Professional level Diving Careers

Dive Careers offer PADI scuba diving packages that will take you from a complete beginner, right through to a successful career as a PADI Diving Instructor on the beautiful island of Koh Tao, the Gulf of Thailand.

Start your career in diving today. A KOH TAO DIVE CAREERS package can take you from your first breaths underwater through to a highly skilled and employable PADI diving professional (PADI Dive Master and PADI Diving Instructor Development Courses), or you can take your diving that step further to post PADI Scuba Diving Instructor levels (PADI Master Scuba Diver Trainer and PADI Staff Instructor). All our Koh Tao PADI diving packages include certification fees and materials, and offer accommodation and equipment package options.

Our PADI Diving Instructor Development Center is under the direction of one of the most successful Course Directors in Thailand, Mark Soworka from Buddha View Dive Resort, Koh Tao, Thailand. The professional scuba diving training packages offered are the most progressive and successful of their kind, not only on Koh Tao but in the whole of Thailand. Our PADI Dive Master and Scuba Diving Instructor Development Courses boast a near perfect success record over the past decade. We will ensure that you come out the best possible dive professional that you can be.

Included in the Dive Careers PADI Divemaster & PADI Scuba Diving Instructor Package Deals

- All PADI fees and required PADI training materials - no hidden costs
- All PADI scuba diving courses through to a PADI scuba diving professional
- Travel organised from Bangkok to Koh Tao in the Gulf of Thailand
- Full dive insurance from Badalveda Chamber Network
- Paperwork for student dive visa
- Access to On-line learning for PADI diving courses
- Thailand Diving Marine Resource Management Seminar and certification
- Thailand Diving Fish and Coral Identification seminars and certifications
- Participation in Thailand reef dive surveys
- Rebreather diving introduction
- DAN Oxygen Provider certification
- PADI Enriched Air Diver certification
- Accommodation and available upgrade
- Your choice of complete dive equipment packages
- Dive job placement assistance and CV development for PADI Divemaster or PADI Scuba Diving Instructor

Our Koh Tao PADI Dive Master and PADI Scuba Diving Instructor Development courses and internships offer comprehensive and fully inclusive packages that can take you from your very first diving experience through to a highly qualified and experienced PADI Dive Master or PADI Scuba Diving Instructor, with loads of value added extras that will ensure that you become a competent and well trained dive professional. So plan your trip to Koh Tao now and make your dream job a reality.

PADI Dive Instructor Development Course
IDC Packages on Koh Tao, Thailand

At Dive Careers Koh Tao there are no hidden costs; we provide all inclusive packages up to PADI Dive Instructor courses and beyond. Dive Careers packages are suitable for divers of any level, from PADI Open Water up to Dive Master qualified. We can take you from never having taken a breath underwater, through to becoming a competent and efficient PADI Diving Instructor. Our packages include loads of added extras to ensure that you become an employable and successful PADI Dive Instructor.
Mark Soworka and Buddha View Dive Resort, a PADI IDC Resort, Koh Tao Thailand, is the only PADI Instructor Development Center offering year round dive professional education. We are the only PADI Instructor Development Center on Koh Tao that conducts 12 IDC’s per year so this allows you to schedule a PADI Instructor Development programme that meets your timetable. Entry to your dive professional internship starts everyday and our PADI Instructor course include loads of value added extras.

The PADI Instructor Development programme focuses on real world training and skills that will ensure that you become a professional and successful PADI Dive Instructor. This is the basis of our Koh Tao PADI Dive Instructor exam guarantee and our job placement programmes.

PADI Dive Master Packages on Koh Tao, Thailand

The Dive Careers Koh Tao PADI Dive Master Course is the first step to a rewarding career and lifestyle in the tropics. With the PADI Divemaster internship you stay on the tropical paradise island of Koh Tao, gaining valuable hands on experience as a PADI Dive Master during our internship with Buddha View Dive Resort, Koh Tao Thailand's premier PADI Gold Palm Dive Resort. As PADI Dive Master trainee you will be taught how to guide dive tours and manage student divers. Course Director Mark Soworka will help you with scheduling the course and completing the academic and water skill sessions. You will obtain valuable work experience as a PADI Divemaster trainee with all of our experienced team of PADI Dive Instructors and PADI Dive Masters in the crystal clear Koh Tao waters, giving you a good overall view of different ways to teach and guide divers. You will quickly and effectively gain the experience required to make a career out of diving. We will help you become an extremely employable and professional PADI Divemaster.

