It was thanks to Madhava Reddy’s initiative of opening India’s first instructor development centre, The Andaman Diving Academy, that a whole new career option has emerged for the driven and adventorous youth of our country who want to spend their time as one with the environment as opposed to being hunched over a desk from 9-5 and watching their bellies grow.

Moreover,the 5-star training facility is right here at Port Blair in the Andamans and you don’t have to travel abroad to learn how to be an instructor!

I had the opportunity of meeting with Mr. Gianrico Mureddu , Course Director(India’s first) at Planet Scuba India’s Andaman Diving Academy.

His observations of the Indian diving industry were very intriguing and are as follows. He sees great potential in the Indian market for instructors.

“The large population helps in the increase of numbers if the course is promoted well. Currently, the majority of instructors in India are foreigners. The only cause of concern is that only about 5% of the total population of India will be able to afford the IDC (Instructor Development Course)”

Our latest graduating batch from ADA has a mix of enthusiastic youngsters looking for an exciting and satisfying job as well as marine biologists and those looking for a change in profession.

Mr. Mureddu even added that instructors trained here will easily be employed even by foreign dive centres as ” Indians have a better command over the English language compared to other nationales. Good  communication skills is always a plus-in any job!” He cocluded that, “I do anticipate that by the first quarter of next year(2011)we should be able to double if not triple the number of Indian instructors in the Indian dive industry.”