It goes without saying that all of our Instructor Development Courses are memorable and life-changing events for all concerned, but if there is ever going to be an IDC that will stay in Course Director Retuning’s (Unieng) memory for life it would have to be the recent 2020 March IDC on Bali. Midway through the IDC, the world began shutting borders and Bali declared a lockdown. Here’s what happened…..
The IDC ran from 22nd March through to 6th April and was initially conducted on Nusa Lembongan with 5 candidates from Wales, France, Switzerland, Hongkong and Belgium. As the world began to close borders, Nusa Lembongan was closed for any tourism activities and so the decision was made to move the IDC over to Two Fish Divers Amed, on mainland Bali.
At this time there was a lot of uncertainty around how COVID19 would affect Bali and one candidate returned home to be with family. Fortunately, we know now from the numbers that Bali has not been affected in the same was that other countries have and the number of cases has not spiraled.

The IDC moved from Lembongan to Amed due to the COVID lockdown
Of course, moving the IDC to Amed meant that the candidates would be on lockdown there. As Unieng says, “The Dive center was closed for other guests. The candidates and I and Amed staff stayed all in the same compound. We slept, we ate and we trained all in the same location. We were quarantined together but we took social distancing seriously regarding others. There were no evening hangouts, and no other guests allowed to come in the compound. We provided sanitizers and we moved the classroom to a bigger space to ensure we could maintain distances“.
When it came to the operation side of the IDC, Unieng says, “It affected everything! The Instructor Exam was postponed by PADI due to travel restrictions. The Amed beach was closed as well for tourism, but with the discretion of the local village, we could do two days of diving on our training sites off our beach, so we combined a lot of training sessions on each dive.
The staff made a lot of on-site arrangements due to our situation with regard to food deliveries and even laundry! Despite the lockdown setbacks that we had to overcome, morale remained strong and there was a good vibe throughout! This was definitely one of the best teams to get stuck with!”

Views of Mount Agung greeted our candidates each morning from Two Fish Amed
We also asked Unieng how she felt about the whole IDC experience on a personal level, here’s what she had to say,
“I was so proud of the candidates’ attitude and adaptability! They were all truly amazing. The experience also reinforced to me how crucial adaptability is on a professional level when conducting IDC’s. I have been assisting with and teaching Instructor Development Courses for many years now so I have a full understanding of the curriculum which really enabled me to mix and match activities and training sessions to fit in with the very unique circumstances. I was also proud of myself for delivering the content in a manner that enabled all candidates to succeed and pass.
Aside from the teaching, the IDC was a lot of fun and despite the circumstances, we had so many laughs and memorable moments that make me smile even now just to think about them!”

Pool training in Amed where the group quarantined together
Here are some of the funniest moments and comments from our candidates in March:
- Harold on neutral buoyancy briefing: “We inflate our lungs, to rise up and deflate to sink down”
- Liam: “I come from a town where every public service such as hospital, school, market, dentist, etc is just one in the whole town. BUT we have eleven pubs!”
- Daniel: “As long as there is coffee, we are fine”
- Bastien during freediving intro: “I just like to breathe.”
What’s Next, After Lockdown?
So what’s next for our successful IDC candidates and future IDC’s at Two Fish? First of all, all candidates are safe and well, either at home or in Bali. As soon as dates for Instructor Exams are confirmed by PADI and Bali is open for visitors we will conduct our next scheduled IDC. The candidates from our March IDC are all invited to refresh their skills and knowledge in this IDC as well, for free, prior to taking their exams!

Celebrating the end of an incredible journey together in Amed
What’s Next, For you?
Get Ready to Become A PADI Instructor in Indonesia! Are you dreaming of becoming an instructor? Check out our Instructor Career Break Blog and find out why now could be the best time to take a leap of faith and go pro! Find out more about our Instructor Development Courses in Indonesia here.
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For more information or to ask our Course Director Unieng a question, fill in the form below and we will get right back to you!