PADI, diving and Instructor Development (IDC)

More jellyfish accidents

2010-03-08T10:05:00.002+07:00

More jellyfish accidents

A nine year old Swedish girl was stung by a Box Jelly fish on Koh Mak, where two years ago already an Australian boy was stung and nearly survived.

Please note this line in the article;

But she is skeptical that the hotels did not warn tourists of the dangerous jellyfish, although several people have died in the past. “No signs, no information. The day after that Ida was burnt I was told that people were down there the water at the same place and swam again. This should not be allowed to go on.

Here's a link to an article in Swedish in Aftonbladet with the original picture and a translation.

The marks on Ida's leg look serious and she's lucky to be alive due to quick thinking and acting from a bystander.

On Samui there are currently some good initiatives going on by placing vinegar stations an all major hotel beaches on the island.

Click on the link provided for more information on Jelly Fish and other Hazardous Marine Life.

Once more, there's no immediate reason to worry too much about box jellyfish but it's good to be aware and take simple pre cautions like wearing stinger suits and have vinegar available.

Camille

PADI Specialty of the month; March 2010 - DPV or Diver Propulsion vehicle

2010-03-04T22:03:00.003+07:00

PADI Specialty of the month; March 2010 - DPV or Diver Propulsion vehicle

These DPV's or Underwater scooters are a lot of fun and very popular with most students if or when they get the chance to use one.

Just as in 2009 and 2008, March has the DPV or Diver Propulsion Vehicle as specialty of the month.

Here are some pictures from a DPV specialty course I taught back in 2006, throughout the years, it remains a popular course.

I remember clearly the days when I was still an MSDT and was instructing dive courses and not IDCs, the very first day we had a set of DPV's on the boat, I was teaching an Advanced Open Water course and my student that day opted for the elective DPV dive. Only to take up the specialty the next day! If you like them DPV's, you want to use them!

As usual, if you sign up for the Specialty this month, you will receive a 10% discount on the course price.

Camille

Exploratory wreck dive trip into the Gulf of Thailand

2010-03-03T07:57:00.006+07:00

Exploratory wreck dive trip into the Gulf of Thailand

On the night from 1st to 2nd March around midnight we set sail for an exploratory wreck dive trip into the Gulf of Thailand and not coming back to Pattaya again until 21.00 on the 2nd or last night.
After two days of teaching the Instructor Wreck Specialty, now it was time to perfect opportunity to put all they learned straight into practice.

This is the boat we sailed on, straight from Bali Hai pier in Pattaya to somewhere in the Gulf of Thailand, using the Si Chang tidal charts. The captain was amazing, for all three dives he put the shot line withing meters of the wrecks we dived, so that the lines went over the wreck, absolutely stunning skills and craftsmanship by our captain.

The Pattaya crew for the wreck diving Instructor training and the exploratory trip, from left to right; Thomas, myself, Nigel, Rob and Grainne and Preben is sitting in the front row.

This may give you an idea of all the equipment we had to take along, 11 persons diving in total, 24 Nitrox tanks for my group and another 12 tanks for other divers that joined our trip, including some twin sets. On top of that we brought our own equipment, drinks, first aid kits, oxygen etc etc. Quite a bit of organisation goes into that and many thanks to Neil of Seafari in Pattaya for all the logistical help.

This is what it's all about; a mark by the captain with a float above it, marking the location of one of the wrecks. Marks are usually obtained by the captains because a lot of fish can be caught here due to the wrecks and coral growth and/or because fisherman lose a lot of nets that get hooked on the wrecks. With a GPS nowadays it's easy to locate (and re-locate) the sites.

During one of the dives, I spotted this Bamboo shark, well hidden under parts of the boat.

Plenty of parts are sticking out of the wrecks covered in coral and marine life, which makes it exciting but also slightly dangerous and you have to be aware of your surroundings, so you don't get trapped or entangled.

