Specialty courses are an excellent way to improve your scuba skills while learning new ones and developing a better understanding of the underwater world.

 Whether you are new to diving or an experienced veteran, specialty courses teach you proper techniques and safe diving practices.

With over 15 specialties to choose from – you'll never want to leave!

Islas de las Bahia (the Bay Islands) are part of the 2nd largest reef in the world, the Meso American Barrier Reef, and feature vibrant corals, multi-colored tropical fish, sponges as big as refrigerators and pelagics such as manta rays, sea turtles and whale sharks.

The Bay Islands are actually the mountaintops of an underwater mountain range called the Bonacca Ridge.

Divers enjoy warm tropical waters year-round, warm and friendly people, and great visibility!  The primary languages are English and Spanish which makes getting around a breeze!

No island in the Caribbean offers more distinctive or easily accessible dive sites than Utila. Our reefs and drop-offs are packed with colorful marine life and ideally suited for novices and experts alike. 

You can see virtually every creature that lives in the Caribbean – whether you’re snorkeling near the surface, diving Utila's grand walls, or  swimming through the Halliburton wreck.

Utila Cays Diving is the ONLY shop located near the NORTH side of the island, which means we are already half-way to the BEST sites in the Bay Islands!

The AWARE - Coral Reef Conservation Specialty course teaches you about the vital role of coral reefs in the marine environment. The course also familiarizes you with the current state of the world's coral reefs and how you can help.

You will learn about the Project AWARE Foundation and how coral reefs function; why they are so important; why many reefs are in serious trouble; what you can do to prevent further decline.

Learn about some of the most pressing problems facing these vulnerable environments and everyday actions you can take to help conserve them. It’s informative, interesting and most importantly, you learn how to make a difference.

You learn about the ocean commons and coastal zone issues, fisheries challenges and sustainability, coral environment overview and inhabitants and the role of the scuba diver in protecting aquatic environments.

The Project AWARE Fish Identification Specialty course provides you with all the fish identification basics. During the two course dives you'll gain hands-on (okay, eyes-on) experience in looking for and identifying the fascinating fish you see underwater. You’ll learn; how to identify characteristics of local fish families and species; fish survey techniques and strategies; and how to practice fish identification dive planning, organization and procedures

Underwater photography is THE most popular diving specialty, and the rise of digital underwater photography has made it easier and more fun than ever!   The Digital Underwater Photographer course gets you going quickly with today modern digital equipment, whether you use a point-and-shoot snap camera or a sophisticated D-SLR like the pros. It's a great way to relive the adventures you’ve had, plus capture images to share with your friends and family.

Be the one ready to help a fellow diver should the need arise by becoming an Emergency Oxygen Provider.  Breathe easy—knowing that you know how to recognize illnesses treatable by emergency oxygen. Being the best buddy you can be means being prepared – especially in a time of need. You’ll review a step-by-step explanation of when and how to provide emergency oxygen. You’ll also learn about safety considerations, and how to assemble and disassemble the emergency oxygen system.

This is one of the most popular specialty scuba diving courses, and it’s easy to see why. Scuba diving with enriched air nitrox gives you more no-decompression dive time. This means more time underwater, especially on repetitive scuba dives. You'll learn techniques for getting more dive time by using enriched air nitro, enriched air scuba diving equipment considerations, enriched air considerations (including managing oxygen exposure), how to tell what’s in your scuba tank and how to set your dive computer.

As the sun sets, you don you dive gear, slip on your scuba mask and put in your regulator.  This time you drop into a whole new world and watch it come to life under the glow of your dive light. You'll learn night dive planning (organization, procedures, and techniques), how to control your buoyancy at night; entries, exits and underwater navigation at night and nocturnal aquatic life (since many of the plants and animals you'll see are completely different than during the day).

Scuba divers like to be neutrally buoyant so they neither sink nor float.  Divers who’ve mastered the highest performance levels in buoyancy stand apart - they glide effortlessly, use less air and ascend, descend or hover, almost as if by thought. They interact gently with aquatic life and affect their surroundings minimally. You will learn how to trim your scuba gear so you’re perfectly balanced in the water, determine how much weight you need so you’re not too light nor too heavy by even a slight degree, how to streamline to save air and move smoothly through the water and how to hover effortlessly in both a vertical position and a horizontal position.

Show your scuba adventures to your friends and family. Use your editing skills to share your clips with the world through YouTube, Facebook and more. Use your underwater videos to turn more of your friends into dive buddies.  This course shows you how to create videos that are interesting, entertaining and worth watching again and again. By the time you complete the course, you’ll have gone through the entire basic video production process.

After your first few scuba dives, you'll soon want to explore a bit deeper. There’s something exciting and mysterious about the depth that attracts divers. You'll learn techniques for diving in the deeper range of 18-40 meters/ 60-130 feet, deep scuba diving equipment considerations and gain experience in planning, organizing and making at least four deep dives under the supervision of your instructor.

Most divers find wrecked ships, airplanes and even automobiles nearly irresistible because they’re intriguing to explore, exciting avenues of discovery, and usually teeming with aquatic life. This course teaches you the ins and outs of rewarding, responsible wreck diving.  You'll learn techniques for diving exploring shipwrecks (and how to avoid common hazards), how to research and learn the background of your favorite wrecks, wreck scuba diving equipment considerations, considerations and techniques for entering intact wrecks while gaining experience in planning, organizing and making (at least four) wreck dives under the supervision of your instructor.

Experience the fascination of sharks in an unforgettable way! Divers have the chance to find out more about sharks and to learn the correct techniques when meeting sharks.  You will be able to apply the knowledge you have gained to future shark dives.  You'll learn how to have a safe, supervised and controlled diving experience where sharks are present, how to recognize the most common species of sharks encountered and how to correct widespread misconceptions about sharks.

If you are lucky enough to see a manta in our waters, then you can learn more about them through the Manta Awareness Distinctive Specialty.  We are the only shop on the island where you can earn this certification.  You'll learn about mating habits and estimated gestation period of mantas, the characteristics of the mantas' body-shape and how to recognize and identify the anatomy and behavior of mantas.