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There is a difference diving and training with Utila Dive Centre - check out the quality and how much fun we deliver to you!!

If Carlsberg filmed with GoPro video cameras, here's what they would have done, check this out, absolutely amazing!  An amazing compilation of video clips shot by UDC PADI Pro Drew Roberts, with the new GoPro Hero Underwater housing, check out diving with Utila Dive Centre and how much fun we make it, there is a difference with UDC', dedicated personal service, experienced staff, personalised experience and groups, and no expense spared to deliver what we promise!  As sponsored by GoPro cameras we also have regular competitions/giveaways for our interns to win the GoPro Hero II.

'Often Imitated Never Surpassed'

Spring 2012 Newsletter Available

Check out the great news so far this Spring from our team and facility at Utila Dive Centre, some articles include;

• Utila Dive Festival - August 2012
• Green news - New Eco program and 'Earth Day clean-up' facts
• Tec update - record breaking 400ft dive and exciting course action
• Amazing success to 2012 with professional career training
• Sponsorship by GoPro cameras and check out the super cool video filmed with the new underwater housing!
• Free digital log books from UDC
• A scuba poem by ScubaSteve!

Read on for exciting events coming up this Summer, in our Spring 2012 Newsletter.

Utila Dive Festival - Join us for a Summer of fun and scuba diving festivities & social events

Utila Dive Festival is an exciting week long event highlighting the island of Utila – both above and below the water. Underwater, we will have daily themed dives, photo contests and a scavenger hunt. At the surface the parties, Taste of Utila and prize giveaways will draw a crowd with opening and closing beach parties.

The event, scheduled for August 18-25, is focused on building an atmosphere that will both educate and foster the enjoyment of sharing underwater experiences and also highlight what Utila has to offer as a vacation destination. Our best assets are being part of the largest reef in the Western Hemisphere that surrounds the islands, the over 99% of Caribbean sea life that makes it’s home in our waters and the elusive Whale Shark, the Worlds largest fish that has been seen here all year round.

There will be specialized diving activities held throughout the week including a photography competition, advanced buoyancy workshops, reef ecology and whale shark talks, tec and sidemount try dives including closed circuit rebreathers. There will also be social events in the evenings, Caribbean island style with a 'taste of Utila' food fair. So far our sponsors have committed over $7000 in retail value of prizes and include;

12 Sealife Cameras
Aqua Lung regulator, BCD and mask/snorkel and fins
Scubapro MK25/S600 regulator
6 GoPro HD Hero II sports cameras with housing
Intova cameras and light
2 DiveRite sidemount rigs, reels, SMB's and wet notes

We're offering a weeks special on accommodation and diving with us in that week, a 3 dives a day package for the cost of a 2 dives a day package (with accommodation) or reduced rates on our hotel with diving/course packages.  Make your plans now to experience the first annual Utila Dive Festival and contact us for more information/reservations.

Congratulations to our May PADI IDC candidates with another 100% pass rate!

 100% 5th month in a row this year- There is a difference with Utila Dive Centre, come find out!!!!

This is the best start to Summer for our May 2012 PADI IDC candidates and congratulations to all our PADI Scuba Instructor candidates and IDC staff from Utila, at the completion of the PADI Instructor Exams on Utila celebrating another 100% pass rate and continuing our outstanding and unmatched success from 2011. 

Once again our candidates excelled from our dedicated personalised Instruction, and showed there is a difference with the preparation work and training by our GoPro staff, PADI Course Directors Andy Phillips and Suzy Phipps, and IDC Staff Instructors Jhair Herrera and Casey Farley who excelled in preparing and training our candidates who came from afar as the UK, the USA, Austria, Canada, South Africa and locally Honduras, and seeing them through one of the best chapters in their dive careers with a lot of fun along the way!

If you'd like to learn more about a professional dive career as either a PADI Divemaster or Instructor on Utila, please contact PADI Course Director Andy Phillips on gopro@utiladivecenter.com for more information, so make your life mean something and join one of our next IDC's!!!!!!

Utila Dive Centre 

'Often imitated but never surpassed!'

