Dive Instructor Training at Blue Marlin Gili Trawangan v

Indonesia | May 23 - Jun 14 2023 |

After completing PADI Divemaster Training (DMT) in Komodo, I decided to go the next step and do PADI Instructor Certified Training (ICT). Though I had not been seriously planning to pursue a career as a dive pro, after doing DMT and with 6 weeks of free time on my hands, I thought why not do the ICT, keep the momentum going, get the right qualifications, and learnings, advance my skills and opportunity? The financial cost was fairly high, but the certification would arm me with the right credentials to pursue the trade if I wanted to. But, holy moley, the ICT was a much bigger undertaking than expected; after completing the DMT with no major challenges a month earlier, the ICT proved to be much tougher than I expected.

Blue Marlin Dive Gili Trawangan

After getting inputs from a few former students and then visiting the center when I was passing through GiliT on the final leg of my Bali-Flores tour, I made the decision and registered for the ICT at Blue Marlin Dive Gili Trawangan. The Course Director Holly McCleod is a legendary instrucutor and the Blue Marlin brand and GiliT center have great reputations. GiliT is a decent place to do the course. Though renowned as a rah-rah party island, it's also pretty easy to chill.

My cohort was 5 students: Aussie (we had done DMT together in Komodo), German, Kiwi, Spanish, and me - solid characters and well-versed divers. I guess this was a small group for Holly, as I saw she had ICT classes of 2x that size later in the year.

Stress is good, so they say...

The course is very intense, much more so than I expected. I was literally putting in 12-15 hour days: up early preparing or pre-studying, at the center before 9:00, a full-on day of classroom and in-water learning, followed by self-study until I fizzled out by about 22:00. A key focus in the classroom was developing and delivering mock teaching presentations, getting rated on how well you articulated a select topic. Self-study and practice exams were also a key component, integral for me, someone who is not well-versed in physics and physiology. Right up to the final days, I was still not always getting passing scores on practice exams. Holly was very patient guiding me and I got extra support as needed.

Unfortunately, my capabilities in the water were not much better than in the classroom. I was struggling to process all the info and processes underwater, trying to remember skills and minutiae. And I also had a raft of new "things" occurring that I had not experienced before while diving, like excessive cramps, rapid air depletion, poor buoyancy control, ill-fitting gear.

To add to this, it seemed like my classmates were more predisposed than I to the art and science of PADI professional diving. A couple of my fellow students seem to have it all down, like real pros, prior to being certified, able to ace any classroom or underwater skill like true masters. I like to think age was not a factor in my less-than-stellar performance - but I was definitely much older than the rest of the class and of the typical 20-30ish ICT students. Regardless, the challenges I was having in and out of the water added to my already high stress level.

The Exam - Culminating 3 weeks of near hell!

After 3 weeks of intense learning and training, next came the exam. Senior PADI examiners do an intense 2-days of classroom and in-water testing. First up are two written exams, and you need to pass those in order to proceed to the in-water sessions. I made it through both. Then it was 1.5 days of pool and open water skill evaluations. Honestly, I did not do a stellar job on the skill exams and just squeaked by that part. Regardless I, and seemingly all, got a passing grade. I think one would need to do something catastrophic to fail the ICT exam.

Thinking about doing the ICT at Gili Trawangan? Here are a few pointers and considerations, ce moi:

• Location: Overall GiliT is a great place to do the course, and I highly recommend Blue Marlin and Holly. The island has all the right amenities, like a good pizza, it's easy to get around there is a decent social scene if you have the gumption.

• Dive gear: I highly recommend that you bring your own gear! I did not and it had a detrimental effect on my performance at times. Unlike the DMT course at Scuba Junkie Komodo, where I had a personalized bin and used the same gear every day, Blue Marlin GiliT is a bit more of a free-for-all with shop gear, first come first serve.

• Pre-study: Definitely get your hands on the e-learning in advance and cover as much or all of it as you can before starting the course; likewise make sure to read up on what the ICT course entails. There are some great online resources, such as Go Pro Carribean, and Marcel in Koh Tao.

• Fun, diving: Unlike the DMT, where you dive almost every day, practicing and learning to guide, essentially doing alot of "fun" dives, with the ICT there is very little fun diving. I think I did a total of 3 such dives in the course.

• Visa: look into getting a VoA 60-day in your own country at the embassy before traveling, if possible; I got a 60-day VoA online, and it turned out to be non-extendable (alas, 30-day VoA online is extendable and cost Rp 500,000; 60-day is non-extendable and costs Rp 1,500,000 - go figure, clearly one of those things unique to Indonesia...)

Questions? Hit me up, happy to assist.