Instructor Development Course & IE -- May 2007

It took three of them six months to get there. Two had to come all the way from South Africa, And one joined the group as the New Guy, having only been around a few weeks. But by mid-day on May 13, 2007 these half-dozen Aquanauts interns found themselves the latest PADI Open Water Scuba Instructors.

Paul Bodmer, Brendan Canny, Mark Fitches, Oliver Hull, Danny Rehse and Dean Thraves sailed through their Instructor Development Course and PADI Instructor Exam, scoring nearly perfect scores across the board.

In fact, none of the Aquanauts even needed to resit any exams or retake any water test, a testament to their months of teamwork and hard work, as well as the Aquanauts’ Personalized Training System, which focuses on training each diver individually. Each intern had their own stumbling blocks along the way, but the Aquanauts team, led by Master Instructor Gary Tytler and Course Directors Roger Smith and John Taylor, pulled each one aside as needed to get them through.

For Fitches, Hull & Rehse, it was a long time coming. They came to Aquanauts nearly 7 months ago, either never having dived at all or only having done trial dives. Yet all were certain they wanted to become PADI Professionals. Bodmer and Canny joined about four months ago, already Advanced Open Water Divers in South Africa. Their tenacious and relentless skills work and studying motivated the whole group. And Englishman Dean Thraves, who did all his courses through Divemaster elsewhere, took a couple weeks to adjust to the Aquanauts system, but ended up a standout, scoring 5.0 perfect scores on every water test.