Grand Birthday Weekend as 2 Aquanauts Interns Become PADI Instructors
Aquanuats Posts 100% Pass Rate for 3rd Straight Calendar Year, 42 Months Total
Aquanauts' December 2011 IDC class. From left, OWSI Kieran Bevan, IDC Staff Instructor Ewan Greenwood, Course Director Roger M. Smith and OWSI Patrick Martin. (Click to enlarge)
Patrick Martin will always remember his 28th birthday. It was the year he, along with friend and fellow Aquanauts intern Kieran Bevan, became PADI Open Water Scuba Instructors.
Martin, who turned 28 on Dec. 17, and Bevan, 19, helped Aquanauts finish its third consecutive year with a perfect pass rate on the PADI Instructor Exam. Nearly acing all their written exams and flying easily through the water-based tests, the two brought Aquanauts’ 100 percent track record to 42 straight months, the best in Thailand.
A former slot machine technician, Martin used his three months in Thailand to not only discover a new career in recreational scuba diving, but jump into the world of technical diving, completing the PADI Tec 50 program. After a short break, the American plans to return to Aquanauts to continue his pursuit of becoming a tech diving instructor.
Bevan, a student from the United Kingdom, used his three months to set a path for his new life. He, too, sampled technical diving, taking the Tec 40 course, but also signing up for the DAN Dive Medic Enhanced Learning Pack, which gives him the full suite of Divers Alert Network accreditations, including oxygen first aid instructor.
Next week he’ll continue on, taking four specialty instructor courses before home for a few months and returning to Pattaya next year to become a full Master Scuba Diver Trainer.
The December 2010 Instructor Development Course – staffed by Course Director Roger M. Smith and Master Instructor Gary Tytler — also saw MSDT Ewan Greenwood, who became a PADI Instructor with Aquanauts in October, reach the prestigious IDC Staff Instructor level.
Congratulations to Patrick, Kieran and Ewan! Check out photos from their PADI Instructor Exam below.