Introduction from our Training Director

Hi, my name's Andy and I’m the resident PADI Course Director and ‘Director of Professional and Technical Training’ for the Utila Dive Centre. I just wanted give you an insight into my personal and diving background so you know more about myself, the Instructor Development Course (PADI IDC) and other professional or technical courses that our team offers through the Utila Dive Centre located on Utila, Bay Islands, Honduras, Central America. Utila is located off the North coast of Honduras, Central America, in the Western Caribbean, and is famous for the whale shark and for dive training from PADI Open Water to Instructor Development Courses and Technical diver training.

Any dive professional will tell you, you’ll always remember the first time you blow bubbles underwater. Well, for me, I can think back to the first time I went swimming as a mere 5 year old and was fascinated with immersing myself in the local swimming pool - then add a few vacations as a teenager to the Mediterranean, snorkeling and boating, and I soon fell in love with the underwater world. I became certified as a diver in 1990 on a vacation in Greece, and in 1997, after finishing university and working in insurance for 6 months, I made my decision to ‘Go Pro’ and became a PADI Divemaster on the island of Koh Tao, Thailand. What a lifestyle! As a Divemaster I enjoyed driving boats, running daily dive operations, finding the elusive whale shark, assisting Instructors on PADI certification programs and organizing dive safaris. My employer at the time convinced me I would make a good Instructor, so in 1998 I enrolled in the PADI Instructor Development Course (IDC) and since then have never looked back, traveling from South East Asia to the Caribbean to take my Instructor course, which opened up countless new opportunities.

I took my IDC in the Bay Islands of Honduras in 1998 and worked on this beautiful island of Utila for months. If you’re fortunate enough to know anyone who has visited this island, they will tell you stories about the great diving, amazing lifestyle and Caribbean pace. Thousands of people arrive on this island every year for PADI certifications and all other levels of dive training, activities and whale shark expeditions.  It’s a great place to gain experience as an Instructor, and within 6 months I had certified over 100 ‘Open Water’ divers. Still, I had a desire to travel, so I soon headed down to the Pacific Ocean off Costa Rica for pelagic encounters and then traveled to Dahab, Egypt Red Sea, where I worked as an Instructor for another 6 months, teaching shore diving and naturalist classes about the aquatic beauty to be found in the pristine waters of the Red Sea, a total contrast to the dry desert that surrounds it.  It was in 1999, in Dahab, with its deep walls and infamous ‘Blue Hole’, that I qualified with ‘Technical Diving International’ as an ‘Extended Range’ technical diver with guidance from Red Sea TDI technical diving guru ‘Dr Ahmed Kamal’ and found a new love in diving, deep exploration.

In 2000, the turn of the millennia, I once again felt the call of the Caribbean and returned to Utila to work as the resort manager for the Utila Dive Centre, one of the top facilities for diver training in the Caribbean and Central America.  After 2 great years of working with Utila Dive Centre, I was accepted by PADI in 2001 onto the ‘Course Director Training Course’ at PADI Headquarters in Newport Beach, California, and at the age of 28 was one of the youngest PADI Tec Rec Instructor Trainers in the world.

In recent years I have also been invited by the dive industry to share my experience and expertise in particular fields and talk at dive seminars and conferences. I have also reviewed PADI educational materials and consulted for other dive operations and resorts.

In the last 11 years, I have conducted over 100 Instructor Development Courses and trained over 2000 Instructors at all levels, from ‘Open Water Scuba Instructor’ to DSAT Trimix Instructor.

As well as holding the highest qualification in recreational diving as a PADI Course Director (Professional Association Diving Instructors) in 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011, I received an award of 'Platinum' status for recogntion of my time and quality in training Instructors