The PADI IE on Koh Samui for May 2013 has been very successfully completed

Today around noon, all the learning, sweating, frustrations, ups and downs that go into a PADI IDC came to an end when at last it was clear that the candidates all had passed their PADI IE!

Congratulations to all of you!

From left to right; George (PADI Examiner), Matsui (OWSI), myself, Sota (OWSI), Ami (IDCS) and Nobu (MI)

Tonight a few drinks will be had and a party will be held! Good on you and good luck to you in your further diving career!

If you're interested in participating in one of my up and coming PADI IDC's and change your life around, here are your most current options; My next IDC will start 12th June on Koh Samui in Thailand again, followed by an IDC starting 6th July on Malapascua in the Philippines and 31st August by an IDC on Koh Phangan in Thailand.

Camille

The PADI IDC for May 2013 on Koh Samui has been completed

Today the PADI IDC on Koh Samui for May 2013 was completed and only Sota and Matsui will attend the PADI IE starting tomorrow.

Matsui rescuing Sota under the watchful eyes of Ami 

More IE updates will follow soon, so stay tuned to this channel. If all works out, I expect two new PADI Instructors come Monday around noon.

My next IDC will start 12th June on Koh Samui in Thailand again, followed by an IDC starting 6th July on Malapascua in the Philippines and 31st August by an IDC on Koh Phangan in Thailand.

See you there,

Camille

The PADI IDC on Koh Samui, Thailand is already half way

From one PADI IDC straight into the other, from Gili Air in Indonesia via an Instructor Development Update on Bali to an IDC on Koh Samui in Thailand within just a few days. 

The travelling lifestyle of a PADI Course Director!

Before hitting the pool at the Bandara resort, from left to right; Ami (IDCS), Matsui, Sota, myself and Bernhard

Plenty of classroom presentations and skill circuits have been done and dusted and now the more hands on confined and open water presentations are coming up over the next couple of days.

Confined water briefing with Matsui, Sota and Bernhard

As usual the nationalities tumble over each other during my IDC's and this time it's no different with Bernhard from Austria (but living in Sweden near the Finnish border) and Sota, Matsui and all the other staff, Nobu, Hadji and Ami coming from Japan.

The good old Rescue exercise # 7, unconscious diver at the surface

A few more days to go, inclusive of an EFR Instructor course and the PADI IE will be knocking on our door, so stay tuned for more updates.

My next PADI IDC starts 12th June on Koh Samui in Thailand again, followed by an IDC scheduled to start 6th July on Malapascua in the Philippines, 31st July on Koh Phangan in Thailand and 18th August on Gili Air in Indonesia.

See you there!

Camille

Once more a Certificate of Recognition for Excellence from PADI

They seem to come fast and hard this year, PADI's 'Certificates of Recognition for Excellence'. This is already the 4th time this year I receive such a certificate. With many thanks to Iggy Simeonidis from the February PADI IDC on Gili Air in Indonesia in conjunction with PADI 5* IDC Center 'Oceans 5'.

If you want to change your live around by becoming a PADI Instructor and get excellent training, come and see me on my next PADI IDC's, starting 12th June on Koh Samui in Thailand, followed by 6th July on Malapascua in the Philippines, an added IDC on Koh Phangan in Thailand starting 31st July and 18th August sees an IDC on Gili Air in Indonesia with plenty of IDC's to follow for the rest of the year.

Camille

PADI Instructor Development Update 2013, Bali, Indonesia

During the next couple of months, PADI has scheduled a few Instructor Development Updates around the Asia Pacific region and today's Bali update in Indonesia was the first in a row of a few more to come. As it happened to be, this suited my travel plans, since during all other updates I may be either teaching and therefor unable to attend and/or I'm too far away, so I can't attend.

The PADI staff for the update; Marc van der Poel on the left and George Wegmann on the right of me

Another reason why I enjoyed this update in Bali, is because it gives me the chance to meet other PADI Course Directors that I may know of but never met. Besides one attending Course Director, I never met any of the other attendees. It was nice to be able to meet them.

