PADI Career Development Centers are dive facilities that were previously registered as either PADI 5 Star IDC Centers or PADI Gold Palm Resort IDC Centers and who also offer professional development training. The status of PADI Career Development Center is an award of excellence and recognition of services to the dive community, it is not a level of membership and it is the highest rating a PADI facility can achieve and there are only 2 in Central America. PADI Career Development Centers are dive resorts that excel themselves in terms of the experiences, education and equipment that they can offer to dive consumers and are places where Instructor candidates receive training to prepare them for their careers in the dive industry.
At the Utila Dive Centre we received this recognition from PADI in 2003 because of the standards that we set for ourselves and for the dive community in the Bay Islands of Honduras. This means we offer a high level of service for our divers.
In order to be awarded a PADI Career Development Center rating the Utila Dive Centre has to meet the following criteria on an annual basis and have been rated as a PADI Gold Palm IDC resort for at least 2 years. In order to meet these requirements we have 2 PADI Course Director as members of our staff.
As PADI is the world leader in diver training we prove our commitment to by offering the full curriculum of PADI programs from complete beginners to divers who wish to become professional instructors, in both recreational and technical diving. We also support our Instructor candidates by giving them access to the latest state of the art 'full range' of dive educational and instructional materials.
All PADI Career Development Centers staff have to display a professional demeanor and our Instructors have worldwide experience in differing diving environments. All diving staff, including boat captains, are DAN O2 and Emergency First Response trained.
PADI Career Development Centers need to be well equipped with a modern A/C IDC classroom, equipment repair workshop, bilingual educational materials, accommodation, which we have in the beautiful Mango Inn hotel, and a retail dive equipment facility.
PADI Career Development Centers have to provide modern rental equipment for all of their divers. The scuba cylinders at the Utila Dive Centre are visually inspected on an annual basis and are replaced every 3 years, 2 years before they even need to be hydrostatically tested. The air that runs through our compressors is analyzed every 3 months to see that it meets 'Grade E' standards (Dive industry guidelines) and is sent to PADI for verification.
PADI Career Development Centers dive boats not only need to be well maintained but also meet all legal requirements from the national coastguard. On board each boat you can dive safely knowing that in the highly unlikely event of an accident we are well equipped with DAN O2 units and First Aid kits.
A PADI Career Development Center have available a 6 week training program that can take a diver to an Instructor candidate and offer a full time graduate placement service.
As part of PADI's commitment to preserving the underwater world and aquatic eco-system all PADI 5 Star centers show their support by conducting an annual beach clean-up day. As well as conducting an annual beach clean-up in Utila we also try to promote Peak Performance Buoyancy & Project Aware specialties as a means to educate divers about the importance of preserving our underwater heritage. Not just on a local scale but as a global issue.
A PADI Career Development Center should issue at least 150 PADI diving certifications per year. At the Utila Dive Centre we average approximately 2000 PADI diving certifications on an annual basis. We also train over 80% of Instructors within the Bay Islands each year and host up to 10 PADI Instructor Development programs per year, more scheduling, smaller group sizes and better service.
The one thing we cannot give you an idea of is the great ambience and atmosphere that exists at Utila Dive Centre and probably one of our biggest assets is intangible, no matter how highly rated and well equipped our facility is, no building, boats, classrooms, equipments can match the care, attention, service and quality that is given from the staff at our resort, and who work so hard to maintain our commitment to our divers.
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