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Lars Bosman
Take your PADI IDC in the Dutch Caribbean with Buddy Dive Academy and PADI Course Director Lars Bosman
Bonaire, Dutch Caribbean
Lars Bosman
Buddy Dive Academy.
Category
PADI 5 Star IDC
Address
Buddy Dive Academy Kralendijk, Bonaire, Dutch Caribbean.
About Lars
Led by Platinum Course Director Lars Bosman, the Buddy Dive Academy operates with a team of dedicated IDC Staff Instructors. Lars has been a PADI Course Director since 2019 and has trained over 300 600 candidates across various instructor levels. Lars is an avid cave, technical and CCR diver and heavily involved in the Reef Renewal Foundation Bonaire
Lars and his dedication to PADI’s structure of scuba diving education has helped him built the following
- Staff of 30 including 3 IDC Staff Instructors
- Cave, Techincal, CCR Diver
- 4-6 IDCs per year
- over 4000 logged dives
- 20 years diving experience
- 2000 + PADI certifications
- 20 + PADI Instructor Specialties
- 95% First time IE success rate
What is the philosophy of your company?
Buddy Dive Resort is a full-service 5-star PADI dive resort that is ideally located and has all facilities you need for your perfect dive vacation.
Right in front of the dock, you find Buddy’s Reef. The 24/7 accessible house reef is a great dive during the day and at night. With rinse tanks, a shower, gear rental, and a retail shop right there on the dock, great diving is guaranteed.
Our complete Drive & Dive packages include accommodation, daily breakfast buffet, airport transfers, shore diving with unlimited air and nitrox (plus optional boat dives) and a rental vehicle.
Our vision for the IDC is based on the belief that only the best instructors can train competent divers. In response to PADI’s shortened IDC program, Buddy Dive decided to extend its existing program by an additional day, incorporating more hands-on training sessions and practical workshops. These enhancements better prepare you for your career as a PADI instructor, focusing on teaching control and drawing from our own experiences. We go the extra mile to develop you into the best PADI professional possible. As part of your IDC preparation, you will also complete an additional e-learning course on risk management and risk mitigation.
Lar’s history
Lars started diving in 2005, in the Red Sea. He says: The following year I wanted to go back to the Red Sea and needed to be advanced certified for that trip. During my advanced the dive virus really got me, leading to becoming a dive instructor 14 months later.
During my trips to Egypt there was a divemaster, who showed me back kicking and told me all about technical diving, which sounded really amazing.
I enrolled in my first technical diving courses in 2008, became a cave diver, open circuit technical and rebreather diver. Now I am also technical and CCR instructor (trainer).
I have currently logged (and still log every dive) over 4000 dives, of which more than 200 are decompression dives deeper than 45m/150ft,more than 250 are in an overhead environment and close to 300 CCR dives.
Dive Center & Facilities
At Buddy Dive Resort, you’ll find everything needed to become the best Dive Instructor. The IDC, taking place at one of the world’s best dive operations, is just one of the benefits. We offer a professional dive operation, well-equipped classrooms, swimming pools, and the crystal-clear ocean with typical Bonairean pool-like conditions – all just steps away. With all these facilities at hand, candidates can fully focus on becoming the best instructor possible.
Choosing the all-inclusive IDC package means you won’t have to leave the resort for meals and accommodation. Everything is conveniently provided at Buddy Dive Resort. If you would like to go for a dive with your new friends after a day at the IDC, simply grab a tank and enjoy our beautiful house reef.
What is the reason Divemasters and Assistant Instructors should take their IDC with you?
Buddy Dive Resort has been offering PADI courses and dive vacations on Bonaire for over 40 years. The dive operation is rated one of the best in the Caribbean by divers (See the Scuba Diving Readers’ Choice Awards: https://www.scubadiving.com/best-scuba-diving-operators-in-world). You will benefit from doing your Dive Instructor certification at Buddy Dive Resort in many ways. You will get to learn and practice working in the dive industry on a resort that provides the highest quality of service (shore diving, boat diving, equipment rental, and repair)and PADI courses to their guests. This will give you a wealth of experience, but will also look very good on your divers resume. Not only learning how to teach courses the best way but also learning how to help a dive operation run smoothly is a highly appreciated skill.
Buddy Dive Resort offers the perfect logistics for your IDC, as well as any other PADI course. The pools, classrooms, house reef, and dive facilities are all conveniently located at the waterfront and on the resort. Everything you need is right there. The resort is equipped with 2 swimming pools, 2 restaurants, its own fleet of rental cars, a drive-thru filling station, 7 dive boats, a full-service dive shop, 2 raised sand beaches…. And did we mention our fantastic house reef? To make it very easy to become a Dive Instructor on Bonaire, we offer complete IDC programs including accommodation, meals, course materials, Instructor training, and examination. When booking the all-inclusive IDC, all you will have to do is study and practice to become a dive instructor.
What are your personal diving obsessions?
Cave diving, Reef Renewal and rebreather diving.
I am really invested in the Reef Renewal project. Because we humans have caused already so much deterioration of the aquatic world, it feels great to be part of an initiative, that helps protect and rebuild our fragile underwater world. It is a great opportunity to give back to the ocean.
All students have the opportunity to enjoy the freedom that our unlimited air and nitrox package offers. This makes it possible to do as many dives as possible each day, of course taking the important safety profiles in consideration.
