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Hi Nienke.

Thailand is a great place to become a dive instructor. Of all the Thai islands, Koh Tao is definitely the best place to take your IDC (Instructor Development Course). There are lots of people who come here to dive, so there are always lots of opportunities to assist on courses while you prepare to become a dive instructor.

If you are already Open Water certified, you'll need to take several more courses before the instructor development course. Your Advanced takes 2 days and costs 8500 Baht. Then your EFR (CPR/1st aid) course costs 3500 Baht and takes 1 day. Rescue course costs 9500 Baht and takes 2-3 days, then your divemaster training will cost 2500 Baht plus fees for materials and certification. The Divemaster course lasts two weeks at least, but you can draw it out for as long as you want. You get unlimited diving and assisting during the duration of your divemaster course so I usually recommend students take at least 6 weeks or more to really get in lots of dives and assist on a lot of courses to fully prepare for the IDC. Then, once you are a divemaster, it is possible to get work on Koh Tao if you want some experience.

Once you are ready to take your IDC, it will last about 2 weeks, plus 3 days of exams by the PADI examiners. This one is expensive - about 80 000 baht with all said and done (40 000 for the IDC course, plus exam fees and certification fees which are quite expensive).

In order to become a dive instructor with PADI you need at least 100 dives and have been a certified diver for at least 6 months.

Overall, you could do all your courses from Advanced to IDC in as little as 6-8 weeks, however, the more time you spend diving and gaining experience, the better. You'll be more prepared to work as an instructor if you've worked as a divemaster, or at least spent a lot of time assisting instructors in all different courses.

If you have any more questions, just let me know. I'm currently an instructor on Koh Tao, and have several years' experience on the island.
Best of luck on your path to become an instructor - it is definitely worth the time, money, and effort it takes to get there!

Edited by: ethelfleda on Mar 13, 2012 10:32 PM

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Hi Nienke,

Ocean sound gave you already the lowdown on the courses that you need to follow before you can start the IDC or Instructor course. There are various locations around Thailand where you can get taught all the way up to Instructor level. Have a look at my dive blog and you will be able to get information about IDC's being taught all around Thailand and other locations in the South East Asian region by a Dutch guy.

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Thailand is indeed a wonderful place to become a scuba instructor, and while I understand that OceanSoundCyn wants to promote the island where she works, I wouldn't personally single out Koh Tao as "the best." There are lots of "best" places to work towards that goal because every individual fits better in one place as opposed to the other places. (For example, I learned in Thailand, but Tao wouldn't have been a good fit for me.) In addition to Tao, you might consider: Khao Lak (if you come during the winter, especially), Koh Lanta, Phuket, Koh Samui, just to name a few. Each of these places has a different "vibe" or "atmosphere" and appeals to different sorts of people.

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The main decision on where to do your Instructor training would be on where you would like to work afterwards.