Ready to teach the world to dive? Instructor training is the final step in going pro — the qualification that lets you run courses, certify new divers and work at dive centres anywhere on the planet
You’re already a dive professional. Now take the step that turns diving into a career you can build almost anywhere in the world.
Train on Koh Tao with Funky Turtle Dive Academy, learn from seasoned Instructor Certifier Tim Morrish, and develop the skills and confidence to go from leading divers to teaching them.
Your Instructor package includes your professional training and two weeks accommodation on Koh Tao, so you can arrive, settle in and focus on becoming an Instructor.
Instructor Training | 2 Weeks Accommodation Included
Train with Tim Morrish | Funky Turtle Dive Academy | Koh Tao
Your Instructor Training at a Glance
The Funky Turtle Dive Academy Instructor program is designed for Divemasters ready to take the next step into teaching.
You’ll develop your ability to teach academics, confined water and open water while learning how to manage students, demonstrate skills, solve problems and deliver SSI training professionally.
But one of the biggest reasons to train with us is who you’ll be learning from.
Instructor training is one of the most important stages of your professional diving career, and the person training you can make a huge difference.
Your Instructor Trainer at Funky Turtle Dive Academy is Tim Morrish, a highly experienced Instructor Trainer and seasoned SSI Instructor Certifier with years of experience developing and evaluating dive professionals.
Tim doesn’t just understand what it takes to complete an Instructor Training Course. His experience as an Instructor Certifier means he has spent years seeing candidates at the other end of the process – evaluating future instructors, understanding where candidates commonly struggle and recognising what separates someone who can pass an evaluation from someone who is genuinely ready to teach.
That experience shapes the way he trains.
The goal isn’t to teach you how to perform for an evaluation. It’s to help you understand the system, develop your own teaching ability and become comfortable making decisions as an Instructor.
It’s an approach that has built Tim a reputation well beyond Koh Tao, with divers travelling from around the world specifically for the opportunity to complete their professional training with him.
When you’re choosing where to become an Instructor, you’re not just choosing a course.
You’re choosing your trainer.
What Your 78,000 THB Includes
We’ve designed the package to make coming to Koh Tao for your Instructor training simple.
Your 78,000 THB package includes your Instructor training and two weeks accommodation, giving you a base on the island throughout the program without having to organise somewhere separately.
You’ll train through the academic, confined-water and open-water elements of becoming an Instructor, working closely with Tim and the Funky Turtle Dive Academy team as you develop your teaching style and prepare for the next stage of your professional career.
You’ll also receive Funky Turtle Dive Academy discounts on equipment and additional eligible training, making it easier to continue developing your professional setup and qualifications while you’re here.
Two weeks later, you could be ready to take the next step towards teaching diving professionally.
Why Become an Instructor on Koh Tao?
Koh Tao isn’t just a beautiful place to complete your Instructor training. It’s an island where scuba diving is part of everyday life.
Divers arrive from around the world to learn here, creating a large international community of instructors, Divemasters, trainers and dive centres. For a newly qualified Instructor, that means you’re beginning your career surrounded by the industry rather than trying to break into it from the outside.
You’ll meet people who have built careers in diving, make connections across the island and see first-hand how busy dive operations work.
And when the training day finishes, you’re living on Koh Tao.
Morning boats, tropical water and days spent teaching diving become normal life, while your time away from work is spent on an island filled with beaches, viewpoints, restaurants, bars and a community of people who came here because they wanted something similar.
You’ve already spent your Divemaster training learning how to lead certified divers and take responsibility underwater. Instructor training is about learning how to take everything you know and pass it on.
Knowing how to perform a skill yourself is only the beginning. A good Instructor needs to explain it simply, demonstrate it clearly and recognise what a student needs when something isn’t working.
Throughout your training, you’ll develop those abilities across academics, confined water and open water. You’ll learn how to structure training, communicate effectively, evaluate performance and adapt your teaching to different students rather than expecting every person to learn in exactly the same way.
That’s the transition we’re looking for.
From being good at diving to being good at teaching diving.
Prepare for the Instructor Evaluation – and What Comes After
Your Instructor Training Course prepares you for the SSI Instructor Evaluation, where you’ll demonstrate that you’ve developed the knowledge, teaching ability and professional skills required to become an SSI Open Water Instructor.
Having an experienced Instructor Certifier as your trainer brings a valuable perspective to that preparation. Tim understands what candidates are expected to demonstrate at evaluation level, but more importantly, he understands what those standards are designed to achieve.
Passing the evaluation matters.
But eventually the evaluation finishes, the Certifier leaves, and a group of real students turns up.
That’s what we want you ready for.
Start Your Career Where the Opportunities Are
Once you’re qualified, the next challenge is getting experience.
Koh Tao gives newly qualified instructors the opportunity to begin building relationships within one of the world’s best-known diving communities. You’re surrounded by dive centres, boats, instructors and students, which means you’re already meeting people and building your network while completing your training.
We can’t promise every candidate a job after qualifying. Employment will always depend on vacancies, languages, experience, personality, professionalism and the right to work.
What we can do is help you become the kind of Instructor a dive centre wants to employ.
Someone who teaches well, communicates confidently, works as part of a team, connects with customers and understands that being a dive professional is about much more than being good underwater.
Your Instructor certification gets you through the door.
The professional you become determines what happens next.
Build a Career That Can Take You Around the World
Your first Instructor job could be on Koh Tao.
It doesn’t have to be your last.
Once you’ve started building experience, professional diving can open opportunities in destinations around the world. Thailand could lead to Indonesia, the Maldives, Australia, the Caribbean, the Mediterranean or somewhere you haven’t even considered yet.
Every country has its own visa, employment and work-permit requirements, but becoming an Instructor gives you a profession connected to an international industry.
You can build experience, continue your education, teach specialties, progress further through the professional ranks or eventually move into training, management or running a dive operation of your own.
Instructor training is part of the wider Funky Turtle Dive Academy professional pathway, taking divers from their first steps into professional diving through to becoming dive educators.
If you’re already an experienced Divemaster, you can join us for Instructor training and take that next step.
If Instructor is the goal but you’re not a Divemaster yet, our Go Pro programs can build the foundations first. Our six-week Go Pro All In package is particularly suited to divers who already know they want to continue towards Instructor, combining Divemaster training with additional diving, experience and specialty development.
Divemaster → Experience → Instructor
The qualifications matter.
But so does everything you learn between them.
Ready to Become an Instructor?
If you’ve reached Divemaster and you’re considering Instructor, you’ve probably already asked yourself what life would look like if diving became your career.
There’s only one way to find out.
Come to Koh Tao, train with an experienced Instructor Certifier and spend two weeks developing the skills that could shape the next stage of your professional life.
SSI Instructor Training Course
Funky Turtle Dive Academy
Professional Instructor Training
Training with Tim Morrish
2 Weeks Accommodation Included
78,000 THB
Become an Instructor. Live Koh Tao. Teach around the world.
Make things easy and stay with us while you dive. Students completing a course with Funky Turtle Divers can stay at Funky Turtle Hostel for just 150 THB per night for the duration of their course.
Want to arrive a few days early, stay longer after your course, or spend some extra time diving and exploring Koh Tao? You can extend your stay for just 250 THB per night before or after your course.
Our hostel is social, relaxed and just a short walk from the dive centre – making it easy to meet other travellers, get to your training each day and enjoy everything Koh Tao has to offer.
Course Accommodation
150 THBper night
Additional Nights
250 THBper night
Accommodation is subject to availability. We recommend reserving your bed when booking your course, particularly during busy periods.