During the third dive there where plenty of these lovely nudi branches; Glossodoris atromarginata.

Some other safety considerations are mono filament, the thin but very strong ropes used by sea fishers to catch fish. Many times this line or mono filament gets stuck and entangled on wrecks. they're difficult to spot since they're blue coloured, like the water, so the fish can't see them but we can't see them neither! It's easy to get entanglement in them and sometime rather difficult to cut your self loose.

More things to look out for underwater; nets. There are plenty on these wrecks but they are easier to avoid than the mono filament. It makes this kind of diving very challenging and if you are interested in learning more, besides the wreck dive specialty, there are technical diving courses that specialize in this kind of wreck diving, like PADI's Tec Rec programs or ANDI just to name a few..

We made it all safely back on the boat though and here some of our group of divers can be seen during a safety stop at the end of the dive.

We dived three wrecks during this day, two being Royal Thai Navy boats, one a Navy patrol boat and one wreck which was the biggest out of all of them, which we couldn't identify.

We all enjoyed a fantastic trip with great dives! Thanks to Bruce Konefe for starting up this idea!
Hope to see you again here soon and there will be more of these trips coming your way!

Camille

Wreck dive Specialty in Pattaya, day # 2

2010-03-01T20:30:00.002+07:00

Wreck dive Specialty in Pattaya, day # 2

After yesterday's opener of a 3 day Wreck dive bonanza in Pattaya, we finished today with another day on HMS Koot to complete the Instructor Wreck dive specialty for all the Samui based instructors on this trip; Grainne, Preben, Tom, Nigel and Rob.

Working with reels and ropes is one of the Wreck specialty topics, this picture is taken at 29 meters depth, inside the HMS Koot, the rope will guide you safely out after you penetrated a wreck

Under a sunny Pattaya sky we set out again for HMS Koot and I completed the Instructor Wreck specialty with Tom and Preben during the first dive and with Grainne during the second wreck dive today. All wreck dives are being made on Nitrox which gives us extra bottom time.

Tom and Preben during their safety stop

Our third dive of the day today was a combined Specialty dive, DUP for Grainne and Video for the other 4.

This beautiful fluorescent plant was spotted by me during the first dive of the day.

We spotted also this file fish during the first dive. The second dive we experienced a strong current and it put the same wreck we dived 3 times already in 2 days time in a new perspective.

During Grainne's DUP dive I spotted this strange, hairy crab that wasn't as shy as other crabs usually are.

Tonight at midnight we're off for an exploratory trip during which we will dive a Thai Navy patrol boat and two wrecks that our captain has marks for. We'll be getting back to Pattaya around 7pm tomorrow, so an 19 hour trip is ahead of us!

More updates either tomorrow or the day after

Camille

Wreck dive Specialty in Pattaya, day # 1

2010-02-28T22:28:00.005+07:00

Wreck dive Specialty in Pattaya, day # 1

Today we completed day # 1 out of two days of wreck diving in Pattaya for the Instructor Wreck Specialty rating. The travel party is big this time and consists of Grainne and Rob who just completed the IDC in February and Preben who completed his IDCS in February. There are also Nigel and Thomas who completed their IDC last year, respectively in November and December.

HMS Koot on the surface just before it's being sunk

After the two days of wreck diving near Pattaya's near islands on the HMS Koot, there will be a third day of wreck diving in the form of an exploratory trip. One wreck will be of a Navy Patrol boat and two marks are new and we will explore them. We could be diving a heap of stones or a beautiful wreck. Very exciting to explore uncharted waters. The captain gets these marks of other fisherman boats or captains because these are locations where they keep losing their nets.

This is the boat that we're using for these days, owned by Andrey, a Russian dive store owner in Pattaya who brought this boat down to Pattaya all the way from Wladiwostok over South Korea straight into Pattaya. That must've been quite a voyage. The boat is build in Poland by the way and has an iron hull, in contrast to almost all or most dive boats used in Thailand!

