About the Course Director.....       Our PADI Course Director, Rob Sijmons, was born in Holland approximately four decades ago, and he has spent at least half that time under the water! After having worked in Holland, Curacao, Costa Rica, Malta, Philippines, and the Maldives, Rob came to Bonaire in 2007, and now he's conducting IDCs for Dive Friends Bonaire. For Rob, diving is the most amazing sport, and his goal is to pass on the fun, excitement, and fascination this activity has to offer. During an IDC, he promises some hard work and lots of preparation time, but fun and laughter will also be part of it!

Dive Friends Bonaire will be offering their next Instructor Development Course (IDC), which will begin on May 3rd and continue through May 13th, 2012. The Instructor Exam conducted by PADI will immediately follow on May 14th and 15th. During the course, you’ll apply your diving knowledge and skills while learning to use the PADI System of diver education in the classroom and in the water.  The IDC is divided into two sections, the Assistant Instructor (AI) course and the Open Water Scuba Instructor (OWSI) program.

Dive Friends will be offering the new E-Learning option for this IDC, which allows candidates to save time and travel expenses by taking advantage of home-study methods.  They then may report to the IDC on the third day for completion of the program with Dive Friend's course director.

E-Learning is easy; all candidates must do is login to PADI's web site at www.padi.com and click on E-Learning.  Enter the dive center's number, and follow instructions. PADI's cost for E-Learning is $320.00 per candidate.

Once all candidates are on Bonaire and in sessions together, the new IDC format will focus upon workshops and interaction, while utilizing the new PADI Guide to Teaching.

Concurrent with the IDC course, Dive Friends Bonaire will also offer Emergency First Response (EFR) Instructor, Staff Instructor, and an option for Staff Instructor with an internship at the dive facility.  Costs for these courses are:

Additionally, for those who would like to attain the professional rating of Instructor, but do not yet have a Divemaster rating, Dive Friends Bonaire offers a Divemaster Internship for $900.00, which takes two weeks and can be done anytime in the six weeks prior to the IDC.

All rates are in U.S. Dollars; books ($575.00 plus 8% sales tax) and PADI's fees ($625.00 for instructor and $83.00 for EFR instructor) are additional.

Assistant Instructor (AI) course
The PADI Assistant Instructor course is the first portion of the IDC – and can be completed in as little as three days.  During the course, you gain experience and continue to learn the PADI System of diver education.  PADI’s AI Course gives you the necessary tools to finish the IDC in the OWSI program. As a PADI AI, you’ll give classroom and confined water presentations and evaluate PADI Open Water Diver course surface skills (under direct supervision of a PADI Instructor).  You can teach some PADI Specialty Courses, conduct PADI Discover Scuba Diving experiences, and PADI Seal Team AquaMissions.

Open Water Scuba Instructor (OWSI) program
The rest of the IDC, the PADI Open Water Scuba Instructor program, is the final step in your quest to become a PADI Instructor.  During the IDC, you learn to manage and adapt the PADI System of diver education to individual student needs.  As a PADI OWSI, you can conduct the entire range of PADI diver courses from Discover Scuba Diving to Divemaster.  Emergency First Response Instructor training will also be included on the last day of the IDC, because it is a prerequisite for the Instructor Examination. We’ll also be refreshing your rescue skills (Rescue Skill #7 from the Rescue Diver course will be evaluated during the IE).

The instructor examination (IE)
The IE takes place over two days, December 3rd and 4th.  There will be tests on your general watermanship and diving skills, your academic knowledge and on your teaching presentations in the classroom as well as in confined and open water environments.  For certification as a PADI Instructor you will need to pass all parts of the IE. In the unlikely event that you are unsuccessful in your initial IE you are permitted to attend a second IE to re-take only the portion that you did not pass, not less than 5 days or more than 1 year after the first IE.

What materials do I need?
In order to comply with PADI Standards, you are required to have Instructor training materials as well as the manuals and exams for all of the courses that you are required to teach.  The list of mandatory items available from Dive Friends Bonaire shows all of the required PADI materials.  Don’t be put off!  If you’re a PADI Divemaster, you'll probably already have a lot of them and can purchase the materials directly from PADI for Member Pricing.

What shall I do to be prepared?
Dive Friends Bonaire offers an IE preparation course for the two days prior to the beginning of the IE to go through theory and skills.During the IDC, you’ll be learning how to teach, not how to dive.  The theory exams that you’ll be taking during the Instructor Examination are even trickier than those you passed in order to become a PADI Divemaster.  If you’re not sure how much you remember, please pull out your Encyclopedia of Diving Knowledge and start studying. The more prepared you are, the more time you can focus on teaching.

How do I get practical experience?
After the successful completion of the IDC and IE, new dive instructors can take advantage of Dive Friend's post-IE internship for four to eight weeks (or longer, if desired). This internship provides the new dive instructor first-hand experience by watching and assisting the Dive Friends Bonaire staff instructors. After receipt of their PADI Instructor Number, courses can be taught on their own. There is no cost to the candidate for taking advantage of this internship, but the candidate is responsible for their own housing costs on Bonaire.

If you have any questions about the mandatory materials list, please let us know. If you'd like to receive a quotation for IDC services, click here to download a form (in Word) which you may fill out and email.

Now it’s your time to become a professional diver, so sign up immediately! Email info@dive-friends-bonaire.com.