GoPro Utila-PADI IDC & Divemaster internships and PADI Scuba Instructor courses with a difference!
Welcome to GoPro Utila! We were voted winners of PADI Americas Instructor Development award for best PADI IDC center in 2011 and 2010 and also best PADI IDC (Scuba Instructor Courses) center in 2010 by Sport Diver, no other IDC center worldwide has achieved this for 2 consecutive years. Our team of staff are experienced and expert divers with backgrounds in recreational and technical diving (including rebreathers), who actively teach, dive, and explore new environments each year. We have the only 2 Platinum Course Directors in Mexico and Central America on our staff. Our PADI scuba diving internships, Divemaster, and PADI Instructor courses (PADI IDC) take place in Honduras in one of the most awarded PADI Career Development Centers in the world. We offer you the best training environment in the Bay Islands for you to immerse yourself and learn in, with daily scuba courses and dive trips (which few facilities can match). Read here for a list of our unmatched awards and recognition in recent years as proof that we're the Harvard of scuba instruction - whilst often imitated by other facilities, we're never surpassed. You only get one chance to be trained as a dive professional, so read on to see why we're the right choice.
In addition to our extensive curriculum and course offerings, our PADI Divemaster and Instructor Development courses (PADI IDC) also includes;
- Free accommodation upon arrival and very affordable apartments/long term accommodation
- Unlimited diving with our internships - over 80 buoyed sites within a 1 hour boat ride. We have 4-5 boat trips departing daily from our dock
- Small group sizes with ratios of 6:1, below the industry standard
- Free IDC preparation, theory review, rescue assessment and skills development. Online preparation exam testing, and access to videos of sample assignments and skills development
- Extended 11 day IDC with 2 Platinum Course Directors (no other IDC or CDC facility in the Bay Islands or Central America can offer this, in fact no other facility to date anywhere in Central America has a Platinum Course Director on staff!!!!)
- The most experienced team of staff in the region with unmatched qualifications (Course Directors, Master Instructors, Rebreather Instructors, Sidemount Instructor Trainers, Trimix Instructor Trainers)
- Guaranteed course pass and success at the exams, or we pay for the exams and offer a second course for free!
- Membership of the Global Dive Network (no other IDC or CDC facility in the Bay Islands can offer this, see website for members)
- On site freshwater training pool (more time for skill development), dedicated conference room and buffet lunches during IDC
- Marine ecology classes with 'Beautiful Oceans'. (Exclusive to Utila Dive Centre, the only 'Science Instructor Development Centre' in the Caribbean)
- Opportunity to get involved with our Project Aware 'Coral Watch' reef surveying - boost your knowledge as a dive pro of coral reefs
- Tec, sidemounts and rebreather try dives (subject to availability) - again no other Course Directors or IDC centers in the region can offer this
- Free wifi at hotel/conference facility and dive centre
- Job placement and resume preparation - we have trained over 600 Instructors in 10 years, many now working as dive centre/resort managers, live aboard Captains, Super Yacht personel, also as PADI Course Directors themselves and even for PADI! Join our unmatched professional network worldwide!
- The most extensive range of professional level PADI continuing education options in the Caribbean - no other staff or facility can match our qualifications - DAN Instructor programs, Tec training, Sidemount Instructor courses, Beautiful Oceans Instructor courses!
- Get 15-25 PADI certifications and establish your professional career and resume with our MSDT internship/Premium Pro Plus program - another unmatched offering and benefit to your dive career!
The island of Utila is one of the most affordable in the Caribbean, having escaped mass development seen elsewhere in the region. It's a friendly bilingual (English/Spanish) island. You won't need taxis/shuttles to get around, giving you more time to reach the 80 buoyed dive sites around the island and take advtange of unlimited diving included with our internships. Our GoPro programs are supported by PADI courses (Open Water, Advanced, Rescue) starting daily in our facility. There's no other PADI Career Development Center in the region that has such a productive learning environment for you and real world students for you to work with.
You'll find information on our scuba diving internships and courses to the left, specific information on our facility (including some short but great videos) and staff above, and recent news and special events below in our news section. We hope you enjoy navigating this site. If you enjoy what you read and see, just wait till you join us - as world leaders and the Bay Islands' first choice, we're often imitated but never surpassed!!!!
