Aquanauts Offers $2,000 'Eco-Tec Dive Training Pack' Free with Complete PADI Instructor and Divemaster Internships

Environmental conservation and technical diving are the two fastest-growing sectors of the dive industry. As one of the world's top professional dive career development centers, Aquanauts CDC in Pattaya, Thailand has created the "Eco-Tec Dive Training Pack," a suite of eight specialized courses to mold budding dive instructors and divemasters into environemntal experts and give them their first taste of tech diving.

As guardians of the underwater world, dive instructors are expected to not only identify marine life, but protect the undersea ecosystem. Only Aquanauts offers you all the courses to do just that.

Secondly, only Aquanauts offers the DSAT Tec Deep Basics course free, getting you kitted up in full technical gear and learning why so many people are deciding to "Go Tech."

IN all, the Eco-Tec Dive Training Pack includes eight free courses, all required materials and certification fees. YOu also get the PADI Master Scuba Diver rating, making Aquanauts' package the largest free bonus suite of any internship in the world.

Best of all, the course is included entirely free with all instructor and divemaster internships. All you need to do is pay a 100% deposit no later than 30 days before you begin your internship. (If you plan to begin your internship within 30 days of signing up, then you simply pay 100% at the time of enrollment.)

The suite of courses includes the following. Click here to read more in detail about the specifics of each course.

• National Geographic Diver
• Project AWARE
• Project AWARE: Coral Reef Conservation
• Underwater Naturalist
• Peak Performance Buoyancy
• Underwater Navigator
• Deep Diver
• DSAT Tec Deep Basics

Aquanauts' Eco-Tec Dive Training Pack is entirely 100% inclusive. All required course manuals, study aids and certification fees are included. Also, if you are already certified in one of the free courses, we can offer you a choice of substitution courses. So,what do you get? Here's the list:

• Project AWARE: Our Water, Our World (Digital Edition)
• DSAT Tec Deep Manual
• National Geographic Portal Pack w/DVD

Finally, Master Scuba Diver certification is also included.

If these free courses aren't enough, Aquanauts has also just updated its three Enhanced Learning Packs, deeply discounted packages of extra courses, materials and equipment. Check them out here.

Aquanauts Discounted Enhanced Learning Packs Updated for Summer 2009

The Aquanauts Complete instructor and divemaster internships already include a lot of courses, but for people who want to dive more, learn more and save more, Aquanauts offers three Enhanced Learning Packs that include more courses, materials and equipment at 30 percent discounts. All three packs have just been updated for summer 2009.

Meant to complement our just-introduced Eco-Tec Dive Training Pack, a suite of 8 additional courses included from with all Complete interships, the PADI Enhanced Learning Pack includes all the optional manuals not included the Eco-Tec package, plus three additional specialty courses with materials: Enriched Air (Nitrox) Diver, Search & Recovery Diver and Wreck Diver.

The Dive Medic Enhanced Learning Pack has also been upgraded with the addition of the Oxygen First Aid for Scuba Diving Injuries course. PADI's version -- Emergency Oxygen Provider -- is included in Complete internships standard but the DAN course is a required prerequisite for the Advanced Oxygen course included in this Enhanced Learning Pack. Students purchasing therefore get dual oxygen certifications.

Finally, the Technical Diving Enhanced Learning Pack has seen a major upgrade in the additional of the full Tec Deep Level 1 course. Previously, the Tec Deep Basics course was included in this ELP, but that course is now offered free in the Eco-Tec package. Those who buy this will get to complete 7 of 12 dives of the full Tec Deep program.

No other dive training internship offers the number and breadth of courses in Aquanuats packages. Check out the website to read more.

Aquanauts, June Interns Featured in Pattaya Mail Newspaper

Aquanauts' June IDC and its Diving Instructor Training internship program was featured this week in the Pattaya Mail newspaper. The article is below and you can click here to see it on the Pattaya Mail website or here to download a PDF version.

While Pattaya is well known for playing host to foreign tourists and retirees, it’s also a major center for professional scuba diving training. Aquanauts Dive Centre, a 5-Star Career Development Center under the Professional Association of Dive Instructors, last week saw four more of its dive students become PADI instructors.

Christian Holmes, 35, and Becky Maxell, 19, of the United Kingdom; Justin Mah, 23, of Canada and John McGraw, 25, of the United States all earned top marks in the three-day PADI Instructor Exam held at Pattaya’s Discovery Beach Hotel June 19-21. They now can go to work anywhere in the world introducing people to the underwater world.

Aquanauts’ June graduates are but four in a long string of divers - young and old that have embarked upon new careers through the Soi 6 center’s Diving Instructor Training internship program. The 2-6 month training packages include accommodations, equipment, courses, materials, testing fees, a one-year visa, unlimited diving and job placement.

The program has seen considerable success. Last week’s successful exam gave Aquanauts a 100 percent pass rate on the PADI test for the past two years, a mark that is unrivaled in Central Thailand.

For more information on Aquanauts’ internship program, dive courses or trips, see the company’s professional training website at www. DivingInstructorTraining .com or its tourist-centric site at www.AquanautsDive.com.

Thailand Offering Free Tourists Visas Until Year-End

Visiting Thailand just got a bit cheaper, with the Thai government now offering free tourists visas until the end of the year. Sure, it's not a lot, but it would pay for a day or two of diving in Pattaya. Here's the full story:

BANGKOK -- Continuing its efforts to expedite the revival of the Thai travel and tourism industry, the Royal Thai government has agreed to exempt the fee for tourist visa applications, effective 25 June 2009 to March 2010.

All foreigners who apply for Tourist Visa at the Royal Thai Embassies and the Royal Thai Consulates-General worldwide will be exempted from tourist visa fee from 25 June 2009 to March B.E.2553 (2010).

Such arrangement is for Tourist Visa single entry only.

-- Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Bangkok 2009-06-24

Aquanauts Celebrates 2 Perfect Years of PADI Instructor Exams as 4 More Interns Become OWSIs in June

Aquanauts' June 2009 IDC students and staff. From left, Master Instructor Gary Tytler, IDC Staff Instructor Sally Rathbone, new OWSIs Justin Mah, Christian Holmes, Becky Maxwell and John McGraw and Course Director Roger M. Smith.

Aquanauts Dive Career Development Centre made it two full years of perfect results on the PADI Instructor Exam in June as four more Aquanauts interns became Open Water Scuba Instructors.

Christian Holmes and Becky Maxwell of the United Kingdom, Justin Mah of Canada and and John McGraw of the U.S. sailed through the I.E. with no fails and no makeups. Once the exam was done Mah thanked his instructors, saying they made the IDC so challenging that the exam itself was easy.

The IDC was staffed by Course Director Roger Smith, Master Instructor Gary Tytler and IDC Staff Instructor Sally Rathbone. Below are photos from the Instructor Exam.

See more photos on our website.