Diving involves inherent risk, so it’s incredibly important that we always have dive insurance for unexpected situations.
Here you’ll find your full guide to dive insurance, from why it’s important to have a scuba diving policy, what additional insurance you might want to add, and what our friends at DiveAssure can offer with their coverage.
Do I Need Dive Insurance?
Many of the members of our Girls that Scuba Facebook group can testify to the importance of having dive specific insurance. A quick search of the word “insurance” brings up countless posts of divers who are grateful that they had insurance in a dive accident scenario.
A quick search on an insurance comparison website will show you that there are many providers on offer when it comes to travel insurance, and lots of these generic travel policies will provide scuba diving cover within their included activities. However, this isn’t really enough cover for dive-specific trips.
Choose a Specific Dive Insurance Policy
Once you get into the small print of regular travel insurance policies, they’re often not comprehensive enough to cover the medical complications that can occur from diving accidents. Medical evacuation can be costly for diving, and recompression chamber treatment is similarly expensive. General travel policies also often have limitations such as depth limits which may not match your certification level.
Divers also tend to carry expensive equipment, so the value of our luggage can be considerably higher than a normal lost baggage claim.
Shannen from DiveAssure tells us more about what diving specific insurance can help with.
“At DiveAssure, we make sure to offer all the necessary coverages for divers in one membership. Including but not limited to: lost diving days, medical assistance for diving and non-diving incidents, lost/delayed diving gear, specialized liveaboard coverage, cancellation/interruption of your trip, and much more.”
Whilst we all hope it will never happen to us, the reality is that even the safest diver may find themselves in a situation where they need medical help, and having the correct, comprehensive insurance can save you from financially crippling medical bills.
Scuba Diving Insurance and Travel Insurance
We firmly believe that the gold standard of insurance for scuba diving travel is to have both a dive insurance policy and a travel insurance policy. Whilst some providers will have policies which cover elements of both, two dedicated policies means you’re more likely to cover a wider range of scenarios.
Dive insurance is best for covering:
- Medical costs for diving incidents
- Loss or damage of dive equipment
- Lost diving days
- Delayed diving gear due to travel
- Liveaboard trips
Travel insurance is best for covering:
- Trip cancellation or delays
- Lost luggage
- Personal property
- Non-diving injury or illness
- Legal help
These lists are non-comprehensive and there are many more reasons why you should ensure you have a policy to cover both diving and travel, however, this indicates some of the differences in what you will be looking for in your policies.
Choosing a Dive Insurance Provider
In contrast to the countless regular travel insurance providers, the choice of dive-specific insurers is much smaller. It’s important to do your research and compare policies to ensure you’re getting the right coverage for you and your trip(s), as not all dive insurers are created equal. Some insurers will have better policies for your specific needs.
We asked DiveAssure what sets them apart from other dive insurers, learning that “Based on over 20 years of service dedicated exclusively to diving insurance and with expertise gained through insuring hundreds of thousands of divers in the USA and all over the world, you are guaranteed the best available programs, designed specifically for divers.”
“Should you require our help with claims or emergencies you will find that our dedication and knowledge of diving and dive-travel insurance makes a significant difference.”
“We offer a variety of insurance plans to suit your specific needs, from basic diving accident insurance or a single dive-trip insurance, to premium annual multi-trip travel insurance. Our travel plans can closely match the cost of your trip.”
Liveaboard Coverage
Liveaboard trips are an incredibly unique style of travel, so many of the specifics of liveaboard travel are not covered by traditional travel insurance policies.
DiveAssure also offers a specific liveaboard policy, telling us: “For those going on a liveaboard trip we offer our exclusive Liveaboard Rider with specific coverage of unique scenarios such as missing the boat’s departure and lost diving days due to many reasons.”
Many of our Girls that Scuba members and our GTS Trips guests have had first hand experience with just how helpful their liveaboard policy can be.
DiveAssure are one of the many brands included on our Girls that Scuba Membership Platform, which is the first of its kind within the scuba industry. Membership Card holders receive exclusive offers on a huge variety of scuba diving brands – from reductions on liveaboards, to savings with dive centres across the globe, and special discounts with incredible dive equipment and lifestyle brands.
Check out the full list of brands and dive centres involved, and sign up to benefit from 5% off your next policy with DiveAssure.
Disclaimer: This article is not a paid for advertisement, however it includes affiliate links, which means that we make a small amount of commission at no additional cost to you if you purchase a policy.
