The Next Step

For some divers, the personal enjoyment, challenge and excitement of diving just isn't enough. A select few feel the need to take the next step and accept the challenge of teaching the sport to others.

The decision to become an instructor carries a great deal of responsibility and is not one that should be made lightly. Profes sional diving instructors, whether they know it or not, have a profound effect on the continued safety of their students and the enjoyment those students will receive from the sport, long after the course is over. Besides the mechanics of diving, traits and attitudes learned while in a course may stay with that diver for their entire diving life. The patience, enthusiasm for the sport and respect for the oceans that my instructor, Jim Willoughby, imparted on me 25 years ago are values that are still very much a part of my diving career and something I try to pass on to those I dive with.

Once the decision to teach has been made, there are many instructor programs to choose from. Each training agency (PADI, NAUI, NASDS, YMCA, IANTD, ANDI) offers instructor training courses which have certain experience and certification requirements and the pre requisite courses leading up to instructor can be taken on an individual basis at a pace that meets the candidates needs. Following are two instructor training courses with unique curriculums.

The Vancouver Diving Institute, operated by the Diving Locker, is a PADI Career Development Center (CDC), the first in Canada and one of only a handful around the world. They now offer the Total Development Program (TDP) which takes students to one of four levels of instructor certification, all of which include a basic, 13 week Bronze level curriculum. The Bronze Level, takes students with open water certification through twelve additional certification levels culminating in the ten day Instructor Development Course and Instructor Evaluation (IDC and IE). The big difference between this program and other instructor courses is the exposure that students receive to all aspects of the diving industry. During the 13 week Bronze Level program, candidates are given plenty of hands on experience in actual training situations, working closely with certified PADI instructors during Open Water, Advanced and Rescue courses. But it doesn't end there. Besides diving and dive training, students receive training and experience in retail, rental, gear servicing and wetsuit and drysuit manufacture. Additional seminars are offered on running your own dive business, company and business formation and marketing and advertising.

The Silver level offers an additional week of training that earns candidates their PADI Medic First Aid Instructor and DAN Oxygen Administration instructor rating. The Gold level covers the Master Scuba Diver Trainer course enabling graduates to teach a variety of PADI specialty courses.

The Vancouver Diving Institute also offers a Platinum level, which is an additional two months of training and covers the realm of nitrox and technical diving. Platinum level graduates leave with an Advanced Nitrox Instructor rating and Extended Range, Gas Blender and trimix certificates.

The Vancouver Diving Institute is recognized as a post secondary education facility and therefore tuition qualifies for student loans. The Diving Locker has also made a commitment to helping find jobs for graduates, many of whom are currently working around the world.

At Diving Dynamics in Kelowna, British Columbia, the Professional Diver Training/Dive Management Program or PDT, trains students in the operational realities of the industry in three phases. Training takes place both in British Columbia and on the island of Bonaire in the Caribbean. Phase One of the training includes four weeks of studies in Kelowna followed by a month on Bonaire during which time students receive a complete picture of the current size and scope of the dive industry, training in advanced dive physics and physiology, accident management and undertake seamanship specialization courses.

On Bonaire students receive hands-on training and experience, working on operational dive boats during the week and work at various facilities on weekends, where they will put into practice what they have learned during the week.

Students then return to BC where dive management and dive control techniques learned in the Caribbean will be reviewed and put into practice as students assume the tasks of Diving Supervisor and Vessel Captains. By the end of Phase One students have obtained their Divemaster rating, DAN Oxygen provider rating, received technical training in Overhead Environment and deep diving, gained their marine radio license and a great deal of experience.

In Phase Two, students go through the PADI IDC and IE and after successful completion take on the Medic First Aid Instructor and Master Scuba Diver Trainer ratings.

Phase Three involves training in the technical diving realm including Nitrox Instructor training, Overhead Environment and Gas Blender. And Diving Dynamics will soon be adding a chamber to their facility and students will receive training as chamber technicians.

By graduation, instructors who have gone through these programs should have the training, knowledge and confidence to succeed in any dive operation in the world, and many have gone on to exciting careers in the tropics as well as in Canadian waters.

For more information, contact The Vancouver Diving Institute, 2745 West 4th Ave., Vancouver, BC, V6K 1P9. Ph. (604) 736-2681, 1-800-348-3398 or Fax (604) 736-2320.

Contact Diving Dynamics at their E-mail address divingdynamics@silk.net