Utila
Dive Centre and The Mango Inn offer together the best
packages available with all PADI courses. Our students
will enjoy the amenities of the best hotel in Utila,
including the pool, wireless internet, restaurant.
We have 4 custom made dive boats which are serviced
on a regular basis. There is lots of room to move around
and we ensure the boats are not to crowded. We have
a boat designated for Fun Divers and other boats specifically
for classes so you can visit Dive Sites appropriate
for you level of experience. Our fast boats get you
to the dive sites quickly so there is less time spent
travelling and more time spent diving. All our boats
are equipped with DAN O2, VHF radios and water. There
is plenty of shade on the boat to protect you from the
sun on these hot Carribean days! Our local Captains
were brought up on these waters and know them well.
They can give advice on local marine life and where
various swim throughs are along the reef.
Utila
offers a wonderful variety for underwater adventurers.
The reefs are packed with life and the corals are in
pristine condition. It is not uncommon for divers to
play with manta rays, swim with dolphins and gasp with
wonder as the biggest fish in the sea, the incredible
whaleshark, goes by.
Utila has some of its best diving just minutes from
the town on the south side of the island. The shallow
coral spur and groove formations are perfect for beginner
divers. Sand patches abound and open water classes have
plenty of space to practice their skills without damaging
the fragile reef. It is hard to imagine a more ideal
environment for those awe inspiring first visits to
the underwater world. Every instructor working at Utila
Dive Centre can tell stories of classes where nurse
sharks or dolphins have passed close to wide eyed students
just moments after they have been underwater for the
first time.
The
north side of the island offers advanced divers the
opportunity to do some deeper diving. The continental
shelf actually meets the island at Turtle Harbor Marine
Reserve and even the most experienced of divers will
be delighted by the amazing drop offs. The walls start
at just 5m (15ft) and drop vertically down to over 1000m
(3300ft). CJs drop off and Duppy waters are famed in
The Bay Islands for their vertigo inducing views into
the deep. Hawksbill turtles, eagle rays, reef sharks,
moray eels and sting rays are all common, as well as
giant sponges and a tremendous variety of soft and hard
corals.
As well as fringing reefs, Utila has some spectacular
sea mountains which rise from the ocean floor to just
a few feet from the surface. These act as magnets to
filter feeding fish and of course to the fish that like
to eat other fish. Many people's favourite, a site called
Black Hills, is one of the top dive sites in the Bay
Islands. Sharks are common and large schools of jacks
swirl around you as you drop down the coral encrusted
hill top. Only the best local captains 
can
find it, using secret coconut trees as markers as they
steer away from the island.
If you are an experienced diver, you will find that
Utila has much to offer. On the west end of the island
the currents allow for some wonderful drift diving.
There is also a great wreck dive; the HalliBurton 211
was sunk as an artificial reef by the Utila Dive Operators
Association in 1998 and is already attracting a lot
of fishes. It lies just minutes from Utila town and
has become a favorite dive site with our instructors
for their advanced course dives.
The
diving around Utila has rightly become legendary amongst
divers who like to break away from the 'production line'
diving which is unfortunately now becoming the norm
in an ever more popular Caribbean. Things tend to move
at a relaxed pace in the Bay Islands and in particular
on Utila. Dive boats are rarely crowded and dive sites
are strictly limited to one dive boat per buoy. You
will never experience the feeling that there are more
divers than fishes!
Go Pro Utila
The
Utila Dive Centre is the Premier PADI Career Development
Centre in Central America and the Caribbean and is located
in the Caribbean Bay Islands of Honduras, offering diving
packages, accommodation, PADI certification courses
from beginner to Instructor (monthly PADI IDC’s),
GoPro internship programs, marine ecology training.
There
is no other facility in Utila, Honduras or elsewhere
in Central America that has such a combination of experience,
commitment and enthusiasm and we aim to provide our
divers and students with more than just diver education
and that is what makes our team so successful. We are
on the cutting edge of training and conservation and
set the standard for so many dive operations and professionals
in the region.
