The PADI Instructor Development Course is your passport to an international lifestyle of diving, travel and a career you’ll really love!
This course is the gateway to becoming a professional PADI Diving Instructor. You’ll learn how to implement and apply the PADI system in confined water, classroom and open water environments. Most importantly, the course will develop your leadership skills, giving you the confidence to provide fun, safe professional dive training.
Choosing Divers Den for your professional dive education will put your success first. Our 100% AWARE, 5-Star PADI Career Development Centre has trained over 150,000 divers.
The minimum IDC course length is eight days. At Divers Den we hold it over 10 days, with time off in the middle. This gives our candidates extra time to practise or study where needed. We want to make sure you receive the maximum amount of training and professional guidance in your personal development towards becoming a PADI Dive Instructor.
Our PADI Course Directors, Master Instructors and numerous IDC staff will be on hand to assist you throughout your course.
All PADI Instructor Development Courses begin with independent learning and preparation at home via the PADI eLearning system. To get the most out of the course, we recommend candidates complete all knowledge reviews from the IDC Candidate Workbook before the course starts.
To help transition from Divemaster into the IDC, we highly recomment that candidates attend our IDC Preparation Course. The prep course is a two-day intensive revision of the higher level of dive theory, diving and rescue skills that you must know before starting your IDC. With a mix of pool and classroom time, we’ll bring you up to date with dive skill demonstrations and help with your dive theory study.
A mandatory requirement of PADI Open Water scuba instructors is to be a qualified EFR instructor. During this two-day program (included in your course) you will learn to teach first aid and primary care based on internationally recognised emergency care guidelines. You will learn how to emphasise a comfortable learning environment.
Scuba Instructors affiliated with other certification organisations may attend a PADI IDC program (followed by an IE) in order to cross over to PADI to become PADI Open Water Scuba Instructors.
IDC staff instructors are available to translate for the duration of your program. Please contact us for cost and language availability.
Ready to make scuba diving your career? You can book online below, or if you have any questions you can contact our Divers Den PADI Course Directors for a chat.
Prices exclude materials and PADI fees (see below). Prices valid to 31 March 2024. Price is per person and includes all applicable marine fees and levies. Locals discount not valid for optional extras.
Days 1-5: Pool & theory
Days off
Days 6-7: Pool & theory
Days 8-10: Sea days
Days off
Day 11: Pool & theory
Days 12-13: EFR Instructor course
Day 14: Course close
The PADI Instructor Exam will take place over two days after the IDC ends.
Please allow sufficient time before your course starts to make sure you have completed the below.
All scuba participants must meet medical questionnaire requirements. Some conditions or medications may prevent you from diving.
It is required by Queensland law that you must wait at least 24 hours after diving before going to altitude or flying – there is no guarantee that this requirement will prevent decompression sickness. There are no current guidelines regarding diving after flying.
Altitude is defined as 300m/1000ft above sea level. Certain other tourist attractions around Cairns and Tropical North Queensland involve travelling to altitude. These include the Atherton Tablelands and the Skyrail Rainforest Cableway, so we recommend a gap between booking these experiences and any dive course or trip. Under normal circumstances, you should be out of the water on your last dive at 12pm (midday) on our overnight trips and 2pm on our day trips.
