Starting IDC on Samui

We're in SE Asia again (finally) and I'm starting (finally) my Instructor Development Course on Koh Samui with http://www.easydivers-samui.net/. So far I don't have all the books, don't know whether I can use electronic Instructor Manual and have some more doubts but it's going to be OK :)

Back to Samui

We planned just to pass through Samui on our way to Malaysia, but we got stuck:) It's high season here, and due to unpredictable factors Easy Divers (the center we worked for) is temporarily short staffed so we got some work (diving:D) to do. It's also great to see all our friends, and the places we used to go to:) Even people on the Big Buddha market recognize us:D

Bye bye Samui

Tomorrow we are leaving Koh Samui, setting off on a 4 month travel through South East Asia. We are going to visit the Philippines (do some diving there :D), Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, then pass through Thailand en route to Malaysia and finally Singapore.

And although I enjoyed living on Samui pretty much, I am very excited to be moving somewhere new.

Whale Shark

Today I've seen my first whale shark:):):) It happened on Sail Rock, one of the best dive sites in the Samui area.

Whale sharks really are the "gentle giants", even though the one today was "only" 5 meters long. Generally whale sharks can grow up to 18 meters according to some sources.

Bangkok protests

Bad, bad times for diving industry in Thailand. The opposing party supporters ("yellow shirts") have blocked Thailand's largest airport - the Suvarnabhumi International Airport in Bangkok (read more) . This basically means that people have extremely hard time leaving Thailand, with plenty oftourists stuck on this airport. Those who are coming can choose alternative routes (e.g. through Kuala Lumpur), but still it has been made harder for them. This situation will also make lots of people reconsider their travel plans:/

Effects can be seen on Samui - empty streets, restaurants and hotels, not much movement in the diving industry. On top of that we have the economic crisis (lots of talk about that, but I'm still not sure if it affects tourism that much) and bad weather.

We were to begin our trainig with Easy Divers, but because of all this the boat was canceled all past week, so we cannot start this training (which is basically getting to know the dive sites), not to mention working:/.

Today was the King's birthday and everyone expected him to say something about these protests during his speech which he always gives on his birthday, but because of some illnes the event was cancelled.

Hopefully not all of those who booked their hotels for the Christmas period (a little high season here on Samui) will not cancel.

Diving jobs in Thailand

We've spent most of the last month looking for a job. And it turns out it's not so easy to find work as a Divemaster on Phuket. Unless you speak a rare language (like Russian) in addition to English, or speak 3 or more languages (i.e. English, German, Swedish or other Scandinavian) your chances are very slim. Dive centers prefer to hire instructors because they are more versatile and it is easier for them to get Thai work permits (WP). Work permits are required, and they are often checked. The penalty for working without one is jail. You can always try to bribe your way out, but it'll cost you a substantial amount of money (it is said that if you do it early enough 50K Baht should be enough). Sometimes dive centers hire staff on a freelance basis, which moves the responsibility for obtaining a WP from the employer to employee. It is possible for a divemaster to get a WP, but again it costs. You need to set up a company, for which the starting price is 100K Baht. If you are smart or have some luck you could probably do it for 60-70K, but still its a big sum of money for us poor backpackers...

That is why we decided to try somewhere else (anywhere else to be frank). After some time and about 200 applications sent (I love SPAM :D ), we finally managed to interest someone. This someone was Easy Divers on Koh Samui in the Gulf of Thailand (the other side of the Malay Peninsula). After an interview we were accepted and hired on a freelance basis. We are moving to Samui now:)

PADI Assistant Instructor course completed

Today was the last day of our Assistant Instructor course. This course is the first part of Instructor Development Course (IDC). IDC consists of two parts: the AI course followed by Open Water Scuba Instructor course. Usually they are taken together, but it's possible to do them separately, like we did. AI course focuses on in-water diver control, presentation (or lecture) preparation and conduct. During the course you also learn about PADI programs that can be conducted by Assistant Instructors. This are the same as Divemaster programs plus: Peak Performance Buoyancy, Underwater Photography, Seal Team Missions and Project Aware Specialties. Additionally AIs can asses the surface skills during OWD course and give the lectures during that course. Another important part of the course is about general PADI standards and procedures and particular courses standards.

A part of the course also focuses on demonstrating skills underwater, however unlike the DM which stresses the quality of the demonstration, AI is about maintaining control underwater. The same goes for the open water part of the course: you are assigned two exercises that you must perform with a group of "students". These students are of course your fellow AI trainees or instructors, and each of them is simulating a problem, as assigned by the instructor. These problems range from collecting corals while you're not looking, through loosing parts of equipment, to trying to do an uncontrolled positive buoyancy ascent:) You, as their instructor, must maintain complete control over what they are doing and don't let them do anything stupid. The quality of your briefings and debriefings also gets rated.

At the end your diving knowledge is exam (same as during the divemaster exam).

I feel that during this course I've learned a lot about conducting lectures and presentations and also about diver control. Still, I feel that I need a little bit more experience before signing for my OWSI course and completing the Instructor Examination.

Phuket first impressions

After some problems during the flight we finally landed on Phuket. The problems we had were with the Polish airlines - LOT. It turned out that they don't respect some agreements with other airlines or are to lazy to check the conditions of these agreements. The company we bought our tickets from (LTU Airlines) assured us that we can transport diving equipment free of charge, and the guy at Okęcie Airport checkin wanted to charge us for that luggage. This additional fee was so big that we decided to leave our luggage behind:/ Thankfully our friend offered to ship it for us, but we will have to wait before he arranges the air freight. Until then we only have our masks, fins and snorkels, one regulator, diving computers and compasses. If you can, try to avoid LOT.

We landed on Phuket and are staying in a hotel in Phuket Town. We are (or at least I am) a bit overwhelmed by this place (the Phuket town). It's so much different than any other city I have visited. Phuket Town seems very dirty to an average European person. In addition everything smells different, everyone seems to want to kill you with their motorbike, the traffic rules we are used to are "just guidelines" here.

We don't know the town and although we have some maps (and of course our Lonely Planet guide) we are clueless how to get to places we want to go. Thai people are very friendly, that's true, but the don't speak English:/ To make things worse, they are very good at hiding this fact from you. They just say "Ohh.. yes.. aaa.. yes" and when you think you they understood it turns out that they do something quite opposite in the end. When it comes to navigation maps don't help either - they don't seem to understand what you try to show them. We've learned that lesson trying to get to the divecenter we are doing our Assistant Instructor course in. Of course there thankfully are some exceptions:)

The next thing that was different than I expected was the weather. I thought the rainy season was over so I expected the weather to be hot, moist with lots of sun. I was wrong, the rainy season was not over yet and it was cloudy, warm and there was some rain.

Off to Phuket

On 24th of October we're starting our voyage:) First we're going to Phuket in Thailand to do PADI Assistant Instructor course and hopefully find some employment in one of Phuket's divecenters. The peak season in Thailand is starting at the beginning of November so we hope that there will be some employment for two new PADI AIs. We're flying from Warsaw to Bangkok through Berlin and then to Phuket by AirAsia. We have booked a hotel for the first few days and then we hope to rent a house/condo. The last few days in Warsaw were very busy - we had to do some last moment preparations and also pack all our belongings as our friend are going to be renting our flat.

Tropical destination chosen :D

We have chosen our tropical travel destination: it's going to be Phuket in Thailand. We're planning to do PADI Assistant Instructor course with Asian Divers a Polish diving center there, and then start working. Lot's of work ahead of us: finishing our masters thesis, finishing DM course, finding accomodation, visas, flights etc. But I can't wait to get there:D