On the HMS Koot, at the aft buoy one can find these two flags, the Thai national flag and the King's flag. Nice touch and well done to whomever put down those two flags. I like it!

There's also plenty of marine life on this wreck site but not as much as it's sister ship the HMS Khram. This crab looks beautiful though and we encountered some very big puffer fish as well, besides schools of juvenile barracuda's and plenty of more fish.

Some ship wreck scenery, great stills that tell more than words sometimes.

The other specialty we completed today was an Instructor Drift dive Specialty although the current wasn't too strong.

More diving is coming up tomorrow, so stay tuned for more updates.

Camille

Project AWARE Announces International Cleanup Day Report 2009

2010-02-24T10:07:00.002+07:00

Project AWARE Announces International Cleanup Day Report 2009

Received a press release from Project Aware today, the non profit environmental organisation associated with PADI and thought it right to share this information with you, my dive blog readers.
We put our own little effort in on September 19th last year with our own Clean Up Day on Chaweng Beach on Koh Samui.
Good to see that Project AWARE gets a bit more exposure on my dive blog, two days back to back now!

This was part of the mail;

"Your fabulous cleanup efforts have contributed important data to the Global Marine Debris Index due to be released later this year. The data results also feature in the latest Project AWARE Cleanup Report 2009 – just released.

Now is also the time to register for Dive for Earth Day 29 April (on Koh Samui). So check out your countries listing in the report and take action this Earth Day!

Keep up the great work. "

PRESS RELEASE

Project AWARE Foundation’s International Cleanup Day 2009 Report: outlining dive community’s global actions to combat marine debris.

Six million tonnes of debris enter the world’s oceans every year wreaking havoc on underwater creatures and environments every day. For 16 years, Project AWARE Foundation has led underwater and shoreline cleanup efforts in partnership scuba divers worldwide and Ocean Conservancy.

The newly released International Cleanup Day Report 2009, highlights Project AWARE’s efforts by volunteer divers and water enthusiasts. During International Cleanup Day, they removed over 222’000 kg/490’000 lbs of debris. Debris, that would otherwise continue to poison our waters and be “out of sight and out of mind” for most.

More than 90 countries collected a staggering 140’814 cigarette filters, 78’854 plastic bags and found baby sharks, fairy penguins, moray eels and sea turtles, entangled and killed by the debris.

The 20 page International Cleanup Day Report provides an introduction to Project AWARE’s Marine Debris Campaign; recognizes the ongoing efforts of divers and water enthusiasts across the globe and underlines the dire consequences of marine debris for the aquatic fauna. It offers a visual snapshot of trash collected with a colourful map highlighting number of volunteers and weight of debris collected in each region.

“Project AWARE Foundation truly appreciates the dive community’s efforts to combat litter in our oceans and waterways. There are solutions to the marine debris crisis and it is inspiring to see divers leading the way. We ask cleanup organizers and divers to use this report to highlight efforts and encourage others to become part of this global movement to bring about change,” said Project AWARE Foundation’s Director, Jenny Miller Garmendia.

To check out the Top Ten Debris Items found or Tips to Keep Waters Debris Free download the International Cleanup Day 2009 Report today.

The New Project AWARE Certification Card is Here

2010-02-23T09:20:00.003+07:00

The New Project AWARE Certification Card is Here

Students have already told Project AWARE on Facebook that they just love the new Turtle Card and want one now!

The new turtle design for the 2010 Project Aware card

So show your support and all students or IDC candidates should make the only card choice that contributes to underwater conservation!

All divers and PADI Members who donate AU$10 to conservation, above the standard card fee receive the Project AWARE version of their PADI certification or replacement card, as pictured below.

Your Participation Matters:

More than 70 percent of funds raised for aquatic conservation is a direct result of PADI Member action. Make your voice count and donate so you also receive a Project Aware card.

Thank you for your commitment to conservation.

