PADI IDC in Gozo, Malta

DiveSMART Gozo

Welcome to the website of PADI Course Director and EFR Instructor Trainer Oliver Benndorff

With DiveSMART Gozo, our objective is to produce well educated, responsible, team playing Instructors who take fun and safety with equal measures. My goal is to guide and lead you through the IDC, then continue on and be a successful candidate at the Instructor Examination.

Gozo is a beautiful Island in the Mediterranean Sea, and is an ideal location in which to do your IDC. The Island is situated less than a 3-hour flight from most European airports. The water temperature varies between 28 degrees Centigrade in the summer and 15 degrees Centigrade in winter time.

After your Divemaster course, your goal will probably be to become a top quality Instructor. This will also depend on how thorough your IDC training has been, and how well prepared you are.

Our IDC’s run over a period of 7 days, if you chose to do the PADI IDC-Online version through us, alternatively, the course will run 10 days for those candidates who do not choose to do the online version.

We run IDC’s both in English and in the German language

During the course of the IDC you will be exposed to a wide range of workshops and topics that will prepare you for your career as a PADI Instructor. Apart from learning how to teach in confined and open water, you will refine your knowledge development skills, cover liability and risk management, as well as the business of diving. Continuing education is another section that you will learn about, as well as Project Aware. All these are important factors which you will readily need as a PADI Instructor.

Once you become a PADI Instructor, you will share your underwater emotions and experiences with many divers and non-divers. Your goal will be to spread your passion for the underwater world and provide your knowledge freely to those who turn to you, to learn to dive.

Remember, the quality of good instruction and education produces good divers, bad instruction and lack of knowledge produces bad divers – because they have never learnt it any other way!

Preparing for your IDC/IE

The IDC is great fun and you will enjoy it, but do not underestimate it by no means! Often candidates arrive badly prepared, which undoubtedly will lead to stress and an overload on information. Often you will need to prepare presentations and assignments in the evening, so if you have to do extra study on top, your workload will rapidly increase. Your knowledge development and water skills should be well rehearsed, and your PADI materials should be very familiar to you.

If all these things are well practiced, you should have a stress-free course and be able to concentrate fully on developing your teaching skills, both in and out of the water.