See rates

• diving here
• courses
• go pro
• ecocourses
• hotel
• gallery
• about utila
• diving faq
• contact

Go Pro Team

Go Pro with us uSD

Your Utila Dive Centre Instructor GoPro team

We'd like to introduce you to the team that work on our PADI IDC's and Instructor level training, including overseeing our Divemaster and MSDT internships.  So here's a brief introduction, with a little humour, at the crew who you'll be entrusting your future as a PADI Instructor to!!!!

ANDY PHILLIPS M.sc (UK)
PADI Course Director, DAN Instructor Trainer, DSAT Trimix Instructor Trainer, IANTD Instructor Trainer, Rebreather Instructor Trainer, Beautiful Oceans Science Instructor Trainer
Utila Dive Centre's 'Director of Professional Training'

When writing up this section we realised we had given Andy too much attention on this website already, so in order to keep his ego in check, we just wanted to add he makes great coffee during the IDC, and  pays for dinner at the IE party!   If this is the first time you've come across Andy then feel free to read his bio here.

SUZY PHIPPS B.sc (UK)
PADI Course Director, EFR Instructor Trainer
B.sc Marine Biology

Suzy is originally from the UK but grew up as a child in Belize, this instilled in her a love for the environment with pristine jungles and the 2nd biggest barrier reef in the world as her playground. She had trained and dived throughout the world, and has a Bsc in Marine Biology, and can teach a wide of variety of specialties and co-ordinates with our environmental projects and PADI's Project Aware, which makes her a fantastic mentor for our Divemasters in training. When she's not teaching you'll probably find her on our boats with her digital camera as she is an avid photographer!  Anyone who ever had the luck to take a course with her agrees that there's no one as happy and energetic as her and when she's not teaching scuba she enjoys spending time with her students. Suzy has dived in the Indian Ocean, Thailand, Vietnam, Belize, Honduras and the Mediterranean and prior to working in Honduras managed a dive resort in the Maldives for 2 years.

Mary Peter Switzerland
PADI IDC Staff Instructor
PADI Trimix Instructor

Mary is our dedicated IDC Staff Instructor, and originally comes from Switzerland, and being fluent in English, German, French and Spanish, she quadrouples the number of languages we can teach in! Mary has dived all around the world, and has spent the last few years working and teaching in the Caribbean, and has become involved in technical diving, and was the first female PADI Trimix Instructor in Honduras and Central America, and has several 300ft/90 meter dives to her credit around Utilas Northside walls. Mary works full time on Instructor courses and brings a wealth of teaching and diving experience to our programs, in addition to giving IDC presentations, she also puts on tech and sidemount intro dives for our candidates, and lends her expertise to our our specialty Instructor courses. Being a good role model Mary doesn't drink, so when we celebrate your success at the Instructor parties, she's the one with the funny stories the next day!

SIMON LIVINGSTON B.sc (UK)
Team Manager Utila Dive Centre

IDC Staff Instructor, EFR Instructor Trainer, DSAT Trimix Diver, IANTD Cave Diver
BSc Hons Molecular Biology

Simon is from Scotland with a background in IT and Marketing. Like many of our staff and candidates, he grew tired of the 9-5 and decided to finally leave his desk and wet skies behind, taking the plunge and swapping them for a new office under the ocean; becoming an Instructor with Utila Dive Centre in 2005. Simon has dived all across the world, from South Africa to Nicaragua and from Egypt to Australia, where he first became a dive professional and worked upon a live-aboard on the Great Barrier Reef. You're unlikely to see him in a dry-suit in colder waters, but he is a bit of a gear-nerd (as the raincoat in the photo gives an idea!) and any type of diving that require a lot of tanks; having a passion for cave diving, sidemount, tec and tri-mix. He especially enjoys seeing new divers faces light up after their first experiences in the water, and loves to hear from instructor candidates he has worked with on their IDC.'s, after they themselves venture out with their own first students. He believes you should try everything once, except pink fins. Simon is probably one of the most well liked and respected members of our staff, and all students and his colleagues show him the utmost respect and courtesy, but that's because he also runs our on site bar at UDC and runs our bar tabs! (In addition to being a great Instructor and also Manager of our MSDT internship).