Yours Sincerely,

Camille and The Project AWARE Team

PADI Member Forum 2010 on Koh Samui

2010-02-19T09:24:00.003+07:00

PADI Member Forum 2010 on Koh Samui

Yesterday Thailand's regional manager Hans Ullrich presented the yearly PADI Member Forum on Koh Samui.
This years seminar took place at the Kandaburi resort in Chaweng, a nice change of scenery.

Hans talked us through the various upcoming changes, including lots of information about e-Learning, Discover Scuba Diving and the Open Water diver- and Nitrox courses now opening up to computer based teaching, leaving the RDP Tables optional and about some of the new PADI materials that are coming on the market real soon.

It was also a good moment to catch up with the various other instructors and dive center owners on the island and with 24 people showing, it was a good turn out for Koh Samui.

Looking at the picture of me and Hans above, it looks like he is in need of a new shirt though comparing it to last years Forum.

Camille

PADI IE for February has been completed

2010-02-16T14:00:00.003+07:00

PADI IE for February has been completed

Tonight is gonna be a good night, tonight is gonna be a good, good night!

Two days of blood, sweat and tears later and there are 4 new PADI Instructors babies born today at World Resort on Koh Samui during the recent PADI IE.

Yesterday the 5 theory exams and the General Standards Exam were tackled and after that the candidates completed their Knowledge Development. That day went by without a hitch and all passed easily both PADI IE sections.

Today saw water work only and almost all scores were straight five's with a few 4.6's as lowest score of the day!

The whole group can be seen here during Rob Scammell's, the PADI examiner, speech after the IE and before they're cut loose into the rest of the world again! From left to right; Rob, Grainne, Takuo, Nobu (IDCS), Sachiko, Aiko (IDCS), Preben (IDCS) and Rob Scammell.

Here's the official group picture, from left to right standing; Grainne, Takuo, myself, Rob, Rob Scammell and Aiko. Sitting; Preben, Sachiko and Preben.

Well done guys and girls and all the best for your future diving career and thanks for such a great time during the IDC.

Camille

The February 2010 IDC is done and over with

2010-02-14T15:41:00.003+07:00

The February 2010 IDC is done and over with

Today we finished the current IDC in the morning with an Open Water dive and the afternoon was reserved to discuss a final and big General Standards & Procedures exam and an overview of the PADI IE. After that it was time for final counselling and off home they went.

Tomorrow at 1pm the PADI IE will kick off at World Resort.

The OWSI part of this IDC saw a few more knowledge development presentations by all of them and here Rob is in action, explaining how a RDP Table works.

Grainne trying to sell us a rash vest during one of her presentations.

To keep it interesting, some of the assigned presentations that you may get have it in them, any one for Compartments, half times or M-values? Anything you ever wanted to know about them but never dared to ask? The Divemaster course and the IDC have the answer for you.

Confined water was also on the menu and our Japanese IDC candidates joined us for this, from left to right Rob, Sachi, Takuo and Grainne.

As usual, lovely lunches were had at World Resort during our lunch breaks. From left to right; Sachi, Nobu, Grainne, Rob, myself, Preben and Takuo. Aiko also staffed but is not in one of these pix.

Tomorrow the fun is really gonna start, bring on the PADI IE!

Camille

The new PADI IDC Curriculum 2010 materials have arrived

2010-02-12T19:26:00.003+07:00

The new PADI IDC Curriculum 2010 materials have arrived

A few days ago, in the middle of the current IDC, I received the updated and new IDC training materials. Remember the Course Director update in Phuket that I posted about in December last year, that update was all about the new materials and curriculum that we can teach now. Alas, unfortunately not for this current IDC, that's the last IDC following the now almost 'old' curriculum.
My next IDC, scheduled in April will follow the new outlines, pretty exciting and I'm looking forward to teaching that.

There are plenty of new materials available and the Instructor Manual is one of them, as shown above. It's now just 160 pages in an A5 binder with zipper, the same size as a PADI logbook.