To summarize:
- 6 Custom build Dive boats
- 2 docks
- 2 swimming pools
- 2 classrooms
- Retail shop
What type of diving do you like the best?
Cave and rebreather diving. I love cave diving, because of the completely different environment, the amazing visibility and how you can add a dimension to being inside a cave. I love the silence of the rebreather, no bubbles, just the sound of the 1-way valves moving on every breath. I love it that rebreathers extend your limits to beyond what you can do and carry on open circuit. I love because that because I am silent, fish come way closer to me than when I am on open circuit..
What else do you like (non diving)?
Besides diving I like cross fit, running and swimming. I have been playing judo for almost all my life. When I was younger I played judo on a competitive level, now I train for fun. I have been a 3rd degree black belt for 25 years now.
Why do you love being a PADI Course Director?
Because it gives me the opportunity to train the new generation of dive instructors. By inserting my love for the reef, care for the underwater world, I can bring focus to proper diving skills for the instructor, which they can transfer to their new students. Divers with poor buoyancy and trim are trained by instructors who didn’t focus on buoyancy and trim enough. In this way I can have a big influence on diver behavior and reef preservation by being a PADI Course Director.
I also love that I in my role as Course Director, that I am asked and able to help my wonderful colleagues grow to become even more awesome instructors than they are already.
What does the future hold for you?
Undoubtedly a lot of beautiful dives. Furthermore I would love to expand the Buddy Dive Academy even further, where we can setup an even more elaborate method of training staff and new dive instructors and help them grow in their dive careers.
I will focus more and more on technical diver training and rebreather training. We are setting up a Technical Instructor program, similar to our IDCs. I am aiming to get certified on multiple rebreathers and to become a rebreather instructor trainer.
What do his IDC students think of Lars?
IDC Review – former candidate
Sara Grosen – IDC candidate
Bonaire is the perfect place to do the IDC, the beautiful reefs and biodiversity really make you remember why you started diving in the first place. Buddy Dive Resort provides the perfect conditions and minimal logistics. 2 Pools, dedicated areas on the house reef to practice in-water skills, and a big classroom. The whole staff group was supportive and went out of their way to ensure we got everything we needed. Becoming an instructor is a big step, and I couldn’t have asked for a better place to become one than at Buddy Dive Resort.
I couldn’t have chosen a better place than Buddy Dive and a better Course Director than Lars to do my IDC and MSDT prep program. From the first day he was committed to the fullest to make all of us succeed in the course and the IE. I personally found Lars’ teaching method very helpful for both practical and theoretical assessments. He made sure we would be ready to teach every PADI course in a safe and efficient way. I believe this training has built up my confidence and will certainly help me become a great PADI Instructor. I would also like to thank Olivia for her assistance and patience as Staff Instructor during the IDC, she also did an amazing job! (Alvaro IDC April 2025)
Lars is a very knowledgeable and experienced instructor, he really knows what he is doing and why he is doing it that way. This makes the classes meaningful. He prepared us to be good instructors who can really teach courses; The IE was the easiest part of the course actually, because by that time we were all super ready and we passed with flying colors. I’m super happy that I chose to come to Buddy Dive to do my IDC. I would highly recommend Buddy to anyone looking to find a place to do their IDC at a professional, high quality place.
Thanks Lars & the entire team! (Gise de Laat IDC February 2025) (Now instructor at Belmar Oceanfront Apartments)
To all interested in participating in the IDC at Buddy Dive,
To say this experience was life changing is an understatement!! Not only does Lars Bosman strive to produce the best dive instructors in the industry he instils the importance of protecting one of natures precious gifts, OUR Oceans! He understands that every newly certified diver that his Instructors produce are a testament to his passion…protecting our ocean, corals and fish! If you are truly passionate about diving, protecting our oceans and would love to see the joy on a newly certified divers face I would highly recommend joining the IDC Course at Buddy Dive! Come prepared to work, be pushed to be the best and become a true ambassador to the underwater world! ️ (Phillip IDC 2024)
Thank you @lars_dives for your unwavering dedication and mentorship to ensuring we would not only be prepared to pass the IE but to be great instructors. Your rules, tips, and words of wisdom kept the IDC fun, light-hearted, yet motivating. Thank you @buddydiveresort for keeping us housed and well-fed. The staff were so encouraging and genuinely happy for us. What an experience. (Jess IDC August 2025)
Thank you so much for everything! I had an amazing experience and learned so much from @lars_dives, best course director ever!! And I couldn’t have asked for a better team @deepdivejess @nikita.pater
(Vicky IDC August 2025)
Check out our YouTube playlist to hear diving students share their amazing experiences and reviews.
Want to see what goes on during our IDC classes?
Click on the photo to the right to view a photo gallery from a recent IDC class
Where are we?
Websites: www.buddydiveacademy.com & www.buddydive.com
IDC Address
Buddy Dive Academy
Kralendijk, Bonaire, Dutch Caribbean
PO Box 231
+599 717-5080 ext 523
1-866-GO-BUDDY
PADI # 2784
Website: https://buddydive.com/diving/instructor-development-course/
IDC Address:
Buddy Dive Resort
Kaya Gob. N. Debrot 85
Kralendijk, Bonaire, Dutch Caribbean
Phone: +599 717-5080 or 1-866-GO-BUDDY
Email: coursedirector@buddydive.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/buddydiveresort
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/buddydiveresort/
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC98RCrfOjG13Rz6kAFmomVQ
PADI # 2784