Andy Phillips - PADI IDC Course Director
by: ThePope
Word Count: 1124
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 I offer 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 Caribbbean 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, now 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 beautiful 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 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 a 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 soon headed down to the pacific ocean off Costa Rica for pelagic encounters and then to travel 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, what a contrast to the dry desert that surrounds it. It was in 1999 in Dahab with it’s 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 DSAT Tec Rec Instructor Trainers in the world.
It’s now summer 2005 and in the last 4 years have conducted over 35 Instructor Development Courses and trained over 500 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) my other diving interests are in technical trimix diving as an IANTD Trimix Instructor (International Association of Nitrox and Technical Divers) and also cave diving as an NSS-CDS full cave certified diver (National Speleological Society – Cave Diving Section), with many hours logged exploring the cenotes/cave systems of the Yucatan peninsular in Mexico.
I still teach at all levels of training, from PADI Open Water course up to our IDC's, and still love seeing the expression on divers faces after introducing them to the underwater world for the first time, like I know you will. On a professional note I love to share my experience, technical knowledge and travel background in the dive industry with the Instructors I train through Utila Dive Centre.
Utila, in the Bay Islands, is a great place to live and a lot warmer than the cold climate of Scotland where I was born! Outside of teaching diving and the technical projects I’m involved with (currently mini-submarines), I enjoy to cook, travel and every year I make an effort to explore a new place on land and underwater. Utila’s a great place not just for diving but also to enjoy sailing, conservation projects and marine exploration, Watersports and off road biking currently I’m involved in a project to operate a mini submarine on Utila and train pilots in this new underwater industry.
DIVING QUALIFICATIONS
PADI Course Director
DSAT Tec-Rec & Gas Blender Instructor Trainer
DAN Instructor Trainer (All programs except REMO2)
IANTD Technical Instructor Trainer
NSS-CDS Full Cave Diver
SPECIALTY INSTRUCTOR TRAINER
Search & Recovery, Underwater Photographer, Wreck, Night Diver, Deep, Enriched
Air Diver, Tec Rec Trimix Blender, Underwater Naturalist, Tec Rec Trimix Diver,
Underwater Navigator, Alantis/Dolphin Rebreather, Equipment Specialist.
WORK EXPERIENCES
2000-2005 Utila Dive Centre, Honduras, Instructor to Course Director and DSAT Technical Instructor Trainer
1999 Dahab, Egypt, Red Sea PADI Instructor and Resort Operations Manager, TDI Technical Diver
1998 Utila, Honduras, PADI Instructor
1998 Osa Peninsular, Costa Rica Pacific PADI Instructor and dive guide
1997 Koh Tao, Thailand, PADI Divemaster and Boat Captain
ADDITIONAL DIVING EXPERIENCES
2004 January, Lake Atitlan 5400ft, Guatemala, Search and Recovery Trimix dives to 300ft/96mt for downed $2 million ‘Eurocopter’
2004 May, Tulum, Mexico, Cave Exploration
2003 May, Tulum, Mexico, NSS-CDS Cave training program
2003 January, Cape Town, South Africa, Cage diving experience with Great White
2001 January, Galapagos, Ecuador, 1 month of pure adrenalin diving one off the best sites in the world, sharkfest!!!!!
EDUCATION
1996 BA HONS Business & Marketing, Brunel University, UK
AWARDS
2005; Certificate for 'Contribution to Dive Safety & Education' from Divers Alert Network
2004; 1 Certificate of ‘Recognition of Excellence’ from PADI for IDC customer service
1 Certificate for ‘Outstanding contribution to Instructor Development’ from PADI
2003; 4 Certificates ‘Recognition of Excellence’ from PADI for IDC customer service
2002; Certificate for ‘Outstanding contribution to Instructor Development’ from PADI
2001; Certificate for ‘Outstanding contribution to Instructor Development’ from PADI
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