A new thing about this Instructor Manual is that Divemasters now are required to own a copy.

The Instructor Manual is now available as a free download for PADI Members at PADI's Members website.

Another new item is PADI's Guide to Teaching, which replaces the Candidate Work book and is an extension of the Instructor Manual.
This new product also includes teaching techniques and recommendations previously found in the instructor manual.

This shows the new Instructor crew pack, although the pack bag is not necessarily included, only at an extra, marginal charge.

Besides the usual slates and exams, it now also includes a CD-rom with three books; Best of the UJ, Children & Scuba and the Business of Diving. The Positive Approach Selling DVD is part of the crew pack and the Instructor Specialty Manual on CD Rom is included.

Here's a glance at the new design of the IDC slides. I had a peak into it and will look more into it once this IDC is over and I have a bit more time.

Come and see me for the April IDC on Koh Samui!

Camille

A tribute to Bruce Mozert, part 2

2010-02-11T22:47:00.004+07:00

A tribute to Bruce Mozert, part 2

After the tribute to Bruce Mozert part 1 I think it's time for a follow up with this part 2!

For information on Bruce please check part 1 which as loads of background information. In a nutshell, Bruce Mozert is the godfather of underwater photography. He took pictures at Silver Springs in Florida in the 1950's. Some of the results can be seen here.

Now let's enjoy the pictures!

Great idea!

One of the few pix that I know of where his models actually use scuba

Season of the witch

Qualification for the underwater Olympics

The Chief at work

Hope you enjoy these pix, I think they are an eye opener and are full of creative thinking and just fun to look at

Camille

EFR Instructor course February 2010; ticked off

2010-02-10T19:03:00.003+07:00

EFR Instructor course February 2010; ticked off

After a well deserved day off from the IDC yesterday, today the EFR Instructor course was ticked off. At the usual location, the upstairs classroom at the recompression chamber in Bang Rak, the deed was done, so to speak.

Grainne, Rob and me met at 9am and we had an enjoyable day teaching with skill and scenario practicing.

Tomorrow it's back to World Resort for more IDC work with the OWSI program kicking off and it's back to IDC routine. Well, routine, is there such thing during an IDC? Right, I don't think so!

Camille

Rotation

2010-02-06T07:29:00.003+07:00

Rotation

Indeed! Students come and go all the time and this time it was Chris Jones' time coming up to rotate back home to Australia again. He's been on Koh Samui for almost 6 months and completed his IDC in September last year and MSDT internship here.

There was a farewell evening and early in the evening the picture shows from left to right Grainne, who's participating in the current IDC, Chris Jones aka Jonesi, Graham who's in the midst of his Divemaster course, Nigel who is currently completing his MSDT internship and myself.

In good tradition this most likely ended in a very late or early morning in Chaweng.

Craig and Irish Steve went back home earlier in this young year already.

Camille

PADI IDC for February 2010 is in the making

2010-02-05T20:49:00.002+07:00

PADI IDC for February 2010 is in the making

The prep course finished yesterday and today the actual IDC kicked off. There's Preben who's completing his IDCS course and as IDC candidates we have Grainne and Rob.
So far we have sunny blue skies over Samui, absolutely lovely!

Lots of classroom time is guaranteed! From left to right Rob, Preben and Grainne, who completed her Divemaster course last year with us.

Before one of the skill circuit practice dives, Grainne and Rob complete a buddy check on each other. Even at this level something that shouldn't be left out.

Rescue course exercise # 7, 'unconscious diver at the surface' is part of the practice cycle as usual, as in every IDC.

Preben also had to do a Confined Water presentation as part of his IDCS course, his presentation was a CESA (Controlled Emergency Swimming Ascent). He's controlling Grainne's CESA in this picture.

Rob is showing off his CESA demonstration skills in the pool. Today they both passed their skill circuit evaluation with flying colours.

Stay tuned for more updates.

