The May Instructor Development Course is starting very soon and the Downbelow IDC candidates are all assisting our Go Pro team on the latest adventure group that are visiting us on Gaya island.

The adventure group in question is with us for a 1 month program and starts of with a 6 night stay on Gaya island.

During their days on the island, the group will learn how to dive, and those who are already qualified will be further their qualifications with Advanced Open Water or Speciality courses.

Downbelow’s instructor team will conduct 16 PADI Open Water courses, 3 PADI Advanced Open Water courses, 2 Underwater Photography courses and 19 AWARE Corel Reef Conservation courses.

Our Instructor Interns and IDC Candidates will assist on all of these courses, enjoying real world prep for their impending Instructor course and exams.

The benefit of a scuba diving internship cannot be overstated as our Kota Kinabalu IDC candidates benefit from their 1 month internship with Downbelow.

Although our next IDC only starts on 16 May, all 6 our candidates are already on deck, taking advantage of some awesome, hands-on experiences available to them during their internship this month.

That said, we can comfortably accommodate more candidates during our May Instructor Development Course, so get in touch to if you’re keen.

Back to our candidates; the month of May sees Downbelow facilitate yet another adventure group who joins us to, amongst other things, learn how to dive.

This gives each of our 6 candidates the unprecedented opportunity to shadow one of Downbelow’s experienced instructors through entire open water course cycles.

Our candidates will be able to learn from real world teaching scenarios as conducted by seasoned professionals, which will undoubtedly contribute to their bag of knowledge to reference during the IDC.

Not only that, but our IDC candidates also get invaluable group logistics experience, which is something you just can’t simulate in training.

Between the 6 candidates, our resident Course Director and the rest of Downbelow’s experienced Go Pro Team, our IDC interns get an unparalleled Team Teaching experience.

Let the learning begin!

There was cause for celebration this weekend as local intern Victorley Marden successfully completed his PADI Divemaster Course and Internship with Downbelow.

Victorley joined Downbelow’s local internship program last year with his eye on a professional diving career.

He made great strides during his internship and showed the kind of commitment to hard work and quality that is the hallmark of Downbelow’s diving professionals.

As a qualified PADI Divemaster, Victorley now focusses his attention on the next goal – PADI Open Water Scuba Instructor.

He has his work cut out for him, because our next PADI Instructor Development Course is are mere 2 weeks away, starting on May 16 and culminating with the PADI Instructor Examination on 26 & 27 May.

Our interns have been quite busy recently, preparing for the next IDC which is now just a few weeks away.

When not enjoying the awesome visibility diving with Downbelow has yielded recently, they were busy tying knots.

Working on boats and tying objects to lift bags requires the qualified Divemaster and Instructor to know a certain amount of useful knots.

And that’s what they’ve been practicing.

Resident PADI Course Director Richard and IDC Staff Instructor James once even made an instruction video about tying knots to make it a little easier to learn…

It’s not often you get the chance to gain first hand experience conducting an Open Water Course with your PADI Course Director so close to your IDC.

But that is exactly the opportunity that Professional Scuba Diving Intern and IDC candidate Michelle had recently.

Assisting resident PADI Course Director Richard Swann during a PADI OWC recently, she was right in the thick of things, able to see how the experienced Pros do it.

The next PADI Instructor Development Course in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah takes place in the middle of May next month, and Michelle is preparing herself for that important milestone.

With slightly less than a month remaining, now a great time to join our Instructor Development Course. Send us a an email and we’ll help you to go pro with Downbelow.

Our scuba diving girls are stepping up their qualifications, with the latest being Liz & Michelle earning themselves a PADI Divemaster qualification.

Both Liz Street and Michelle Sinsua are participating in our Professional Scuba Diving internship under the watchful eye of resident PADI Course Director Richard Swann and his Go Pro Team.

A big congratulations to both for achieving the important and significant milestone of PADI Divemaster.

Next stop is Downbelow’s PADI Instructor Development Course that starts on 16 May 2012.

During the PADI IDC, the ways of the PADI Instructor will be taught to the candidate, who will then have to demonstrate that they can command the skills and knowledge vital to becoming dive instructors.

Once the Instructor Development Course is over, their knowledge will be tested during the PADI Instructor Exam, which will be conducted by a PADI Examiner, who usually flies in from Australia.

With Downbelow’s PADI 5 Star IDC Dive Centre temporarily devoid of groups, attention shifts back to what our professional interns are up to.

This week great weather accompanied the sessions our interns were engaged in.

Resident PADI Course Director Richard Swann took them out for the deep dive scenario workshop, which is an integral performance requirement for the divemaster course.

While the interns did the needful to set up for the deep dive scenario, CD Richard hovered nearby to ensure that everything was according to Downbelow’s stringent standards.

The divemaster interns confidently demonstrated their prowess for the required skills, and took the constructive criticism to perfect whichever aspects required additional polish.

Our interns continue their quest to becoming PADI Divemasters.

Meanwhile, her professional scuba diving internship here in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah continues, and there is still much to learn and as much experience to gain.

A particular facet of the dive industry, one that will make her very sought after for future employment, is the ability to facilitate groups at high quality and safety standards.

Accommodating groups are not as simple as getting them in and herding them around.

To satisfy potential clients who only want the best for their groups, Downbelow has to illustrate and implement stringent safety measures and cross-checks, to ensure that all participants are safe and accounted for at all times.

This includes, but is not limited to risk assessments, staff training, contingency plans and a rigorous equipment service schedule.

It is experience with these procedures and implementations that Sara is gaining during her professional internship with Downbelow, which will allow her to successfully take care of groups in her future professional career.

All this while still having fun too, of course. After all, multi-tasking is a skill too.

This week Downbelow welcomed another Divemaster intern into the fold at our PADI 5 Star IDC Dive Centre on Gaya island.

Ray, a Canadian living in Hong Kong, joins our Divemaster Internship in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah.

PADI IDC Staff Instructor James took Ray under his wing and introduced him to the intern way of life at our beach house dive centre.

Ray joins fellow interns Sara, Liz and Michelle who are all aiming to become PADI professionals whilst studying under resident PADI Course Director Richard Swann and his Go Pro team.

Check out our internship page for more information about our customizable divemaster internship in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah.

Our local and international divemaster interns are making great progress on their Borneo internships here at the PADI 5 Star IDC Dive Centre on Gaya island in Kota Kinabalu.

Resident PADI Course Director Richard Swann is overseeing their progress on the Go Pro programs, whilst the rest of the Go Pro Team pitches in to teach and give them a variety of experience.

Our international interns, Liz and Michelle, together with our local interns, Hilary and Victor, are nearing the exam stage of the divemaster course and are soaking up all the knowledge they can.

Next stop, our May Instructor Development Course, which takes place from 16 – 25 May and is immediately followed by the Instructor Exam on 26 & 27 May.