GoPro with our next PADI Instructor (IDC) courses on June 6th or July 4th and start your Summer 2012 in style!

It's never too late to become a PADI Instructor with our upcoming IDCs held on Utila, Honduras.  If you are a PADI Divemaster (or equivalent) then you can enroll in one of our upcoming PADI IDCs.  All our PADI IDC's in 2012 ended in an unmatched 100% pass at the exams. Our May IDC just ended with another 100% pass rate and if you are a PADI Divemaster (or equivalent) then you can enroll in our next scheduled PADI Instructor course and make your year start on a high note. Our next PADI Instructor course of 2012 starts June 6th (9th for E-learning option), continuing until the 17th with exams 19th/20th and then our next PADI Instructor course is scheduled July 4th (7th for E-learning option), continuing until the 15th with exams 17th/18th. See our course schedule for further dates on the Instructor course. All other courses can be started at any time.

The new PADI Instructor course E-learning option allows candidates who are time-constrained to study a portion of the course online and then arrive 3 days after our classroom start date (on the Saturday) to join in the program. Please contact us to learn more about the convenience of this option and to join today.

There's never been a better time to become a PADI Instructor, with a booming dive industry through Central America and the Caribbean from Mexico to Panama, with a demand for PADI Scuba Instructors to work the upcoming 2012 season. Make your year end on a high note and mean something: join us for the most exciting and dynamic PADI IDC in Central America. Arrive early for our free diving and preparation program, please 'Contact Us' for more information and read on to find out what makes our program and staff the most chosen and awarded in Central America.

Exclusive sponsorship of Utila Dive Centre by GoPro Sports Cameras

We're proud to announce that Woodman Labs, the company behind the worlds fastest growing camera company and most popular 'point of view' sports camera, the HD Hero II, have sponsored GoPro Utila and Utila Dive Centre.  Each month we will be providing our PADI Divemaster and Instructor candidate of the month, a free HD Hero II sports cameras with housing.  GoPro Sports cameras have recognised us as a world leading scuba training facility, with an outstanding caliber of professional instruction, training world class PADI Divemasters and Scuba Instructors with our unsurpassed internships.  Check out our video of Commuting to work in Utila filmed with a GoPro, that Gopro Cameras made video of the day in March 2012 on their Facebook page and got over 27000 views in 1 weekend.

So what more better reason to join Utila Dive Centre for your professional dive training, than an endorsement from the worlds #1 sports camera manufactuer that sponsors some of the top athletes in surfing, snow boarding and motor racing worldwide.  Plus you get a chance to be our Divemaster/Instructor of the month and win a H2 Hero II sports camera and housing.  This offer is valid only to Divemaster and Instructor candidates who mention 'GoPro cameras' and inquire via e-mail, so what more are you waiting for contact us today!

First ever PADI Rebreather Instructor course in Central America at UDC!

Whale shark activity April 13th to 18th - daily sightings

The whale sharks have been see on a regular basis, daily in the last few days.  From April 13th to 18th divers aboard our boat  'Old Tom' reported seeing a Whale shark, measuring 35ft/10 meters by Pumpkin Hill on the East end of Utila, also with Manta Rays sighted.

Recent photo taken by PADI Instructor Guillermo Alcover

Read our 4th Quarter 2011 Newsletter

Catch up with the latest news, new course offerings, special promotions, and staff changes for the 4th Quarter 2011, and more fun and games as well as great diving at Utila Dive Centre, all in our latest 4th Qt Utila Dive Centre newsletter.

Triple Awards for Utila Dive Centre at DEMA Show November 2011

What an amazing year for the team and staff at Utila Dive Centre, with triple awards given at the USA DEMA dive show in November 2011. 'Often Imitated - Never Surpassed' has never been more accurate, with Utila Dive Centre and our staff leading the way globally and receiving these 3 incredible awards for our commitment to training dive leaders and protecting the environment. Read on and see why we make the perfect choice and facility for your professional dive training.

Best PADI IDC Center

It's official! For the 2nd consecutive year PADI has awarded Utila Dive Centre this honour for 2011 and 2010, an unheard of accomplishment in the dive industry.  

