. Mark and I each spent a week on both islands and crossed paths in the middle so we could each have access to all of the candidates. When the Instructor Exam came around on Koh Tao, I was able to see the guys through to a successful completion before returning to Koh Phangan to be there for the happy day of the other group.
The Koh Phangan IDC Group... from left- a large man, Darius, Tam, Caro, Sean, Rob, Jane, Dave, Oren and Russell.
As always, we had a great time on Koh Phangan and look forward to returning in the near future to help the island develop its budding reputation as a fantastic place to complete a SCUBA Instructor Internship in Thailand.
Mark and I look forward to starting the next Koh Tao IDC on the 8th of March with another 9 eager PADI Instructors-to-be!