Camille

A tribute to Bruce Mozert, part 1

2010-02-03T19:47:00.008+07:00

A tribute to Bruce Mozert

Bruce who? That's exactly how I felt just a few days ago, until I browsed the US PADI Instructor blog and found a post on Bruce Mozert in there. That was an eye opener!

The short version; he is the pioneer of underwater photography. If you enjoy this part, have a look part 2 for some more pix by him.

As Mozert puts it, he “took to photography like a duck takes to water.” For the man generally considered the “grandfather of underwater photography,” that may be something of an understatement. On the scene at Silver Springs in 1938 to capture the third in the Tarzan series starring Johnny Weissmuller and Maureen O’Sullivan, Mozert was vexed to discover that the one shot he truly needed, Weissmuller swimming with “porpoise-like grace” in the springs’ crystal clear waters, was the one shot he couldn’t get. That’s because the only way to capture underwater sequences was in a submerged drum outfitted for the movie’s cameraman, and there wasn’t room enough in the rig for Mozert.

Bruce with one of his early underwater housings

But, in what would become Mozert’s lifelong mantra, necessity proved to be the mother of invention. He got permission to nose around the park’s maintenance shop and cobbled together the world’s first underwater camera casing out of galvanized metal sheeting, an old inner tube, and rubber cement.

“When I showed up at the set the next morning, they all laughed at me,” he says. “But I just walked into the water and took my pictures.”

He ended up with black-and-white images so good that MGM snagged them for publicity stills, paying Mozert the princely sum of $12.

The rest, as they say, is history.

IN THE PRIMORDIAL days before Disney, Silver Springs became Florida’s premier tourist attraction thanks in large part to a public relations juggernaut that targeted snowbirds through release of thousands of publicity stills on the national wire services.

Mozert was part of an aggressive marketing machine that by the 1950s saw annual visitation of 800,000. During the park’s heyday, from the 1940s through the early 1970s, Mozert’s pioneering efforts resulted in the first underwater movie camera and the first underwater lighting system that is still used today.

TO PROMOTE SILVER SPRINGS, Mozert knew his photographs had to be “snazzy” enough to grab attention from the press and would-be tourists. To accomplish that, he used shapely models performing everyday tasks such as smoking cigarettes or drinking Cokes, flipping burgers on a grill, playing golf, or cooling off in front of a new-fangled air conditioner—all underwater.

He continued to refine his housing designs for both still images and movie cameras. Mozert shot all the underwater footage for the Creature from the Black Lagoon, and worked for all of the major television networks, including ABC Sports, NBC’s Mike and the Mermaid, and CBS’ Sea Hunt. For 15 years during the 60’s and 70’s he was a contract photographer and cameraman for Mercury Engines. Shooting high speed underwater footage of propellers is a feat that he is particularly proud of.

Shooting scenes underwater with Bruce Mozert

Mozert’s legacy is the series of unique underwater images of beautiful models in real-life domestic situations under the crystal clear waters of Silver Springs. His images are world class examples of conceptual photography at its best. For forty five years Bruce Mozert developed impactful and memorable images that not only required creative prop work, but early on required inventive experimentation with homemade housings and lighting systems. In fact some of Mozert's early underwater rigs are on display at museums around the USA like the Smithsonian. He began shooting underwater before the invention of regulators (the “aqua lung” as he refers to it), and explained how he would submerge in a diving helmet tethered to a hose at the surface with people pumping air by hand. Eventually he recommended attaching the hose to a compressor and essentially invented the first compressed air system. These were the days prior to navy dive tables and an understanding of dive injuries like embolisms. He reflects back on a few situations where he had to perform an emergency ascent and in retrospect is lucky he didn’t embolize. We should all be just as happy that he didn’t as we all owe Mozert credit for helping to bring the modern era of underwater photography to fruition.

Keep your eyes peeled to this blog for more pictures of Bruce here shortly!

