Being covered for any accidents or incidents that happen during a dive trip is worth considering as accidents can and do happen.
Some of the key reasons to consider having diving insurance:
- In case of an accident while diving – stings, bites, boat collisions and cases of possible decompression sickness (DCS, or “the bends”) which may require medical evacuation
- In case of an accident on the boat or in the resort – falling, slipping, gear dropped on foot etc
- In case you lose your scuba gear on the way to or from a dive trip
- If you have particularly expensive dive gear or camera equipment, you should take a scuba diving equipment insurance policy that covers each item specifically to get its replacement cost
- In case of camera gear flooding – a flooded camera housing is expensive to repair, and can happen both due to manufacturing faults and user error. You need a insurer that understands these problems and will provide unexplained flood coverage
Which type of Diving Insurance Should I Buy?
If you are a casual diver, backpacking or going on a few trips each year, consider getting a comprehensive travel insurance policy that covers you for both scuba diving and general travel insurance too. You can buy policies that cover you for just a few days or months at a time which is available to nationals of most countries in the world. You can also find comprehensive diver insurance policies for virtually all nationalities at Divemaster Insurance, DAN (Divers Alert Network) and DiveAssure
Depending on what kind of diving you’re doing and whether you’re bringing your own scuba diving equipment and underwater camera setup, there are other, additional policies you can get to fully cover you
Scuba Diving Equipment Insurance
A full set of scuba gear with dive computer costs thousands of dollars. Equipment coverage gives you peace of mind in case your scuba gear gets lost in transit, damaged while diving or stolen somewhere along the line. Divemaster Insurance and DiveAssure provide international coverage, H20 Insurance provides USA members of DAN coverage.
Underwater Camera Flooding Insurance
If you have your own underwater camera or video gear, you’ll know that once you go beyond the compact camera stage it starts to get very expensive. Having insurance to cover underwater camera and video gear in the event of flooding, damage, loss or theft is crucial. Divemaster Insurance provides international camera flooding coverage, H20 Insurance provides USA members of DAN coverage.
Pro Diver Insurance
If you are a professional diver, ie. working as a dive guide or instructor with a register dive operator, then DAN (Divers Alert Network) has several policies specifically tailored to look after professional divers, particularly in terms of coverage for liability. Divemaster Insurance and DAN provide international coverage.
Technical Diving Insurance
If you are a technical diver, going below 40 metres depth and using gases like Trimix and special training, then recreational scuba diving insurance will not cover you. You need to get a dedicated technical diving insurance policy from DiveAssure or DAN.
