Gap Year Diving | Thailand

PADI Divemaster Internship; Gap Year in Thailand

What PADI Dive Courses are Included?

Our gap year internship includes all courses from beginner up to PADI Divemaster.

You'll also recieve all required diving manuals, student materials (for example dive planning tables) plus all application fees.

All courses are taught in small groups only (max 4 stundents per instructor) - this guarantees that you get the attention you need, and become a good diver!

Taking your gap year dive internship with DJL Diving you are entitled to unlimited dives (during the duration of your scuba internship). Inbetween courses you'll undertake 'fun dives' (no skills or training), enjoying yourself and building up dive experience. Expect to finish as a PADI Divemaster with well over 100 logged dives.

On this page we'll take a look at each diving course - explain exactly what's involved and what each PADI course qualifies you to do. Here we go!

Training continues with a shallow water skills session, familiarising you with scuba equipment in a controlled environment. You practice many skills such as mask and regulator clearing, learn how to control your buoyancy using breathing control, plus master some underwater problem solving skills.

We then complete four open water dives getting right down to 18 metres. You'll get to enjoy the coral reefs around Koh Tao, checking out Ko Tao island's amazing marine life. Reef fish, moray eels, stingrays, turtles and even reef sharks - Koh Tao has it all. An underwater videographer will accompany the last two dives of your course - in the evening we'll enjoy watching the footage (accompanied by a few cold beers)!

In the Deep Dive, we'll dive right down to 30 metres. We'll do this at the Chumphon Pinnacles where you'll get to enjoy Koh Tao's big fish species - barracuda, giant grouper & grey reef sharks. We'll conduct a 'narcosis test' and examine some pressure related objects.

During the Underwater Navigation Dive we'll explain the principles we use to find our way around the dive sites. This includes compass work and using a timing device, combined with natural navigation such as depth, bottom composition, contour, rock formations, corals and sunlight. You'll complete some simple exercises such as measuring distances and navigating a square pattern, then armed with a map of the dive site you'll lead us around the reef and hopefully back to the boat in a timely fashion. Sound easy?

Multi level & Computer Dive : Deep diving is fun as it extends the limits of your exploration, but bottom time becomes limited if you follow a single level dive profile. If we move to a more sophisticated planning technique, using a multi level plan (and back this up by wearing a dive computer) we can vastly increase our available bottom time. This also allows us an opportunity to make another great deep dive.

Search and Recovery . Find out how to execute underwater search patterns such as a U - search or expanding square. When you locate an object, what if it is too heavy or bulky to safely lift it using your BCD? We'll show you how to utilize a lifting device such as a lift bag, to safely recover the object.

Underwater Photography : Have a go at capturing some underwater snaps using a digital camera with underwater housing. First we'll teach you a few simple rules to improve you chances of getting the perfect shot. We'll make the dive then later download the images to a computer and use Photoshop to touch up your photos. We'll burn the photos onto CD so you have a nice souvenir to take home.

Step 4; PADI Rescue Diver

Up till now your training has focused on making you a better diver. Now it's time to think about everyone else!

The rescue course occupies the following three days - academics each morning and water work in the afternoons. On the first day of rescue we look at surface problems, tired and panicked divers, rescues where you can remain on the boat and others where you need to enter the water. We also take our first look at coping with an unconscious diver at the surface, and inventory all the objects on the boat which might be useful in an emergency.

Step 5; PADI Divemaster

The first professional level in diving is a big step up. By the end of this course you will be qualified to lead certified divers, assist instructors with student diver training, organize diving logistics (such as arranging equipment, diver flow and delivering briefings) plus conduct refresher courses for divers that have had an extended period without diving.

At DJL you will become part of our team. You will get a real insight into how the shop runs and as time passes will adopt more and more responsibility, becoming a critical member of our diving staff. Taking a training internship to become a dive professional is a serious commitment - at the end of the course we are signing say that you are capable of looking after other divers. As such you should enter this program understanding the level of commitment needed to succeed.

This is accompanied with a comprehensive program of water work.

You'll take part in several skills circuits, getting your demonstrations up to instructor standard. You'll also map a dive site, undertake an underwater equipment exchange with another diver whilst buddy breathing, make an emergency assistance plan for Koh Tao and complete a number of stamina exercises. You don't need to be an Olympic swimmer, but you do need to comfortable in the water.

You'll practice underwater navigation and get to know the dive sites around Koh Tao Thailand- by the end of the course you'll be leading our customers on guided dives, briefing them, controlling them in the water and showing then all the great marine life around the sites.

When assisting on courses you'll get to work with all our instructors, along with students from all over the world.

One of the best things about being a dive professional is the rich variety of people that you come into contact with! Both our instructors and students come from all over the world - we routinely deal with English, German, French, Belgium, Australian, American, South American, Japansese, Belgium, Irish, Isreali, Italian, Spanish, Korean, Thai, Swedish, Norwegian. . . . a diverse range of people.

Evening time all the staff and customers, head down to the Dry Bar to watch the days diving video, and savor a few cold beers and enjoy the fantastic Sairee Beach sunsets!

At this stage you can then get involved in the 'internship add-ons' - building skills and experience in other areas of scuba diving.

The options are:

Expedition Diver Add On; Deep Diving & Wreck Hunting Diving Adventures (2 months extra)

PADI Open Water Scuba Instructor; Get qualified to teach diving to PADI Divemaster level

Boat Handling; Learn to drive power boats safely (2 weeks)

Underwater Videographer Internship; Learn to shoot and edit underwater movies, selling them to Open Water students.