Simon Bowen was a runner up in the PADI's Go PROChallenge Ratings Contest in Asia Pacific for 2008.

Here's his story.....

After doing most of my dive training up to Divemaster with a UK based PADI Dive club (Submission Scuba in Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire), and realising the benefits of the excellent training that I had received there from both Darren MacNamara and Katy Bloor, it was important for me to ensure the final stages of my training as a PADI Instructor met the same criteria for me wherever in the world I was going to complete it. ·

I had already decided to finish my diving courses after months of being unhappy in my position as a Corporate Sales Executive for a major UK national organisation, and now it was a matter of finding the right place on the planet for me to fulfil my dream of becoming a PADI Dive Instructor. I purposefully looked worldwide for a PADI IDC centre that had an excellent reputation and offered a quality IDC, as well as an internship that would allow me to gain invaluable work experience to hone my instructor skills in a busy environment.

I left my job and all things familiar in the UK in April 2008 to move to Koh Tao in The Gulf of Thailand. I had contacted a few friends in the industry concerning the strengths of the various businesses on the island, and decided to go with Bans Dive Resort located on Sairee Beach. The two Course Directors, Jonas Samuelson and Tim Hunt, were both extremely helpful with regular email contact prior to my arrival, and I was able to utilise my “free diving for life” offer that came as part of my IDC package to further my Divemaster skills, guiding groups of fun divers, and sitting in on Divemaster Trainee lectures prior to the start of my IDC with them.

This proved to be invaluable, as there are structured and scheduled lectures in all areas for Divemaster Trainees, and also regular skills circuits in the pool, to fine tune your skills presentation and knowledge to IDC standard. All of this vital preparatory work is given freely, and you start to meet some of the Senior Instructors within the business, who are more than happy to answer questions and assist in any way they can.

Then in July came the IDC. I was told that Jonas Samuelson was a highly awarded Padi Course Director prior to coming here, but to see him in action confirms this completely. Tim Hunt (Course Director) has the most amazing presentation skills ever, and is able to hold your interest in all areas of the IDC constantly. I found this combination of people awe inspiring, and made me personally strive for the best that I could achieve. There is a lot of information to assimilate on an IDC, and these people made it that much easier for me and the others that I studied with. After passing my mock IE exams, and with all of the study that had been done in the previous weeks, I was certain that I could pass my Instructor Exam with flying colours, and qualified with high scores in all areas

With this vital phase now out of the way, and as a qualified Instructor, I then went onto the Ban’s MSDT Internship program. This course enabled me to teach Padi Specialties, which was again hosted by the resident Course Directors. Some people feel totally confident when they leave the I.E. as a qualified Instructor to start teaching immediately. I wanted the benefit of teaching in a busy environment that I was not likely to experience anywhere else in the world, alongside seasoned instructors that had been working at Bans for between 5 and 12 years. This has proven to be a great decision, and I am sure that I am a far better and more confident Instructor than I ever could have been without this invaluable experience.

I have been able to watch some brilliant instructors at work first hand and benefit from all of their differing teaching techniques and individual styles. I now have the Instructors ask me what parts of the course I am assisting on that I would like to teach! I regularly instructed large groups of up to 25 people in the classroom theory sessions, and up to 8 people in Open Water. All of this has come about because I have done back to back course instruction in one of the busiest dive centres in the world.

I have also had the pleasure of certifying over 200 students during this time personally, something that not too many businesses can offer potential instructors. I feel that I have gone from a good instructor to an excellent instructor as a direct result of this program. I believe that you will not gain this experience – with all of the problems that you see, all of the solutions that are offered, along with a wealth of excellent skills and technique resources to draw on from a team of brilliant instructors – unless you do an internship with a world leading instructional

So what happens from here for me? I sit my Staff Instructor rating this year and then Staff my first IDC to count towards my Master Instructor rating in two years time. I am then off out to the big wide world, armed with all the experience that I have amassed since the end of April last year at Bans, to find a company that wants what I have to offer the world of diving.

And the good news? I know that the intense instruction and training that I have received over the 6 months I was in Koh Tao has made me an all but bullet proof dive instructor, and that I am totally ready for that challenge.· · · Simon Bowen