So beach clean ups, Recycling and coral restoration is all fantastic work which is regularly undertaken around the Gili Islands and beyond; but on the PADI IDC Gili Islands we wanted to make a sustainable difference and attempt to tackle the problem at an earlier stage of the trash cycle.

Having already introduced most of our initiatives during the course of this year, we are hoping to have implemented a number of Environmentally Aware ideas to stop these factors before getting to the clean-up and restoration stage.

Having already initiated a totally neutral buoyant philosophy into the program which develops instructors to both demonstrate an teach in a totally neutrally buoyant body position and in turn attempt to get their entry level students to do the same right from the start of their diving training experience. The purpose of this initiative is twofold; to provide a no contact relationship with divers and the ocean floor / marine life and to provide an Environmentally Aware attitude to all divers of any level. The idea is that Instructors will attempt to get students to practice a neutral body position throughout the course which includes skills undertaken in confined water, even if this takes place within a swimming pool. This way students get to master skills in a more appropriate position whilst also understanding the importance of doing so. The concept of encouraging a Neutrally Buoyant Body Position has been accepted well amongst professional diving students and PADI Course Director Holly Macleod is working with a range of Dive Centres in Singapore, Malaysia and Eastern Indonesia to implement them within daily courses, whilst maintaining the safety and efficiency of those programs effectively with minimal disruption to the organisational schedule and Instructor objectives. One great thing is that locally based dive centres and instructors have expressed an interest in adopting a similar neutrally based teaching philosophy, so the hope is that that course structure’s, delivery and assessment objectives are also achieved in in a non-compromising fun, efficient and safe manor and the overall objectives reflect that of our experience based practical approach to neutral dive training.

Another recent initiative is developing an in house online learning recourse with provides professional scuba divers with all of the necessary tools to prepare for the PADI IDC Instructor Course. Originally the Online Learning Recourse was built and designed as a Divemaster Recourse Database for dive centres working alongside PADI Course Director Holly Macleod. Although some dive centres are now actively using the recourse in Singapore, Malaysia and Eastern Indonesia; more locally based centres found it more difficult to understand the concept of digitalisation and decided that a paper and pen approach suited there needs more appropriately, but however are very active in the educational and activity based environmental work such as conducting beach clean-ups, underwater clean-ups and marine life talks with is great in terms of spreading the word.  So with a second phase the database has now been modified to include Instructor preparation elements for those thinking of taking scuba diving Instructor training whilst also providing the tools to prepare Divemaster candidates to a level way over and above that required within todays organisational training regimes.

The PADI Instructor Development Course (IDC) with Industry Award Winning Platinum PADI Course Director Holly Macleod will also now include “Dive Against Debris” activities where possible and although there is still some work to do in creating a paperless environment such as those who just simply prefer paper when make calculations, making reminder notes and reading educational books; this will prove to be the next stage of development; we are make the right steps and hopefully addressing our personal responsibility towards creating environmentally aware philosophy that can be passed down throughout the dive training industry.

So if you’re a PADI professional diver and interested in finding out more about the the latest initiatives such as the PADI IDC Gili Online Recourse or the Neutral Gili PADI IDC Philosophy simply contact Platinum PADI Course Director Holly Macleod through the PADI IDC Gili Islands Website and explore you option of gaining the absolute best possible Instructor level training experience with least possible environmental impact.