Utila Dive Centre's Platinum Course Directors Andy Phillips and Suzy Phipps receiving the award from PADI President Dr Drew Richardson

This award is for the great standard and success achieved by our PADI Instructor courses and professional scuba diving internships.  Sport Diver, the scuba diving magazine, also gave us the best PADI IDC Center award in 2010. What makes this award even more special for our facility and staff is that it was voted for by the diving community! In November 2011 at the DEMA dive show in the USA, PADI President Drew Richardson presented our staff with this award in front of a 1000-strong audience of dive professionals.

Platinum Course Director 

Utila Dive Centre's 'Director of Professional Training' Andy Phillips receiving his Platinum award for the 7th consecutive year by PADI Vice Presidents James Morgan and Johnny Wetzstein.  There are approximately only 50 Platinum PADI Course Directors worldwide out of a membership of 1200 Course Directors, and we're the only facility in Central America to have been recognised several years running for our achievement and dedication in training dive instructors.

Project Aware Green Star award for Utila Dive Centre & Mango

It just doesn't stop. The Green Star award was presented to us during DEMA week in November 2011 by PADI's Project Aware after an objective environmental audit on our Mango Inn resort and Utila Dive Centre. Here's to UDC and our staff, not just keeping it real, but keeping it clean and keeping it green!
 
For candidates considering their PADI Divemaster and Instructor training, there's never been a better facility in the Caribbean Bay Islands of Honduras, Central America, to take your scuba diving internship.

Utila Dive Centre continues to lead the way in recreational and professional scuba Instruction, so when you decide to GoPro you know where to find the best training possible, with ongoing support.

New for 2012 PADI Closed Circuit Rebreather courses

The Poseidon MK6 - the worlds first automated recreational closed circuit rebreather

• Longer dive times with extended gas consumption, and longer no decompression limits
• Less noise, no bubbles and the ability to become a part of the aquatic realm, not just an observer, fish and other creatures will come close to check you out!
• More enhanced photos and videos of aquatic life as you can now get much closer to your subjects
• Stay warmer longer as less body heat is exhaled

• PADI Open Water rebreather diver - 3 days and qualifying you to depths of 18 meters/60 feet

• PADI Advanced Open Water rebreather diver - 2 days and qualifying you to depths of 30 meters/100 feet

• PADI Integrated Open Water/Advanced Open Water rebreather diver - 4 days and qualifying you to depths of 30 meters/100 feet

• PADI Rebreather Instructor courses - 3 days and qualifying you to teach the Open Water, Advanced Open Water, integrated program, Discover rebreather, rebreather crossover and rebreather refresher programs.

At PADI HQ in California on the rebreather Instructor Trainer program

For more information on our PADI and Poseidon MK6 rebreather courses please contact us on info@utiladivecentre.com for more information.

August Trimix Instructor candidates on deco after 300ft/90mt dive

Last Summer was a very productive and rewarding month for 3 PADI Instructors, Simon Livingston (Utila/UK), Mary Peter (Utila/Switzerland) and Anders Heergaard (Mexico/Denmark) who all successfully completed their PADI Tec Deep Instructor rating, and then Anders and Mary continued on and completed their Trimix Instructor rating.  The candidates completed a series of technical training dives, simulated problem solving scenarios, theoretical and standard based exams, and concluded the course with a dive to 300 feet/90 meters using a gas mix of 12% Oxygen/56% helium on a sheer wall called CJ's drop off on Utilas North side walls.

