New Divers...Don't forget this before you hit the water!

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Oldbear

Teaching Neutral Diving
Scuba Instructor
Messages
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Location
Melbourne Florida
# of dives
2500 - 4999
Ever so often we see new divers ask what should I get before I start to dive or I just finished my OW course what should I buy in gear.

Those are excellent questions...but here is something I highly recommend you buying.

Scuba Diver Accident Insurance ? Insurance for Scuba ? DAN | Divers Alert Network

DAN insurance is relatively inexpensive yet covers so much for the divers. There are testimonies galore how divers have a mishap and with out DANs Medical Staff for advice or DAN's payment of decompression chambers, they would have been in a hard place both medically and financially.

If you are doing your OW course or about to start it contact DAN and they will provide "FREE" insurance during your course.

It is worth every penny!
 
Good advice. There are some liveaboards that now require you have some type of dive insurance. We have a group going to the Socorro Islands in November and the liveaboard we chartered requires each person to have DAN insurance or something else like it. We did the Aquacat a few years ago and when we were out a person had what we thought was a heart attack. He had all the signs. We went to the closest island and a small plane was brought in for him. He was flown to a hospital in Florida and then eventually was flown back to his home in Durham NC. His total out of pocket expense for all of that was less than $200.
 
DAN Insurance is definitely cheaper than huge medical expenses. One prolong trip to the chamber could bankrupt some people.
 
DAN Insurance is definitely cheaper than huge medical expenses. One prolong trip to the chamber could bankrupt some people.

Here in Thailand Chamber rates are 786 Euro per hour roughly 1,012 USD, and the first treatment is usually a Table VI which takes 5 hours to complete, and then you may have to come in for repeat treatments so figure treatment will start around 5,000 US and increase from there. This also does not include the hospital bills that will stack up during and after.
 
I am currently in Spain and I can assure you that no dive operator will take you on a trip without dive insurance
 
DAN is a great idea, but I always like to play devil's advocate when the DAN thread pops up. It depends on where you dive and what your normal ("socialized") and out of the country plan covers. I'm near a chamber in Canada and my (extended out of the country) Blue Cross covers me and my wife on all emergency medical treatments out of the country--diving or not. As well, when we're in the U.S. 3 months over winter there is a chamber fairly close by. Also, the vast majority of my diving is very shallow--30' maybe, so DCS is very unlikely. I usually take a charter or 2 in FL, but I'm very conservative and as mentioned, am covered. So, it depends. DAN may not be necessary for all new divers.
 
Give my monthly outlay for basic health insurance with an insane deductible, DAN is an absolute bargain IMO. As new divers, my daughter and I will be enrolling.
 
Thanks for the reminder and the link. Just joined and enrolled in the insurance.
Thanks again.
 
Well I had not really thought about it much, but sitting in the airport on the way to my first liveaboard on the aquacat, reading this thread made me look into it. Now I have it.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/perdix-ai/

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