Camille

Preben's IDCS course kicked off today

2010-02-02T16:37:00.002+07:00

Preben's IDCS course kicked off today

Preben, who completed his IDC last year in February 2009 is back to complete his IDCS course this year! Well done Preben and a great example of taking your own education serious and continuing your dive experience and education.

Today Preben breathed through the 5 Theory exams, knocking them all out way above the required 80% passing grade and we had a Knowledge Development section as part of this IDCS course shows Preben during this evaluation training and he knocked them out as well today!

Above is one of my presentation topics shown! Get in there!

Tomorrow the actual IDC will kick off and Preben will sit through the complete IDC course again and gets the opportunity to see it from a different angle this time and with more opportunities to practice his grading.

Keep your eyes peeled to this channel for more updates this coming week!

Camille

Specialty of the month; February 2010 - Boat Diver

2010-02-01T13:04:00.003+07:00

Specialty of the month; February 2010 - Boat Diver

Just like February last year, specialty of the month is Boat Diver.

In Thailand most diving is done from boats but in the Netherlands, my native country, most dives are done in lakes and other water ponds and they are almost all shore dives.

MV Waverunner (pictured above) and MV Seafarer are the boats that I dive most with.

There's a lot more to this Specialty than the eye meets.
Mainly because different boats in different parts of the world do things differently. This Specialty course familiarizes you with the various ways you stow gear, enter and exit the water, use surface lines and more, depending upon the type boat and the location but you an also learn about the various anchor designs and their specific uses.

If you mix up starboard and port, here's an easy one to remember; we left port!

You can also learn where the head, aft cardinal points or galley are and what they are by becoming familiar with boating terms.

Come and participate in the Boat Dive specialty and get a 10% discount his month!

Camille

PADI IE for January 2010 is in the bag!

2010-01-24T13:03:00.003+07:00

PADI IE for January 2010 is in the bag!

After 3 days on Koh Tao for the PADI IE (and a few days before that so we could complete Mike's Instructor Specialities) the PADI IE finished today and Mike sailed through it with all straight fives (out of five) during the last segment this morning, the confined water presentation and the skill circuit.

Here's the whole IE group, some 30 odd candidates, with the two examiners Rob and Young and Young Hee at the side of the pool for the closing ceremony.

The 'official' picture' from left to right; Rob, the PADI Examiner, Mike and myself.

Now it's time to leave Koh Tao and go back to Samui again and ready to start another IDC in a good 9 days from now.

Camille

Camille

Mike's specialty Instructor training is done

2010-01-22T13:26:00.004+07:00

Mike's specialty Instructor training is done

After having completed the January 2010 IDC successfully, earlier this month, we made good use of the time available, together with the fact that there was only one IDC candidate this month, which allowed for great(er) than usual flexibility, we took a ferry to Koh Tao and we completed the Instructor Specialty training before the start of this months PADI IE, also on Koh Tao.

One of the Specialties taught was Underwater Navigation, here's the white board after the briefing of this dive, a small door opening into the kitchen of knowledge and teaching . Come and see if you're interested in the full course (sounds familiar, anyone?).

On Koh Tao, during an Aware Fish ID dive at Twins, we spotted this scorpion fish in full war dress, in all of his glory, a beautiful and rather rare sight. A nice touch was that Thomas, Dijana and David of the December 2009 IDC also participated in selected dives this month in order to complete their Specialty training.

Yesterday we saw this big Titan Triggerfish (as one of many around the Koh Tao dive sites) as part of the first of the two Deep dive Instructor specialty at White Rock and I got really close up for this amazing picture. If breeding, these are not very friendly fish! Luckily for us their hormones were in check.

Today we went for another Deep dive at Chumporn Pinnacle, although we didn't get to see the much anticipated and by now famous bull sharks at this dive site, it was still a very enjoyable dive with a good 20 meters visibility. This really small jelly fish caught our attention however, near the surface, it was the size of half a fist probably.

