So you have saved up all your hard earned cash for that well deserved holiday.  Perhaps a fantastic trip to the red Sea to dive the closest warm water reef to the UK and a trip to watch the spectacle of schooling hammerheads off the Cocos Islands.

What ever it might be go prepared and I don’t mean with a clean pair of underpants.

Make sure you have the right insurance.  Firstly make sure you have some holiday insurance.  Just stepping outside your front door has inherent risks. Driving to the airport, getting on a plane and arriving somewhere exotic has even more things to think about.

Holiday insurance is a must but make sure it covers you for what you need.  Most policies will cover you for travel to and from the destination, lost luggage, sickness before your holiday and more importantly whilst you are on holiday and some will even cover you for delays and missed flight connections due to delays.

But does your holiday insurance cover you for diving or other sports?  Does it cover you for your dive or sports equipment?  Many insurers require you to advise them that you are taking sports equipment (and this includes dive kit).  This is especially so if you have expensive equipment such as cameras with housings or that nice rebreather.

Don’t assume that your dive kit will be covered under general luggage items.  Don’t wait until it all goes missing or turns up on a liveaboard in the red Sea when you have just arrived in the Seychelles, to find out you are not covered.

If your holiday or travel insurance does cover you for your dive equipment also check the wording surrounding the actual diving.  There are always some very carefully worded terms and conditions that might be very restrictive to your diving activities.

Some policies only allow you to dive under the direct supervision of an instructor.  Others ensure you do not go below a certain depth (30 metres, 90 feet is a very common clause).  Some policies state that you may be covered to the limit of your formaltraining but don’t expect this to cover technicalal diving at depth, as you will probably have to advise your policy provider if you are going below 30 metres (its always a good idea to do this before you leave and not when you arrive at your destination to find al the best wrecks are at 40 metres or more)

Also check your credit card company terms if you booked and paid for your holiday using your friendly flexible plastic buddy.  Some credit cards automatically give you travel insurance, but check if it covers for diving or sports.

If in doubt ask.

Another option is to take out additional separate dive insurance.

As an instructor I have to do this anyway and it covers me for training in the UK and also whilst diving and travelling abroad.  But my dive insurance does not cover anything to do with non-diving related sickness, illness, damage to non-diving equipment. 

So I have both travel and dive insurance.  Better to have belt and braces than find out you are not covered.

Consider this - a couple of days in a recompression chamber (heavens forbid this should happen) could cost upwards of £10,000.  If you have to be air evacuated or flown home the cost can be huge and if you do not have insurance it might even lead to bankruptcy.

There are several insurance companies in the UK (I can’t speak for outside of the UK) that offer travel and diving insurance.

Go Sure certainly advises on dive insurance and they are worth a visit.  They have a whole division that takes care of scuba diving insurance, so give them a go. 

Insurance is not expensive in the great scheme of things.  it is one of those necessary evils that we all hope never to have to use. 

But I wouldn’t go anywhere without it.

Disclaimer - In writing this article I am not advising on any particular insurance company or making any recommendation to use one company over another - but simply trying to make sure we act responsibly and take all necessary insurance provisions when travelling and partaking in our love of diving - so do your research and homework and make sure you take out a policy that suits you)