InAquanauts Pattaya Internships Offers Free Instructor / Divemaster Skills Enhancement Course

Aquanauts Dive Centre today introduced its 2008 Diving Instructor Training internship program, improving yet again on the industry’s best value in professional dive training.

New to the program in 2008 is Aquanauts’ new “Skills Enhancement Course” for instructors and divemasters. With a retail value of more than $2,000, the Skills Enhancement Course is included free to anyone who enrolls in an instructor or divemaster internship with a 100% deposit.

The Instructor / Divemaster Skills Enhancement Course includes six PADI specialty courses, the Emergency First Response Instructor course and the DAN Oxygen First Aid for Scuba Diving Injuries course. All required manuals and all certifications are included.

The new free course replaces Aquanuats 2007 promotion, which was a choice of three smaller packages of courses that targeted specific interests in PADI specialties, dive medic training and technical diving. These courses have been upgraded into optional “Enhanced Learning Packs.” You can read more about these offerings here.

“Over the past year we looked at which of the bonus packages our interns chose and which extra courses they ended up purchasing and then bundled them into a comprehensive suite of courses that covered all the skills that would best prepare them for the PADI Instructor Exam and the job market,” said Aquanauts founder and Course Director Roger M. Smith. “There are some very valuable courses and an incredible value.”

Specifically, the Instructor / Divemaster Skills Enhancement Course includes:

• PADI Deep Diver — Before you can take take the Instructor Exam you need to have done a “deep” dive to the 40-meter recreational dive limit. This is the course that gets you certified to dive to that depth.
• PADI Peak Performance Buoyancy — Improve your buoyancy and underwater control with the Peak Performance Buoyancy course. It’s also one of just 3 PADI specialties you can teach as an OWSI, Peak Performance Buoyancy is a must-take course. After all, if you’re going to teach it, you’ll want to have taken the class as a student first!
• PADI Underwater Navigator — One of the most important skills you need is the ability to navigate with a compass. You’ll often have to rely on it to get you back to where you started. So take the class early in your internship and find your way to better training!
• PADI Search & Recovery Diver — Like Peak Performance Buoyancy, Search & Recovery skills are also on your Instructor Exam. Learn to find, rig and bring to the surface various items. It’s a fun, challenging and essential class.
• PADI Wreck Diver — While you won’t be tested on wreck skills during the Instructor Exam, no one wants to spend 2-6 months in Pattaya — Thailand’s Wreck Diving Capital — and not have this course. Wrecks are what we do. You should too!
• PADI Enriched Air “Nitrox” Diver — The most popular PADI specialty available, this course certifies you to dive on “Nitrox,” a richer mix of oxygen to nitrogen that enables you to dive longer than on regular air. It’s also a course your many of your students will ask you about, so you’ll want to be able to tell them why they should take the course with you!
• PADI Master Scuba Diver Certification — Once you reach Rescue Diver and complete the five courses above, you’ll be certified a Master Scuba Diver, the highest non-professional certification PADI offers and a great stepping stone to the professional Divemaster program.
• PADI / Emergency First Response Instructor — Learn to conduct the EFR Primary, Secondary and Care for Children first aid courses. You’ll also learn to conduct the recommended Automated External Defibrillator (AED), emergency oxygen and conscious choking management skills.
• DAN Oxygen First Aid for Scuba Diving Injuries — Entry-level training to educate the general diving public in recognizing possible dive related injuries and providing emergency oxygen first aid.
• Enriched Air Nitrox Diver Crew Pack
• Emergency First Response Instructor Manual
• EFR At a Glance Reference Card
• DAN Oxygen First Aid Manual
• DAN Non-Rebreather Mask

The optional manuals for the courses above, as well as two more courses, materials and extra equipment, has been made available in the new PADI Enhanced Learning Pack.

To qualify for the course, simply enroll in a divemaster or instructor internship with a 40% deposit and then pay off the remaining 60% no later than 30 days before your arrival in Thailand. Your price and exchange rate is locked in at the time of the initial enrollment and your deposit holds your place in the program for a full year. Contact Aquanauts with any questions.