Being the only Course Director being based in Thailand, there were some other people visiting from some far away destinations as well. Besides the majority of the people attending being based in Bali itself, one person came from Perth in Australia and one person came from Manado in Indonesia, which is also more than just a few kilometers away from Bali.

'CD Thailand' that must be me!

All in all it was an interesting meeting, with the morning being spend in a conference room, discussing upcoming changes and for the first time we had a pool dive as part of the update as well.

Both parts saw some good discussions and I hope that all attendees are now 'calibrated' again, as George said!

Thanks to Marc and George and all attendees.

Camille

PADI Instructor specialties around Gili Ai, Indonesia

During and after the recent PADI IDC here on Gili Air, I conducted some PADI Instructor level specialties and here are some of the pictures I managed to take.

A longhorn cowfish, the first time I spot this fish species

During the IDC I did a few dives with Iggy, who completed his IDC in February on Gili Air. Because there's immediately a house reef in front of PADI 5* IDC Center 'Oceans 5' where I conduct my IDC's it was easy to complete a few days straight after classes.

A ringed pipefish

After the IDC I conducted specialties with John and Riet in Digital Underwater Photography (DUP), Enriched Air and Deep diving. Alycia and Marco only participated in the Nitrox specialty training.

Snowflake eel

One of the dives happened to be my 1900th dive, a nice milestone and now I'm looking forward to my 2000th dive, which I don't expect before next year. Today we will have one more deep dive, later on during the early morning!

John was wearing DUP approved shorts during the dives!

The dive sites around the Gili islands cater to everybody, thee's lots of macro dive sites with small critters but white tip reef sharks, bumpheads, big mantas and the like can also be spotted. pending on what dive site you visit. It's really worthwhile visiting here and getting wet!

Blue spotted sting ray

It was great to be here again and I'm already looking forward to my next PADI IDC on Gili Air, scheduled to start 18th August.

Double ended pipefish

My next PADI IDC starts already in a few days, 9th May, on Koh Samui in Thailand followed by an IDC in Dauin in the Philippines starting 20th May, which is followed by another IDC scheduled to start 12th June on Koh Samui again and 6th July sees an IDC starting on Malapascua in the Philippines.

Camille

My 1900th Dive

Today was a small milestone, I just completed my 1900th dive, during Instructor level specialty training around Gili Air in Indonesia. Later today we will go for another dive at Oceans 5 house reef.

Blue spotted sting ray during my 1900th dive

We saw at least 7 or 8 turtles during the dive and we had a pleasant dive with a good current, so we drifted over the corals and pinnacles without getting too tired.

One of the many turtles we saw during this dive

Looking forward to log my 2000th dive now. More updates on the specialty training around Gili Air will follow!

Camille

PADI IE on Gili Air, Indonesia for May 2013 was very successful

All the candidates from me PADI 5* IDC Center 'Oceans 5' from the PADI IDC class of April 2013 that participated in the May 2013 PADI IE on Gili Air in Indonesia succeeded in their exams with flying colors. All 7 candidates passed all exam parts in one go. Well done and congratulations are in place.

From left to right; Sander (PADI Course  Director), Riet, Marco (sitting), John (standing), Camille (PADI Course Director), Selina, Alycia, Lucie, Ben and Marc (PADI Examiner)

They were two long and nervous days but it all paid off this morning when they each received the final handshake of Marc, the PADI examiner. Tonight it's party time followed by a day off and we will hit the water with a few candidates to complete some PADI Instructor specialties.

The next PADI IDC is already looming around the corner with a kick off on 9th May on Koh Samui, Thailand followed by a PADI IDC starting 20th May in Dauin, Philippines, come 12th June it's showtime on Koh Samui in Thailand again and 6th July we're back on Malapascua in the Philippines for a PADI IDC.

See you there.

Camille