The PADI Dive Master course includes developing your knowledge of dive theory, (Start Now with Go-Pro On-line), assisting on dive courses to develop control and problem-solving; guiding tours and map-making, working on customer relations and underwater navigation and let’s not forget, a lot of fun living and working in the tropics. The Dive Careers PADI Divemaster packages are unique on Koh Tao, and even Thailand as a whole and include marine ecology courses, PADI Enriched Air Diving certification, technical diving introductions and oxygen provider certification. Our PADI Dive Master course also includes the Discover Scuba Diving Internship that will enable you to conduct DSD experiences, a very valuable asset for every PADI Divemaster.

Our packages will take you from your first breaths underwater right through to an extremely successful PADI Divemaster, or if already a PADI Rescue Diver you are able to start the PADI Dive Master package straight away.

PADI Master Scuba Diver Trainer and Specialty Instructor

Dive Careers Scuba Diving Packages are about getting you a solid career as a PADI scuba diving instructor. The PADI Master Scuba Diver Trainer (MSDT) and Specialty Instructor Package gives you that step ahead towards a strong, successful scuba diving career. You can add this package to any Dive Careers Scuba Diving Instructor package, including internship, for just 840 Euro, includes one additional month of accommodation plus PADI materials and PADI fees. Or if, already a qualified PADI Scuba Diving Instructor, you can join the Dive Careers PADI Master Scuba Diver Trainer internship for 900 Euro, or the PADI Master Scuba Diver Trainer Prep for 800 Euro.

What is in the Dive Careers PADI Master Scuba Diver Trainer Package?

With the Dive Careers PADI Master Scuba Diver Trainer Package learn how to instruct PADI scuba diving specialties with hands on diving workshops and seminars. As a PADI Specialty Diving Instructor Trainer I can teach the following specialties instructor courses to PADI Diving Instructors

- PADI Enriched Air Diver Specialty Instructor
- PADI Underwater Photography Specialty Instructor
- PADI Marine Resource Management Specialty Instructor
- PADI Naturalist Specialty Instructor
- PADI Equipment Specialty Instructor
- PADI Night Diver Specialty Instructor
- PADI Deep Diver Specialty Instructor
- PADI Underwater Navigator Specialty Instructor
- PADI Diver Propulsion Vehicle Specialty Instructor

The Dive Careers PADI Master Scuba Diver Trainer Package includes training any five of these diving specialties instructor courses, inclusive of equipment hire, PADI fees and the PADI Specialty Instructor CD-ROM manual. You can also immerse yourself in the following PADI Specialty Instructor programmes with additional fees

- PADI Wreck Diver Specialty Instructor - an additional 100 Euro including a full day wreck diving adventure
- PADI Dolphin Rebreather Diver Specialty Instructor - an additional 550 Euro including the PADI basic Rebreather Diver course and 7 hours of additional rebreather diving with gas, tanks, equipment and soda lime
- PADI Underwater Videographer Specialty Instructor - an additional 200 Euro including video camera hire, expert tuition, and editing.

All Dive Careers Master Scuba Diver Trainer Packages include help putting together Professional Diver resume, registration on Professional Diver employment boards and help with job placement as a PADI Master Scuba Diver Trainer.

The internship option of the Dive Careers PADI Master Scuba Diver Trainer Package will help you bridge that gap from training to the real world as a PADI Scuba Diving Instructor. The internship will extend your confidence with teaching PADI specialty diver courses through assisting experienced PADI instructors on PADI Advanced Diver and PADI Specialty Diver courses.

