PADI IDC at Rainbow Reef Islamorada

[reddiver970]

I am new to this board so I hope this is the right place for my question. Has anyone had any experience with taking the IDC at Rainbow reef in Islamorada?

 

[shurite7]

I did not go through my IDC through Rainbow, but a friend of mine is the operations manager. After speaking with him and discussing how things were done I would say they have their stuff together. In fact my friend is a member here, but he nolonger participates online due to lack of time; I had the same issue when I lived in the tropics.

Chris

 

[D.J.]

RedDiver,

You can visit PADI IDC Professional Scuba Instructor Development and Career Center; IDC:scuba diving, Florida keys, Key Largo, diving school, islamoraafor more information about Rainbow Reef's IDC programs. It's probably worth mentioning that Rainbow Reef is also a PADI CDC (Career Development Center) which is PADI's highest rating a shop can have. It basically means the CDC center trains a certain amount of new Instructors every year, and have no quality assurance complaints.

 

[DiveInFlorida]

I saw your post and I am also considering Rainbow Reef as a place for my IDC. Have you done any more research? Looks good.

 

[InkDiver]

I can't speak to their IDC, but I did do my Wreck Cert with Rainbow Reef, and they definitely have their act together. The staff was excellent, and the instructor, Bill, was awesome!! They have a very active intern program and all of the DM and instructor candidates I met were good people.

Don

 

[reddiver970]

I found a local place I am going to do it through but Rainbow Reef sounds good. I am going to do the AI in May and the OWSI in July locally it will be cheaper and I was very impressed with the Course Director or else I would do it at Rainbow Reef, they were very quick to respond to my questions through email some places I emailed months ago have not responded, anyway good luck with wherever you go!

 

[DiveInFlorida]

Good luck...I'll probably do Rainbow Reef IDC at the end of May. Like you said, they were very responsive when I sent them an email, I got a phone call with in hours with all the details I needed.

 

[Don Wray]

You might give EASE a look also, their course fees are the same roughly but they include lodging and meals. I just completed mine with them and all of the candidates from EASE passed the IE easily. There were others there from other IDC's and some must do make ups. A big plus for me was we lived, ate and studied right there, with a pool in the back yard with plenty of fresh tanks.
IDC, Florida, IDC Florida, CDC in Florida. Our PADI IDC, CDC Facility include meals and accommodation. Located in Vero Beach Florida

 

[djwood]

I'll comment since I was already involved in this conversation.

All IDC's have to teach to the PADI standards, hence you get the same class wherever you go, it's probably a good idea to look at the differences between IDC centers. Some people might see certain things as a positive or a negative. The last person who posted, thought that it was great that you lived, ate and studdied right there.. To me personally, that sounds like the twilight zone, I wouldn't want to be in the same place 24hrs to learn, eat, and study. I'd want to get out and unwind a little bit, so meals being included doesn't excite me, I'd rather sample a local restuarant and have more choices. Another difference is the location. Vero beach is a nice place, but it's not the Florida Keys. We go diving on world class reefs, and world famous shipwrecks. We've got dive boats on two different islands going out every day.

Anyway, the bottom line is both places have good Course Directors that will provide good training to have you passing the Instructor Exam with flying colors, otherwise they wouldn't hold the certification level of Course Director. You can't make a wrong choice, you just have to figure out what appeals more to you and go with that.

Good luck in your Dive Instructor career whichever way you decide to go.

D.J.