A school of baby Barracuda at White Rock saw us finish the specialty training today, having completed DPV, DUP, Nitrox, Equipment, Gas Blending, Night, Emergency Oxygen Provider, Search & Recovery, Boat and the Underwater Naturalist specialties over the last couple of days.

Right now Mike is in the PADI IE orientation which should be finished about now, ready to kick it off with 5 theory exams and the General Standards & Procedures exam.

Soon more about this PADI IE.

Camille

PADI IDC for January 2010 has been completed

2010-01-18T11:00:00.002+07:00

PADI IDC for January 2010 has been completed

Today Mike completed his January 2010 IDC. After already having completed the Prep and AI courses, the IDC is now complete.

Knowledge development presentations were given by Mike with the help of training aids, like his BCD.

There was also plenty of confined water training, here's Mike working on his buoyancy by means of a fin pivot.

As with every IDC, we had some lovely lunches during our breaks at World Resort, where I conduct my IDC's.

Now it's off for some more specialty instructor training and to the PADI IE on Koh Tao.

Good luck Mike, I'm very confident you're just going to fine at the IE.

Maybe time for you, my readers, to come to Koh Samui and start your IDC and/or related courses with me as well.

Camille

PADI Specialty of the month for December 2010; Enriched Air Nitrox

2010-01-15T20:51:00.002+07:00

PADI Specialty of the month for December 2010; Enriched Air Nitrox

Just like January last year, Nitrox is the first Specialty of the year for PADI Specialty of the Month series.

It also tops the list of being the most popular PADI Specialty out of all the Specialties PADI has on offer and also for my Instructor Specialty training, Enriched Air Nitrox Instructor Specialty tops the list of being the most popular one.

If you participate in this PADI Specialty you will need the manual and a couple of slates that will help you understand the materials at hand and how you can integrate Nitrox into your diving habits in a safe way.

The new exciting thing happening in the Nitrox course is that with the new manual, coming out soon, you can learn the course based on computer diving rather than tables, if you prefer that.

Keep your eyes out for the new ADI Nitrox Specialty, soon at your local dive shop!

Camille

EFRI and Oxygen Provider Instructors in the making

2010-01-11T22:45:00.004+07:00

EFRI and Oxygen Provider Instructors in the making

During a break in-between the current AI course and the OWSI program of this January IDC, we're completing some specialty instructor courses.

Today we tackled the EFRI course, with Little Annie, the mannequin waiting for some action in this picture. Due to Mike's medical military back ground, we could finish this course rather swiftly in a one on one training setting and we moved on to the PADI Emergency Oxygen provider course.

This course was taught by Craig, who certified his 25th PADI diver during Mike's Oxygen Provider course, under my direct supervision and hence completed his MSDT internship and is now ready to start his IDCS course during the February IDC, so we'll see a lot more of him in the near future. The picture above shows Mike, Craig and me after the EFRI and Oxygen Provider course. I went on and completed the Oxygen Instructor course with Mike as well.

As usual this was all taught at the local recompression chamber in Bang Rak.

Earlier, before the IDC started, we also looked into the Gas Blender and Equipment specialties already.

First we'll complete some Instructor diving specialties, weather permitting and later this week we will continue with the current IDC again.

Camille

Prep course for the January IDC has kicked off

2010-01-06T22:16:00.003+07:00

Prep course for the January IDC has kicked off

Mike is the only candidate in this first IDC of the new year and decade and we're cruising through the program.

As usual there are exams involved and they were checked on day one and two of the prep course in this IDC.

Besides a couple of curriculum presentation by me, the skill circuit is also on the program and here is Mike demonstrating a giant stride for his deep water entry skill. Tomorrow the IDC kicks off with the AI course.

Keep your eyes peeled here for more updates to come.

Camille

Happy New Year 2010

2010-01-01T18:23:00.000+07:00

Happy New Year 2010

And remember, never, ever fart in your dry suit!

Camille