Planning & Safety

PLAN YOUR DIVE

Whether doing a local dive or going on an overseas dive trip, forward planning is a must. Below are some important points to take into consideration:

Travelling Overseas

  • DAN Membership and diver insurance are a must, you never know what you might need, whether it be treatment or evacuation, only DAN can look after all your needs just by you having completed one simple form before travelling.
  • Vaccinations and preventative medicine such as anti Malaria tablets and Hepatitis inoculation may be a wise idea
  • Know the local customs, what is acceptable and what is not acceptable, and respect other cultures, Lonely Planet books are a good place to start, along with your travel agent’s advice
  • Take your own dive gear! The last thing you need is to pick up some feral foreign disease from saliva left on a mouthpiece that someone has just chewed on! Over dramatic you may think? Think again, many third world countries make for wonderful dive destinations, most of them don’t have rigorous health and safety protocols to adhere to
  • Undertake what ever training is required to perform the dives you want to perform, recompression chambers have been the final holiday destination of far too many divers… A lot of them thought that they knew it all

Local dives

  • No truer words have ever been spoken than “Plan your dive and dive your plan”. This most basic of concepts has been drummed into the heads of new divers since dive courses became readily accepted as what should be done in order to follow this pursuit.
  • Periodically review your skills, diving is not like riding a bike, people do forget things and underwater, these things can make a huge difference
  • We can generally advise you on what is likely to be the best site and location on a given day, have a chat with us!
  • Never attempt to dive a site or location that you are not trained and certified to dive
  • If you have not dived for more than 12 months, undertake a Scuba Skills Update/Refresher
  • Never dive alone, share and communicate your dive plan with your dive buddy and leave details of the dives and destination with a friend or loved one
  • Stick to the most basic principles of diving, plan your depth and time conservatively, make plans for your surface interval, be well hydrated and rested

DIVE SAFETY

DIVERS ALERT NETWORK

Scuba Culture is proud to support DAN Asia-Pacific (DAN AP). The Divers Alert Network (DAN) is a global network of not-for-profit, member-based, dive safety organisations working for the safety of all divers through education, research and training.

DAN AP provides Worldwide Emergency Evacuation Coverage and optional Dive Injury (Treatment) Insurance Services for Members. In addition the organisation is responsible for funding and/or manning 24-hour diving emergency hotlines throughout the Asia-Pacific region.

DAN AP is a part of the International DAN Federation of Dive Safety Organisations with worldwide Membership presently exceeding 300,000.

Wherever members live or dive around the world they have peace of mind knowing that DAN is available 24-hours a day, 7 days a week to assist in the event of an accident/illness.

WHY IS IT SO IMPORTANT THAT AS DIVERS WE ARE PROTECTED WITH DAN MEMBERSHIP & DIVE INJURY (TREATMENT) INSURANCE?

It’s all about being prepared for the unexpected, namely dive accidents and illnesses. It’s essential that divers have a reputable organisation to call that will be able to co-ordinate a rescue effort and get them to the most appropriate treatment for their injury or illness. And then there is the issue of cost. DAN protection ensures the diver will not be lumbered with the burden of a potentially hefty invoice in the event of an accident or illness.

The essence of DAN Membership & Dive Injury (Treatment) Insurance is about being prepared. DAN offers members peace-of-mind, which comes from knowing they have the experts in diver accident management to call in the event of a diving accident or illness.

TO LEARN MORE ABOUT DAN, OR TO BECOME A MEMBER, VISIT WWW.DANASIAPACIFIC.ORG

AN EXAMPLE

In 2007 DAN was involved in the evacuation of a paralysed diver from the Solomon Islands to Australia. The evacuation cost was around AUD$90,000 (as an aircraft had to be sourced from far away). In addition, the treatment costs were in excess of US$30,000, plus on-going expenses.