Can't find travel insurance that will cover me while getting certified!

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dez_may

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Hey all,

In a couple of weeks I'm finally getting my PADI open water certification in Mexico and couldn't be more excited!! I have one slight problem though, I am unable to find any travel insurance that will cover me while scuba diving as I am getting certified while on the trip. All of the policies I can find will only cover me if I am certified before going on the trip. Unfortunately due to time constraints this isn't really an option for me anymore, plus I'd much rather get my certification in Mexico as the water is a little warmer over there :wink: I live in BC Canada, does anybody have any suggestions for a policy that will at least cover me for the rest of the trip once I'm certified? I'm planning on doing one or two more dives once I complete the course...

Thanks in advance!

Dez
 
Do you mean insurance like DAN? In my OW class DAN provided coverage.... perhaps they can do the same for your class. We just filled out something and the shop faxed it in and we were covered for the dives in the class.
 
Hmm so the shop you got certified dealt with the coverage? I'll look into that... Thanks!
 
I just got my DAN insurance, and will be doing my referral dives in a month in Cozumel. Maybe I did not read the fine print, but they did not ask for a certification number or anything else.
 
Yeah it's looking like the only answer (besides what Wineaux said) would be to get DAN insurance. I'm a little bummed because we're on a pretty tight budget but that might just be our only option.
 
Yeah it's looking like the only answer (besides what Wineaux said) would be to get DAN insurance. I'm a little bummed because we're on a pretty tight budget but that might just be our only option.

If you are to become a diver you should figure the cost of DAN insurance as an annual ongoing expense. It really is worth it.
 
That probably is your only option and a necessary one for the scuba portion of your trip, but you may very well still need medical travel insurance for non-scuba related issues that could arise. I carry DAN at all times, as well as, an annual travel medical through RBC. It is not necessary to purchase one year of travel medical with RBC, but for me, it is a no brainer because I travel all the time. For you, suggest you buy DAN coverage and a one time policy for this trip, either from RBC or its equivalent. Good luck and have a wonderful time. Remember that no one needs insurance until they do, and then they really need it. Oh, and also, how did you purchase your trip? A couple of my credit cards cover my medical for me too, if I've used them to book.
 
Don't confuse dive insurance and travel insurance, they cover very different things. For dive insurance you want to look into something like DAN or DiveAssure. Consider this a regular cost of participating in the sport. You need to be a DAN member to buy their dive insurance; note that just DAN membership itself is not dive insurance though it does get you a thing called TravelAssist. Seems to be a common point of confusion.

An instructor can sign people up for free DAN coverage during certification (at least in the US and Canada.) I think you can sign yourself up too. But that is only good until you are certified. When you are getting certified on a trip then doing more fun diving after, probably you just want to sign up for one of the regular insurance plans before you go.

You'll find most divers have dive insurance. Travel insurance on the other hand, some people are fans and buy it for all trips, others consider it a waste of money and rarely or never buy it. Depends a lot on your situation. The pros and cons of buying it have been discussed before and you can probably find some old threads on it around here.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/swift/

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