Alton's Dive Center has been busy during the winter months building two new custom built dive boats. Designed with the diver mind these are comfortable and spacious dive boats with easy access to the water. If you have dived with us before you will already know that we are not just another utila dive center. We have a personal level of service and investment in our customers that sets us apart and we are happy to launch these two new boats with you in mind, to further enhance your dive experience with us.

Both are fast for dive boats making all dive sites around Utila easily accessible for us. Fully equipped with DAN O2 Oxygen systems, VHF radios, GPS, music, and everything else you would expect to find on a modern well equipped dive boat. The first was delivered just before Christmas and the bigger of the two will be delivered by the end of March. As always at Alton's safety is a number one priority and the bigger boat has been designed to be unsinkable and will also have a backup engine which makes her ideal for longer full day trips.
 

Utila is one of the best places in the world to encounter whale sharks with one of the most reliably present populations that comes so close to shore. This proximity to the shore of Utila gives us opportunity to see them during dive trip surface intervals as well as running dedicated whale shark encounter trips. All of this and more makes Utila the "Whale Shark Capital of the Caribbean"! 

The island of Utila is in the western Caribbean just off the coast of Honduras and is part of the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef, the second largest barrier reef system in the world. This gives us a combination of barrier reef and fringing reef environments together with the hugely deep water off the north shore of the island, which is where the whale sharks like to hang out.

If you are a beginner just starting out check out the article just below or click here.

At Alton's Dive Center we are proud to offer one of the best Advanced courses you will find anywhere.

We include a minimum of 6 training dives, one of which is a 40m/130ft deep dive. Compare this to the more typical 5 training dives and 30m/100ft deep dive. We will also introduce you to some basic rescue techniques to give you the best training you can get as an Advanced Diver.

Backbone or cellulose?

If you are interested in the reef and the underwater ecosystem consider the Naturalist option. We have taken the basic Naturalist option and enhanced it with the input of our own marine ecosystem expert. Together we have created a fascinating introduction to the coral reef, reef systems and the creatures that inhabit the reef. This leads into our Naturalist Specialty which expands this introduction into a fully fledged specialty certification in coral reef environments. Click on the picture to find the answer!


Under the watchful eye of one of our instructors you will experience the beauty of Utila's underwater reef first-hand on your very first open water dive!

Congratulations to our latest gang of new instructors! With a 100% pass rate all of the new NAUI instructors performed with excellence.

Alton's Dive Center year round resident ITC team consists of our own course director, two instructor trainers and four staff evaluators. This gives you the strongest possible instructor training team resident in a busy Caribbean dive center.

We shall soon be publishing our 2008 schedule so check back regularly for details.