Summer this year has been a bumper season for PADI IDC’s at Thresher Shark Divers. They have been running back-to-back through June, July and August.
June
June was a surprise one. With quite a few maybe’s interested in our June IDC Special, but eventually no takers, we decided to cancel it. Then the next day, who should walk through the door but out old friend Steve McGill. After a mere 15 minutes catching up he asked, “So, do you have an IDC running anytime soon?”
So we geared back into action and our IDC was now running in full force.
Steve was lucky to have one-on-one attention from Course Director, Mike, and sailed through the IE. He is now living in Cebu planning to teach in Mactan.
L-R: PADI Instructor Examiner George Wegman, Steve, Mike (CD)
Mike had a few days off after he finished Steve’s Instructor Specialty ratings, but soon it was nose back to the grindstone as our two candidates for the July IDC arrived on July 9th.
July
Ronnie, from Germany, has just settled in El Nido in Palawan and is planning on opening a dive center in this newly discovered area. He already owns the Habibi Shisha Restaurant which he runs with his lovely wife, Charo, so we are sure he will do well.
Katie comes from the UK and had just finished university. On the day she arrived, she got news of getting a first class degree, so double congratulations to her! Katie stayed with us for a month after the IDC to get some teaching experience and is taking the next year off to teach diving before going back to start her job in the UK. During her time with us she also worked on getting some of our staff certified as Open Water Divers. We offer this to our staff for free.
Also congratulations to Gareth our old instructor, who came back for a visit and completed his PADI IDC Staff Instructor Course. Sadly for us, Gareth has now returned to his fab job on the cruise ships in the Caribbean, but we hope to see him back in March next year.
L-R: George, Ronny, Katie, Mike
August
Yet again, no sooner had Ronnie and Katie finished their Instructor Specialty ratings, than Petr and Helen started their IDC Prep Course for the August IDC.
This is Petr’s third time with us. In ‘normal life’ he is a brain surgeon in the Czech Republic and has been coming to us every year for his vacation. In August 2008 he completed PADI Divemaster at TSD. Last August he did his Assistant Instructor. And this year he went all the way with the PADI Dive Instructor Course.
After completing the IDC, Helen did very well in the IE achieving mostly top grades and her PADI Open Water Scuba Instructor Rating. Petr skipped the IE to travel to Bohol with his girlfriend who had been seriously neglected during the IDC, and will either come back in January or take it back home in freezing cold Prague – brrrr!
Helen is staying with us for another month for Specialties and some teaching experience on our MSDT Prep Program.
