PADI Instructor Development Course & Exam -- November 2008

With no PADI Instructor Exam in October, Aquanauts Career Developement Center fielded its largest PADI Instructor Development Course class of the year in November and -- as has been the case for the past 14 Instructor Exams -- all seven of its instructor candidates passed their IEs with flying colors.

Congratulations go out to Aquanauts interns Judith Baird, Chris Blackwell, Cyrus Rustom, Tom Stanton, Danny Ward, Tiffany Whyte and to Jeroen who joined Aquanauts from nearby Koh Chang for just the IDC and IE.

November's instructor class was an especially tight-knit group with four of the seven having joined Aqunauats more than six months ago never having been dive-certified. These "four musketeers" expereinced the full breadth of the Aquanauts internship program, from the very beginning with the PADI Natonal Geographic Open Water Diver course through a package of free bonus courses up through Divemaster and on to the Instructor Development Course.

Ward, in particular, earns extra kudos as he was forced to leave Thailand for nearly two months and yet stayed with his group and successfully passed the IDC and IE. Like the rest of his class, he made it through with no make-ups or retests.

Aquanauts is the only dive center in Central Thailand with a 100% pass rate for 2008. It also has the best pass rate for the past five years of any school in the region. Since November 2006, 78 out of 79 candidates (98.7%) have passed their Instructor Exams on their first attempt.

Congratulations to all the new instructors!

Instructor Gallery

Click a year and month below to see photos and stories of previous Aquanauts interns on their PADI Instructor Exam and IDCs.