MADDY THIEBAULD B.sc. (Honduras)
IDC Staff Instructor
EFR Instructor

Maddy was born in Honduras and has a degree in Environmental Engineering from Universidad Católica de Honduras, San Pedro Sula, Honduras. She has worked in coastal and marine protected areas, specifically in ecotourism, community development activities and reef monitoring, and later as the Executive Director of a NGO managing 3 protected areas in north coast of Honduras. She speaks fluent Spanish and English and assists on our Instructo courses teaching in Spanish. She implemented our Coral Watch program and trains all the Dive Masters in this very important research project, as well as correlating and analyzing the data. She also runs the Distinct Specialty for Coral Watch as well as running Natural Geographic specialty courses. She is also a founding and an active member of our Green Team working on environmental projects at UDC. However her diving career had a less than auspicious start as she started crying and got out of the water early on her confined water session when she started learning to dive! It is fair to say she it has grown on her since then and now the only time we see her cry is when we remind her that was the only occassion she ever did anything early or on time!

MAYA PEDERSEN (Denmark)
IDC Staff Instructor
EFR Instructor

Maya qualified with us an Instructor in 2006 and has been working full time in the dive industry since then. She also has experience in resort management and worked on boars the Utila Aggressor live aboard, and by herself alone doubles the number of languages we can offer at UDC, teaching in English, Danish, Dutch, German and Spanish. Her favourite specialties to teach are Nitrox, Wreck and Digital Photo, and has a calming demeanor and great smile that enthuses all her students. Maya has issued over 300 diver certifications, and is also qualified as an IDC Staff Instructor and assists us on training our Instructor candidates.  When asked to describe herself, she says 'I'm blond', so we just let her pretend to drive our boats! Seriously though, this is one amazing Instructor and a great mentor.

FERNANDO CANADA (Spain)
PADI IDC Staff Instructor, EFR Instructor, Trimix Instructor, Sidemount Instructor, Specialty Instructor

Fernando, from the coast of Spain has a wealth of experience, in teaching, and technical diving.  Fernando specialises in professional training, also teaching wreck and nitrox courses.  Fernando used to work as a barman in the trendy town of San Antonio, Ibiza, but after qualifying as an Instructor and stopping in Utila on a world tour, he fell in love with the island and  decided to trade one nightlife for the the aquatic nightlife.  He loves nudibranchs and his passion for the reef critters has even had him identify previously unknown species, though we often think that may be a flashback to his Ibiza days!  Fernando has dived and worked all over the Americas and took his Instructor course with us in 2007. Fernando is also an experienced technical diver and trimix Instructor, and also a Sidemount Instructor, and offers regular tech try dives for our Divemaster candidates.

SARAH DOWDALL (UK)
IDC Staff Instructor, EFR Instructor, Specialty Instructor

Sarah first came to Utila to enjoy an early retirement from a high flying career in the City of London, and the European business community.  Although Sarah's plan was to initially work part time as an Instructor, once we learned of her worldwide diving experiences, and professional background we hired her as a full time Instructor.  Sarah is no stranger to mentorship and professional development from her  previous professional career and has spoken at international conferences.  She brings to our team an amazing variety of diving and non-diving skills.  Her teaching style will have you at immediate ease of you develop yourself into a true dive professional, and she has a great ability to clarify complex topics on dive theory in real world applicable terms.  Sarah has dived many of the best destinations around the world including Caribbean, Bahamas, Maldives, Egypt, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Australia, Cuba, USA, Vietnam, Mexico, Central and South America and Oman. When asked how her early retirement is going, she replies I have never been so busier and happier at the same time!!!!

JOSIAH MACKIN (USA)
PADI IDC Staff Instructor, EFR Instructor, Specialty Instructor

Josiah, is from the East coast of the USA and after several years of Instructing, and diving around the world, he still can't believe he has one of the  best jobs on the planet.  His previous travels and dive experiences have taken him to Australia, Bahamas, Thailand, New Zealand, Philippines, Fiji, and now Honduras.  Josiah never seems to stop working, from teaching Open Water classes, to organising staff night dives, dawn dives, or lion fish containment programs, teaching wreck and nitrox specialties, to mentoring and training our Divemaster candidates.   His only fault is he supports the American Football team, New England Patriots, so you may need to speak slowly to him when asking questions!

Sign up to Reserve Or Contact us

Check our 2012 Packages!

See rates USD