Course overview

Step up from dive guide to dive educator with the SSI Open Water Instructor programme on Thailand's Phi Phi Islands, finishing certified to teach SSI courses and certify your own students. Training uses the calm, warm bays and limestone reef walls of the Phi Phi marine park, where conditions reaching around 30 metres let candidates polish confined- and open-water teaching presentations. You complete the Instructor Training and evaluation ready to join SSI's global teaching community.

What you’ll learn

• Present academic, confined-water and open-water training sessions the SSI way
• Apply the SSI training system and total teaching approach
• Demonstrate, evaluate and correct student skills to instructor standard
• Plan and manage diver safety and risk during courses
• Brief, lead and debrief student divers professionally
• Prepare for the SSI Instructor Evaluation

Prerequisites

• Minimum age 18
• SSI Divemaster or Dive Guide, or an equivalent leadership rating from another recognised agency
• Certified diver for at least 6 months
• Logged dives meeting SSI professional requirements (around 75 by the Instructor Evaluation)
• Current first aid and CPR / emergency-care provider rating
• Diver medical clearance signed by a physician

What's included · What's not

Not included? Sort the rest of your trip

Flights and accommodation aren’t part of the course price, here’s how to book them around your dates.

Probability of sightings · month-by-month

What you're likely to see each month, based on historic operator logs.

Day-by-day itinerary

1. Day1
   Teaching foundations

   Orientation to the SSI training system and your first academic teaching presentations.
2. Day2
   Confined-water workshops

   Rehearse demonstrating and teaching core skills in the calm, sheltered shallows near the islands.
3. Day3
   Open-water teaching

   Deliver open-water teaching presentations on Phi Phi's reef walls under evaluation.
4. Day4
   Standards & risk management

   Cover SSI standards, risk management and the professional side of diving.
5. Day5
   Theory & water-skills assessment

   Complete dive-theory exams and demanding water-skills evaluations.
6. Day6
   Evaluation preparation

   Mock teaching sessions and a full briefing ahead of the SSI Instructor Evaluation.

Verified through iDive

Every partner school in the iDive network is vetted on safety, instructor credentials, equipment standards and student feedback. Talk to a iDive dive pro on WhatsApp for current availability and reviews specific to Phi Phi.

Frequently asked questions