In
the last few years we have received countless awards
from PADI for our training programs and in 2004 we were
voted No 1 Dive Facility worldwide for entry level training
by PADI Americas. Our PADI Course Directors (Instructor
Trainers) have received countless Certificates of Excellence
for their Instructor Training Programs and hold the
Platinum status ratings. In 2006 the 'Divers Alert Network'
(DAN) rewarded our Instructor trainers for their commitment
to promoting safe diving and from 2006 - 2009 we also
received the PADI Project Aware 
Environmental
Achievement Award. In 2010 we were awarded the best
PADI IDC center worldwide by Sport Diver and the Instructor
Development award by PADI Americas.
Our PADI internship programs are ideal for divers who
wish to GoPro and train to become PADI Divemasters or
Instructors in our immersion environment, and gain experience
assisting on PADI recreational courses and specialty
diver training. We offer intensive internships for Open
Water to Divemaster in 8 weeks and as part of our Divemaster
internships all candidates partake in the Project Aware
Coral Watch program and learn about identifying diseased
corals and recording data for the University of Queensland.
For certified divers we also offer training to Instructor
in 8 weeks. If you are a complete beginner and wish
to train to Instructor we also have 6 month beginner
to Instructor programs. Utila is the ideal destination
to gain experience whilst interning, unlimited diving,
great conditions with coral reefs and Whale sharks,
and very affordable living with a fun and social lifestyle.
In 2006 Utila Dive Centre was one of the founding members
of the 'Utila Centre for Marine Ecology' (UCME), a non-profit
NGO, which is headed by marine biologist Dr Stephen
Box. UCME is dedicated to protecting Utila's delicate
marine environment, through research, scientific studies
and education. Through our support for Utila's only
environmental NGO, the Utila Center for 
Marine
Ecology' (UCME), we have committed ourselves at the
forefront of environmental research, scientific studies,
community awareness and educational offerings. We want
to share our passion, enthusiasm and respect for the
underwater world, reef systems, and mangroves with all
visitors, professionals and the local community on Utila.
No other facility on Utila places as much emphasis on
environmental protection as Utila Dive Centre, after
all we are in this profession for life and for love,
and we hope to share that with all our divers and students.
UDC is also a PADI National Geographic Centre and a
Divers Alert Network (DAN) member and offers technical
dive training from both DSAT and IANTD, the two most
respected agencies in technical diver training. On top
of this we are also the only facility in Central America/Bay
Islands to offer diver level and Instructor training
with the 'Beautiful Oceans' Science and Marine Ecology
Programs.
Our service is delivered in a professional manner and
we aim for the highest level of customer satisfaction.
Our purpose is to provide more than just a diving experience
but a transformational experience that allows our divers
to get so much more enhancement from their time with
us. This allows our divers to make a positive contribution
to the underwater world and raises their level of education
and awareness. We do this in a safe, professional and,
most importantly, fun manner!
The Instructors who work at Utila Dive Centre are trained
to the level of at least PADI 'Master Scuba Diver Trainer.'
We also have several PADI IDC Staff and Master Instructors
on staff to raise the quality of the courses we offer
to divers at all levels. Our core competencies are the
experiences that we provide certified divers, the training
we provide to students of all levels and the effort
that we take to protect 
our
environment and underwater heritage.
Utila Dive Centre doesn't just aim to be a market leader
but aims to raise standards not just by educating our
own divers and staff but through professionalism, customer
service, innovation and environmental protection. We
set the standard for the dive industry and other dive
centres in our region and we aim to provide our service
with dedicated personal attention. This benefits our
divers and makes 'word of mouth' the number one reason
why people choose to dive with us.
Every diver or student that visits us is treated as
a friend and a lifelong member of the Utila Dive Centre.
Our divers are guided in small personal groups and our
students receive the strictest class ratios on the island,
no other facility in Central America offers such dedicated
supervision and personal customer service as Utila Dive
Centre. This is why our divers keep coming back and
more professionals choose to undertake their training
with us than any other facility in Central America.
Our weekly BBQ's and social events highlight the fun
and personal service; our staff like to share with all
our divers to at our facility.
We invite you to come to Utila and dive with us. Whether
you are a novice or an expert diver, we will show you
why Utila Dive Centre has been so successful and is
one of the top PADI Career Development Centres in the
world.
Utila
Dive Centre
Barrio La Punta
Utila
Bay Islands
Honduras
Central America
Tel. 504 24253326
Fax. 504 24253326
info@utiladivecentre.com
http://www.utiladivecentre.com
Go Pro Utila
http://www.goproutila.com