If you’re wondering what IDC, IE or PADI stands for, then you’re obviously not a SCUBA diver about to achieve a professional diving qualification.

To help you out, IDC stands for Instructor Development Course, IE is the Instructor Exam and PADI is the Professional Association of Diving Instructors that has certified millions world-wide, not just as diving instructors, but as open water divers and a any diving qualification you can think of in between.

The PADI IDC is a big deal, because it’s where recreational SCUBA diving ends and professional SCUBA diver training starts. Professional as in do-it-for-a-living. Because you will be transferring knowledge to others, it’s important you are held against stringent standards and achieve important objectives.

Taking part in a PADI Instructor Development Course will teach you those standards and help you achieve those objectives and ultimately help you get certified as a PADI Diving Instructor.

Asia PADI Instructor Development Course in Sabah, Malaysia

Asia’s next SCUBA diving PADI Instructor Development Course is being held here in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia and will be conducted by Downbelow Marine & Wildlife Adventures.

Downbelow have classrooms located in Kota Kinabalu’s KK Times Square, and a dive station tucked away in a secluded cove on the nearby Gaya Island surrounded by pristine rainforest and the ever vibrant coral reefs of the Tunku Abdul Rahman Park.

The PADI Instructor Development Course in Sabah will start on 27 August 2010 and conclude with the end of the 2-day Instructor Exam on 12 September 2010.

Asia SCUBA Diving Internship in Sabah, Malaysia

You can also choose to do the PADI IDC as part of an internship program with Downbelow.

An internship program allows you to get to know every aspect of the dive industry from dealing with daily divers, through to replenishing the coffee, tea and biscuits. Oh yes, diving. It also allows you to log the many and different dives that you require to achieve certain certifications.

All said, if going out to a beautiful tropical island every day where you are surrounded by nature above, below and to the sides of you, where you hang out with other people passionate about diving every day and you get to meet and teach diving to people from many different countries and cultures, if that is what you call work – then yes, a diving internship is lots of work.

A Diving Internship in Sabah vs. Bali or Thailand

SCUBA diving internships around Asia are plentiful. Where you ultimately decided to your diving internship will largely depend on how serious you are about becoming a dive instructor, how highly you value the quality of your instructor education and how focussed you want to be on your dive training.

Choosing to do your SCUBA diving internship in Sabah, Malaysia makes sense for the diver serious about becoming a quality instructor themselves following tuition by those passionate about diving and maintaining high standards not just in their own business, but that of the diving industry in general.

If you choose Sabah, Malaysia for your SCUBA Diving Internship, you choose:

• political stability;
• a regulated dive industry with high safety and quality standards;
• close proximity of dive office to dive station and dive sites;
• island based diving from an established dive station;
• year-round perpetually warm weather and no monsoon season;
• world’s best dive sites within easy reach;
• customer acquisition through formal channels – spend less time jostling for customers and more time diving;
• friendly people, vibrant nightlife, affordable cost of living;
• all Sabah’s eco treasures to explore;

To find out more about Asian SCUBA Diving Internships in Sabah, Malaysia, simply fill out the contact form below. Or, if you’re interested in the SCUBA diving PADI Instructor Development Course, surf on over to the PADI IDC Events Page.