PADI IDC prep finished - bring on the real thing!
OK - the fun and games of the IDC preparation course are out of the way here in Koh Samui. Tomorrow the real business begins, with the first day of the IDC. Am looking forward to it and raring to get stuck into it. I feel that today went pretty well, and it’s given me a nice little confidence boost going into the next 14 days of tests, lectures and assessments. I did the four remaining mock exams today (physiology, the dive environment, dive equipment, and the RDP/Wheel). I got 90%, 100%, 100% and 95%, and so was pretty stoked with that. But these exams count for nothing at all, and I’ve got to pass them all again twice before I can even think about getting my instructors licence. Then I’ve got knowledge presentations and skill demonstrations/evaluations to do, and that’s all before the Instructor Exam itself.
What I do have now are details of the presentations and skills I have to do over the course of the IDC. The main ones are as follows:
Comfortable Descents
Decompression Sickness
Partially flooded mask & clearance
Alternate air sourse use, stationary
Efficient fin kicks
Buoyancy control, LPI
CESA (confined water)
Approach with quick reverse (Rescue Diver)
Controlled Descent (OW)
Removal & replacement of weights at the surface
There don’t seem to be any majorly difficult ones in there, but I’ll still put all my effort into them to make them as successful as I can. I am looking forward to making a presentation about DCS, and am already thinking of training aids and things I can incorporate into the presentation. The CESA had the potential to be very nasty, but I’m thankful that it’s a confined water demonstration.
So once my IE is over on the 17th, I’ll have a day off and then get started again with my speciality courses. I’m doing a bunch of those as well as an EFR instructor course, DAN O2 oxygen provider and instructor course, plus business and marketing seminars. I’m due to finish on the 29th, and fly back to Bangkok on the 30th, so if this schedule sticks, it’s going to be all hands to the pumps until I leave. No time to rest now - I can have a break in December when the school term ends!!!
That’s about it for now. It’s a relatively short update, but reporting on a pretty successful day. The IDC is going to be very busy, so I don’t know what my chances of being able to post are, but if there is any chance that I can do so then I will do. Take care, dive safely, and feel free to comment any time 
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