Plus you will gain further experience on all PADI diver courses from PADI Open Water Diver to PADI Rescue Diver and PADI Dive Master assisting experienced PADI Dive Instructors, working in a successful PADI dive business and building up your own experience and PADI diver certification numbers. The Dive Careers PADI Master Scuba Diver Trainer internship will really make your PADI dive instructor resume stand out from the rest and help you find successful employment as a PADI Master Scuba Diver Trainer (MSDT) or PADI Specialty Instructor .

Koh Tao's best IDC Center for Dive Careers, Thailand

IDC Center Facilities, Koh Tao Thailand

Buddha View Thailand PADI IDC Center is amongst the best equipped and dedicated IDC facilities in the world. Our candidates have the advantage of learning in a specialised PADI IDC center, set apart from the rest of the dive school, solely for the use of instructor development.

For your use our IDC facilities have an amphitheater equipped with LCD projector and your individual desk and drawer. OurIDC center is a comfortable learning environment with air-conditioning throughout which can be very welcoming on a hot tropical day here in Thailand.
Our PADI IDC center offers additional classrooms, allowing us to split into smaller groups for your personal presentations. The IDC center also features a lounge room, smoking room, gardens, toilets and kitchen. Our PADI IDC center is open to you for additional study time.

Our Thailand based PADI IDC center also boasts a great library of materials on reef ecology, equipment maintenance to technical diving, as well as dive instructor course reference materials to aid your learning experience. You can even now revise your Dive Master exams online with our online learning facilities. Our PADI IDC center situated on Koh Tao, Thailand really is the best place to begin your exciting career in the dive industry.

All your PADI IDC confined water sessions are conducted at Buddha View Dive Resort, a PADI Gold Palm Resort situated right on the beach over looking one of Thailand's most beautiful bays. Our PADI IDC Center, Koh Tao Thailand uses its own speedboat for open water sessions allowing you more time in the water where the real learning takes place.

Course Directors

Mark Soworka “A decade as a PADI Course Director has given me the opportunity to meet a load of really nice people. The network that you develop after a bit of time in the dive industry spreads around the world.

Many dive shop mangers, owners and course directors from Koh Tao to the Maldives, Mozambique to Cairns, have completed training and internships with me. This network of friends is why I still enjoy working in the dive industry and is the strength of our job placement programmes. My commitment to the PADI Instructor programme is not simply getting you through the PADI Instructor exam.

In ten years, with over 1000 instructor level certifications, I have maintained a 99% success rate on PADI instructor programmes, which must be one of the highest success rates worldwide. The real strength of my PADI instructor programmes is that they are about getting you a rewarding and successful career in the dive industry.

PADI Dive Master and PADI Instructor programmes make you a competent dive professional. Dive Careers PADI Dive Master and PADI Instructor programmes add loads of extras that help make you a successfully employed dive professional.

My dive professional programmes are the only professional dive courses in Thailand to include

• Marine Resource Management seminars and fish and coral identification dives.
As dive professionals I feel strongly that you should have a good grasp of how the marine environment works. You will be in an unique position as a dive professional to pass on strong environmental concepts to your customers. None of this is examined in the PADI Dive Master or PADI instructor programmes, but I feel it is vital information for dive professionals.
• I also include CV workshops and placement on several job forums for the dive industry. Dive Careers programmes include a commitment to helping you finding a rewarding career. Not only am I teaching you to get through a PADI Instructor exam, but I am also helping you get work in the dive industry. A Dive Careers programme is your passport to a quality education and successful career that can take you around the world.”

Mark has been diving since he was twelve years old. He has diving experience from the east coast of Australia, to Africa, South America and a few months up in the Arctic circle. Before applying for Course Director he completed almost two thousand diver level certifications and had worked as General Manager and Training manager of dive centres. This extensive diving, teaching and managing experience sets Mark apart from most PADI Course Directors. Mark Soworka has been teaching PADI IDCs on Koh Tao and Koh Samui since 1997. He is one of the most experienced Course Directors in Thailand with more than 1000 instructor level certifications.

