SCUBAPRO Global Dive Team - Nick Derutter
Nick Derutter
Location: Utila, Honduras
Occupation: PADI Course Director // Underwater Photographer
Scuba Diving Since: 2004
Favorite Local Dive: The steep walls off of Utila's north side are one of my favorite local dive sites because they provide so much vertical space for exploration. Technical diving is one of my passions and our north side walls offer everything a tech diver could want.
Favorite Dive Location: I have so many favorite dive locations across the globe from some of the mystical cenotes in Mexico to the sunken cargo ship Zenobia in Cyprus. If I had to pick one, I would go with Princess Alice Seamount in the Azores. It's so remote, it takes so much work to get there, including bouncing around on a rib for hours, potential sea sickness and challenging diving conditions, but the payoff is a gigantic school of resident Mobula Rays who come feed on top of the mount and are not afraid to check out the divers. Unforgettable.
An interview with Nick Derutter:
Why did you decide to take the giant stride into the oceans?
I started working for the TV news at age 21. While I'm really passionate about informing and educating people, I always felt there had to be more interactive ways to do so. I was very fortunate to be able to travel the world at a young age and get SCUBA certified along the way. When I started seeing how many amazing locations there are, and how much we as a species need to (re)learn about our place in the interconnected natural environment, it clicked that training divers was what I wanted to do. Now I am in the unique position where I can train future dive instructors and help spread the message of ocean conservation and appreciation for our environment.
How has diving changed your life?
I've always been a thinker (and an over thinker) and SCUBA diving allowed me to just let go. Somehow as soon as we enter the water, a lot of our worries just seem to wash away. SCUBA diving has taught me to connect with both myself and the planet in ways that I would never have been able to think up. It's incredibly meditative and healing to dive and it's greatly influenced who I have become as a person. I am lucky enough to be in a position to train dozens of new SCUBA instructors every year a The College of Diving in Utila and it enables me to share my passion for diving again and again in every program I run. It's like repeating a mantra of how much I love diving. If that's not deeply life changing, I don't know what is!
What kind of diving do you like to do?
I have a soft spot for technical diving because I like the challenge of building a plan and executing it perfectly, but I suppose that type of diving mostly satisfies the thinking part of my brain. It's equally pleasant to be 'surprised' on dives (in a way that tech diving can't really afford to do). That's why I also deeply enjoy cenote diving, animal encounters and photography. You never know what you will discover, which creatures will decide to become intrigued by your presence or what photo opportunities will present themselves on a dive. Being in a position where life can surprise you in a pleasant way, is of course just as rewarding as thinking your way through a trimix dive and pulling it off like clockwork.
Tell us about one of the most amazing experiences you have had underwater?
During a reef dive in the south Ari Atoll in the Maldives, a Manta Ray decided to hang out with our group for a solid 15 minutes. Whenever a marine animal decides that it wants to spend time with you, you know you're in for a special treat, but a Manta Ray making summersaults for fifteen minutes straight in front of our group of divers is hard to forget!
What are some of your favorite places underwater?
I live and work in Utila, in the Bay Islands of Honduras and diving is amazing and incredible varied here. But I do frequently travel to the Yucatan peninsula in Mexico. In an area of just a few hundred miles you can find amazing, healthy reefs, mystical cenotes, mangroves and shark dives. I definitely also have to add the Azores in Portugal to this list. I think it's incredibly underrated or perhaps undiscovered. Between the Blue Sharks, Mako's, Mobula Rays and beautiful volcanic reef scapes, it's easily one of my coolest past adventures, which I will definitely revisit!
What is your advice to someone considering diving?
Give the short amount of time we get to spend on this incredible planet, I think it would be a silly mistake not to take a peek at what's in our oceans! Humans have a natural sense of curiosity and nothing scratches that itch like SCUBA diving. Since my job is to train SCUBA divers, a common question is also what advice I'd give people considering diving as a career path. Personally, it's the single best and most consequential decision of my life. Few things are as fulfilling as giving people the ability to fly underwater and help them understand and connect with the fragile ecosystems in our oceans.
What would you tell people about the oceans?
NASA trains their future astronauts in their Neutral Buoyancy Lab, essentially a giant swimming pool. Every single astronaut started out as a diver. While space exploration is only available to a few human beings each generation, you CAN be an explorer, you CAN go to places nobody has ever been before and you CAN contribute to life on earth by making an impact as a scuba diver and advocating for our oceans. Sometimes it's easy for human beings to feel disconnected from our environment, especially for those who grow up and live in cities. Getting out there and getting underwater is the best way to literally submerge yourself in pure wilderness.
What does diving mean to you?
Diving is incredibly inclusive as a sport. People with physical challenges can usually partake and benefit from SCUBA experiences. Diving is also incredibly good for our psychological and spiritual well being. Nobody ever surfaced angry from a SCUBA dive. As a sport, diving is also not competitive. You're not diving "against" anyone. If anything, you dive WITH your buddies and get to share experiences that words and ever cameras can't adequately reproduce. It's one of the most fulfilling and wholesome sports there are.
What is the favorite thing in your dive bag?
My single favorite thing in my dive bag has to be my MK25/G260 regulator combo. It literally keeps me alive on every dive so I'd be doing it a disservice to not place it on the number one spot. That being said, I rarely go on a dive without at least an action camera or my underwater photography kit.