ST. LUCIA (October 11, 2018) - Top Caribbean resort Anse Chastanet has partnered with its in-house operation Scuba St. Lucia to provide Professional Association of Diving Instructors (PADI) instructor training to students from St. Lucia, Antigua and Barbados.
Anse Chastanet is beloved by legions of vacationers who regularly rank it as one of the Caribbean's top resorts, and Scuba St. Lucia enjoys a strong reputation as a trainer of excellent Caribbean diving instructors.
The partnership between Anse Chastanet and Scuba St. Lucia enhances the tourism offerings of the Eastern Caribbean as visitors seek more water-based activities.
PADI Course Director, Patrick Hammer and Scuba St. Lucia's Manager, Georgiana Merlusca taught the courses, while PADI Regional Manager Nick Buskirk served as the exam invigilator.
"By offering training opportunities to scuba diving professionals in the region, Scuba St. Lucia helps make the scuba diving industry a viable and attractive job proposition for Caribbean nationals, while simultaneously assisting St. Lucia and the Eastern Caribbean to gain traction as one of the world's foremost diving destinations," said Karolin Troubetzkoy, Executive Director of Anse Chastanet.
Hammer, a PADI course director since 1975, has certified more than 5,000 Open Water Scuba Instructors (OWSI) and more than 8,000 Specialty Instructors.
Instructor Development Course (IDC) officials were delighted with the quality of their students, all of whom passed the demanding PADI OWSI exams. The participants from St. Lucia were Dave Mathurin and Dani-Paul Herman from Scuba St. Lucia and Dani-Hill Herman from Island Divers at Ti Kaye Village; Jensen Anthony and Cortright Joseph from Curtain Bluff in Antigua along with Summer-Rain Worme from Barbados, who recertified her OWSI teaching status.
The freshly accredited instructors learned not only how to teach diving courses safely but also how to be useful role models. They can now teach a variety of diving courses, including Discover Scuba Diving, Open Water Course, Advanced Open Water Course, Rescue Course, Dive Master Course, Project AWARE Specialty, AWARE Coral Reef Conservation and Peak Performance Buoyancy. Cortright Joseph and Jensen Anthony also added to their professional credentials by completing several PADI instructor level specialties courses.
The sea is also a little safer because all participants passed the Emergency First Response (EFR) Instructor course conducted by Merlusca of Scuba St. Lucia. Now, they can teach their EFR students how to respond in case of an emergency. The valuable course is available for both divers and non-divers.
Scuba St. Lucia announced the IDC training is scheduled again for local and regional diving professionals, starting on August 25, 2019, with the final exams on September 3 and 4, 2019. For more information, contact
scuba@ansechastanet.com.
About PADI
PADI is the world's leading scuba diver training organization with more than 6,500 PADI Dive Centers and Resorts, and more than 135,000 individual PADI Professionals who have issued more than 25 million certifications around the world. The PADI System of diver education is based on progressive training that introduces skills, safety-related information and local environmental knowledge to student divers in stages. PADI courses are student-centered and provide maximum practice and realistic application. PADI Professionals make underwater exploration and scuba diving adventures possible while maintaining the highest standards for diver training, safety and customer service.
About Scuba St.Lucia
Scuba St. Lucia is on the beach at the picturesque Anse Chastanet Resort in Soufrière. One of St. Lucia's longest established dive centers, it has welcomed scuba divers since the early 80s. Recognized as one of the premier diving operations in the Eastern Caribbean, Scuba St. Lucia is the recipient of PADI Green Star™ Dive Center Award, identifying dive businesses that care about the environment and are acting to protect it. For more information, visit
www.scubastlucia.com and
www.ansechastanet.com.
Anse Chastanet is set amid a lush 600-acre estate with two soft-sand beaches and breathtaking views of St. Lucia's twin Pitons mountains, the UNESCO World Heritage Site. Amidst St. Lucia's lush tropical beauty, activities range from jungle biking, hiking and bird watching to snorkeling on the reef within swimming distance of the beach. The environmentally friendly, award-winning resort comprises 49 individually designed rooms, 37 of which are scattered about a lush hillside, and 12 that are nestled within a tropical garden at beach level. It offers innovative menus, one entirely vegetarian, in four different locations and features fresh produce served up from the resort's organic farm. Guests can take in interactive chocolate-making classes in the resort's chocolate laboratory and a variety of water sports are also on offer.