Left to right - Simon Livingston, Mary Peter, Anders Heergaard and Instructor Trainer Andy Phillips

Next PADI Tec Deep Diver and Instructor courses March 2012

For divers interested in technical diving, and qualifying as PADI Tec Deep divers, then we have both diver and Instructor level courses scheduled for November and we recommend an early reservation as as our April and July courses fully booked up and there are only 2 spaces left for this program.  There are 3 different levels of training within the PADI Tec deep diver program, Tec 40, 45 and 50, and all 3 modules can be taken together to qualify as a PADI Tec Deep diver, allowing you to dive to depths of 165ft/50 meters, using up to 100% Oxygen for accelerated decompression.   The complete Tec Deep training takes 9 days and has a course fee of $1350 and $50 manual, and $3 a day reef fee.  For PADI Instructors there is also the option to take our 6 day PADI Tec Deep Instructor course and after auditing one Tec Deep component (4 days and $350) and upon meeting the 25 decompression dive requirement, can then offer training in all 3 Tec modules.  The Tec Deep Instructor course costs $1200 and $3 a day reef fees, plus $70 Instructor manual and a PADI application fee of $56.

All training is offered through the Utila Dive Centre in the Bay Islands of Honduras, and with our fringing reef systems, deep walls, and water temps of 26-28c/78-84f, and visibility of 20-30 meters/70-100 feet, make Utila a great choice in the Caribbean for technical diver training.  We have strict class sizes of for our technical programs.  The diver level training can be offered immediately before our Instructor programs and we also offer Trimix diver and Instructor training.  For more information on our technical diver training please visit our tec diving section of this website and contact us for specific course information.

2012 Instructor course schedule now available 

2012 Instructor course schedule is now available.  All other courses can start at anytime on demand) so if you need to complete any prerequisite training prior to enroilling on a PADI Instructor course we can schedule accordingly to best suit your time frame, please contact us for specific details and programs.  

Utila Dive Centre-Clean's up environment for 'Dive into Earth Day April 2011'

On the 22nd April 2011 all our divers and staff gave up their time and helped to clean up part of Utila's shoreline and beach areas, pictured hereare are clean up team after removing trash from Utila's East shore. In total we collected several truck loads of trash weighing 309kg's which has gone to the recycling plant and was comprised of 1600 plastic bottles, 1000 shoes, 2000 bottle caps, 1000 plastic forks, plates etc, 2000 straws, 20 syringes, 100 plastic toys and 25kgs of tiny shards of plastic plus pens, toothbrushes, car parts, rope, fishing line and more. On Saturday 23rd April we also staged an underwater clean up with many of our divers, and 2 boat trips and cleaned up the Blue Bayou region of Utila, and to thanks our staff and divers efforts, Utila Dive Centre hosted one of their world famous BBQ events on the Sunday!

Sam Gaghan and Javier Vaquero cleaning up on Utilas East shore on 'Dive into Earth Day' 2011

 Improved for 2012: Exclusive membership of the Global Diving Network with Utila Dive Centre and GoPro Utila

This scheme is in addition to our local Central/South America referral scheme 'TrekCATS', and all our students and divers receive a membership card, and reduced rates (5-10%)/preferential treatment at any of these quality dive operations. No other dive operation in the Caribbean, Honduras and Central America is committed to your success, and opportunities during and after your time with Utila Dive Centre/GoPro Utila.
 

Party at Water Cay

We had a big party on Sunday to celebrate another successful year at Utila Dive Centre. We closed for the day and took all the staff, customers, family and friends to the beautiful Cays and had a BBQ on the jewel of the Cays, Water Cay.
 
The day couldn't have been more perfect. Nico cooked his delicious BBQ and we sipped Flor de Cana rum in the sea. Once we finished playing volleyball and water polo.
 
Congratulations to our recent Divemaster and Instructor graduates Ghislain, Sam, Andrew, Mary, Rory, Lorna, Bertrand, Arnaud and Rhonda!

Read what sets our professional training apart with our 'Professional Training Philosophy', and then......

Watch this footage of our beach BBQ!

Utila Dive Centre is a TrekCATS Operator

Now backpackers and travelers can dive Central America the informed way.  Choose from the premier dive operators in each country in Central America, from Guatemala to Colombia on your travels, and when you show proof of having taken a course with a TrekCATS operator, or 2 logged dives, you get entitled to a special rate at all other members!  Not only do TrekCATS dive operations adhere to the highest standards of quality, but they provide an amazing service and a fun time for all their divers.  Search for the TrekCATS group on Facebook to find members and join the group.  Another great reason to come and dive with UDC!