Mark's qualifications include • PADI Platinum Course Director. One of Asia’s first to be awarded the Platinum Course Director, PADI’s highest Course Director recognition • DAN Oxygen Provider Instructor Trainer • DAN Hazardous Marine Life Injuries Instructor Trainer • Marine Resource Management Instructor Trainer • PADI Instructor Specialty Trainer Wreck, Enriched Air, Rebreather, Naturalist, Deep, Night, Photography, Videography, Navigator, DPV. • PADI Equipment Specialty Instructor trainer • Aqualung, Scubapro, Mares workshop certificates • PADI Emergency First Response and Care for Children Instructor Trainer

Mark continues to attend courses in Diving medicine, physiology, dive equipment, plus environment and ecology. Experience, knowledge and a passion for instructor level education is what you should look for choosing a Course Director.

Koh Tao

The Island - Koh Tao Thailand

Today, Koh Tao is one of Thailand's major dive destinations. The island is widely recognized as one of the top dive education centers world-wide and, while remaining an absolute paradise, has expanded to cater for all types of tastes and budgets. Although scuba diving remains the primary focus of most local businesses you will find under What Else that Koh Tao offers far more than just diving, a whole range of activities to keep even the most avid non-diver enjoying soaking up the atmosphere of Koh Tao.

Koh Tao means turtle island, because, in the past, the waters were rich with sea turtles. A small island, a little more than 21 square km, located about 70km east of the coastline between Suratthani and Chumpon in the Gulf of Thailand, Koh Tao remained uninhabited until recently.

Initially, there was only the occasional fisherman from neighbouring islands seeking shelter from a storm. On June 18, 1899, His Majesty the King Chulalongkorn visited Koh Tao marking a huge boulder at Jor Por Ror Bay. This site is revered and respected, and marks the island as having been claimed under royal patronage. From 1933 until being abandoned in 1947 the island was used as a political prison. Later, the first pioneers began to arrive from neighbouring Koh Phangan, and began a very simple, tough life, harvesting coconuts, fishing and growing vegetables.

The first travelers began to arrive in the early eighties and the island quickly became widely known as a paradise. Faster and larger boats began servicing the island and the islands reputation for natural beauty, marine life and coral reefs grew.

Koh Tao is one of the must do stops on the South East Asia route. The clear, tranquil waters offer an ideal location for learning to dive. Within all of these courses are great accommodation packages offering discounts on budget accommodation during the course or discounts on the more luxurious bungalows. You'll also find that, although Koh Tao and Dive Careers are focused on diving, there are many other interests from rock climbing to waterskiing to make your Koh Tao experience unforgettable.

Expect to unwind and soak up an atmosphere that will see you coming back year after year.

Getting to Koh Tao - Dive Careers/Buddha View Bangkok Office

Buddha View has a new office .............We have relocated Dave in the Bangkok office and the new Bangkok address is:

Buddha View, Bangkok branch, 44 Plaza, 36 Chakrapong road, end of Khaosan road, Bangkok 10200.

The office telephone numbers are 02 282 2205 and 02 282 2206

If you go to the police station end of KHAOSAN ROAD you will find Gullivers bar on the left corner. Walk left from Gullivers about 50 meters and you will find Buddha View in the 44 plaza which is directly opposite the Travelers connection and just before the A2 aiport bus stop.

Divemaster and Instructor Accommodation on Koh Tao

Divemaster and Instructor Accommodation on Koh Tao has accommodation from the budget bamboo hut to suit the traveling backpacker through to luxury accommodation to treat yourself to something special. Included in the Dive Careers Divemaster and IDC Packages is basic fan with toilet and cold water shower, bungalow accommodation. The bungalows are set in a quiet location across from the IDC centre within easy walking access of the dive centre, shops, retaurants, 7 Eleven and ATMs. Two months accommodation is included in the professional packages.

Upgrade to more luxurious accommodation for an additional 875 Euro for two months. The deluxe accommodation is at the dive resort, tastefully decorated rooms with air conditioning, satellite TV, and hot water. Really something very nice to treat yourself to.

Contact Us

Dive Careers

Alternatively, you can call Mark directly on +66 (0)72 645 986.