Dan Robinson

He is now a full-time recreational and technical SCUBA instructor trainer, with a 100 per cent. success rate. Dan has been fortunate enough to have dived and taught in over 20 countries so far, in a variety of conditions, including murky, cold, fresh water (he passed his own IDC and Instructor Exam in the UK). He has dived and trained in strong currents and rivers, as well as clear, calm and shallow tropical seas.

Dan is a full hypoxic advanced trimix instructor trainer and, after graduation, his candidates may train their own students down to 90m (300 feet). Once they have successfully completed their own courses, divers trained by Dan’s candidates then have no depth limit. Cave diving and rebreathers are passions of Dan’s and, amongst other places, he has been lucky enough so far to have explored Florida, Mexico and the UK. One of his more memorable trips was to the World War 2 graves of Truk Lagoon, Chuuk, Micronesia.

What is the philosophy of your company?

Dan and Exotic believe that the principal goal of an IDC should not be to pass an IE. With our small class sizes, we focus on developing confident, effective and efficient instructors and passing the exam is then a natural result. Our courses are intentionally longer than others so we can ensure thorough preparation.

We typically run our programmes over a 16 day period. We start with preparation sessions to practice your dive skills and refresh or upgrade your dive theory from the level of the new PADI Divemaster course to that required to pass your IE comfortably. Emergency First Response and Care for Children Instructor courses are included for those that require them. These are usually spread over two days so you can get a meaningful experience.

You must be a current EFRI and CfCI before PADI will process your Instructor Application. We run a mock IE just before the real thing so you know what to expect. Our facilities are superb, the multimedia air conditioned classroom overlooks the crystal blue water of our own house reef. You may give briefings for your Confined and Open Water presentations around the hammocks on the white sand beach. You will enjoy free diving during your IDC. Boats depart every morning to go and see the thresher sharks out at Monad Shoal and are back by 07:30. Dan still loves diving and will likely join you! Exotic and Dan will do everything possible to ensure that your stay with us not only meets but exceeds your expectations and when you leave you not only have passed that exam but have the skills, knowledge and, most important, the confidence to go out and be the best instructor you can be.