Dive Accident Insurance Limitations

[therookie]

@therookie Could you please boil down all your rambling posts to a succinct summary? Thanks.

Yes. Sorry...

As a resident of Honduras:

• DAN World Plan: No explicit depth limit – it would cover a dive exceeding the 30m depth limit implied by my PADI AOW certification, even if planned.
• DiveAssist: In all claims for a depth beyond the 30m PADI AOW limit will consider both my PADI AOW certification and my logged dive experience before coming to a decision.
• DiveAssure (DiveSafe): Although it claims no depth limit, it won’t cover a planned dive beyond my 30m PADI AOW limit; an accidental breach might be covered after a case‑by‑case review.

 

[tursiops]

Yes. Sorry...

As a resident of Honduras:

• DAN World Plan: No explicit depth limit – it would cover a dive exceeding the 30m depth limit implied by my PADI AOW certification, even if planned.
• DiveAssist: In all claims for a depth beyond the 30m PADI AOW limit will consider both my PADI AOW certification and my logged dive experience before coming to a decision.
• DiveAssure (DiveSafe): Although it claims no depth limit, it won’t cover a planned dive beyond my 30m PADI AOW limit; an accidental breach might be covered after a case‑by‑case review.

Excellent. Thank you.

What about geographical applicability...like near your home, out of your country, etc.?
What about accidents on the boat, like slipping and falling? The DAN US policies (except the most expensive) require you to be in the water...not getting to the water.

 

[therookie]

Excellent. Thank you.

What about geographical applicability...like near your home, out of your country, etc.?
What about accidents on the boat, like slipping and falling? The DAN US policies (except the most expensive) require you to be in the water...not getting to the water.

Specific to my situation as a resident of Honduras:

To the first question - For the DAN World Preferred Plan, any coverage related to a Trip as defined in the policy would be restricted to an accident occurring at a destination greater than 80km from my home. I do not see similar wording in the other two policies. That may (or may not) mean that emergency medical expenses in themselves for a covered dive accident within 80km of the insured persons home would be covered, since the wording does not appear related to a Trip. For all three policies, coverage is domestic (local) and worldwide (however, note the above regarding my country of residence).

To the second question - in all three policies that I am comparing there is explicit wording stating that coverage begins on water entry and ends on water exit. The DAN World Preferred Plan is the most expensive of the DAN "Dive Accident Assistance Packages" offered to me but it is exclusive of the optional (at extra cost) "Travel Assistance Packages", which I have not investigated.

I'd better add a Disclaimer: I am not a dive insurance professional and claim no expertise on the subject. Any posts on ScubaBoard or elsewhere are strictly the fruitage of my own investigation for my own circumstances, including but not limited to communication with representatives of dive insurance providers, and are not in any way intended as advice for others. There is a distinct possibility that my interpretations are incorrect. (Not a lawyer either but just covering my bases a bit. )

And again apologies - it is hard to be succinct when dealing with this stuff...

 

[jborg]

What about accidents on the boat, like slipping and falling? The DAN US policies (except the most expensive) require you to be in the water...not getting to the water.

The EU side DAN policy is a bit more generous then, saying a "diving activity" is from when don your kit to when you doff it,

but then also that as regards the coverage of injuries related to diving,

So I guess you're covered if you slip and fall when getting off the boat, but maybe not if you slip some other time while the boat is just under way...

 

[russ805]

Thanks.. This is one of the threads discussing this.

Post in thread 'Diving beyond cert?'

Jul 15, 2024

Exactly how many dives (beyond OW training dives) have you completed in the two months since your OW certification? (Exactly how many is "a few dives"?)

rx7diver

• rx7diver

• 

I was diving in Cebu in February and a woman on the boat claimed to work as a technical staff at a chamber in Europe. She also repeated the claim insurance companies would not pay out of you dived beyond 18m as PADI OW and 30m as PADI AOW. She told some vacation divers the chamber would forward their dive computer logs to the insurance company. Thing is these vacation divers held up thir arms to show they had no DCs lol

I then showed her the email I got from DAN that what she said was untrue. She tried to argue with me that the DAN staff were wrong lol. She would not admit she was wrong.

A know it all on a boat refused to admit that she was wrong...shocker

 

[Bob DBF]

Here is an explanation of the PADI 130 foot limit.

It is not a legally enforceable limit. It is different from the other limits because it is the end of the line for NDL diving. If using the PADI tables, that is where the tables end, except for contingency.

The end of the line for NDL diving is 190' on the USN Tables, since agency tables no longer go past 140' as you said. At the time, everyone used the Navy tables, including the agencies.

I have yet to find out when the 130' depth limit actually started in the agencies. The why is easier, the US Navy determined that 130' should be the cutoff between SCUBA and surface supplied gas, except for emergencies, because the time at depth was not sufficient for useful work. I believe this was moved into recreational SCUBA as part of best practices.

 

[tursiops]

The end of the line for NDL diving is 190' on the USN Tables, since agency tables no longer go past 140' as you said. At the time, everyone used the Navy tables, including the agencies.

I have yet to find out when the 130' depth limit actually started in the agencies. The why is easier, the US Navy determined that 130' should be the cutoff between SCUBA and surface supplied gas, except for emergencies, because the time at depth was not sufficient for useful work. I believe this was moved into recreational SCUBA as part of best practices.

According to Owen Lee, in his book :Complete Illustrated Guide to Snorkel and Deep Diving," 1963 (foreword by J-Y Cousteau) and predating most of he agencies, 139 feet was already established as a practical max depth for no-decompression diving, because:

• that's about all you could do with a 72cuft tank (the standard at the tome)
• not much to see deeper than that
• limited bottom times

And, this even assumed just one dive per day.

 

[boulderjohn]

According to Owen Lee, in his book :Complete Illustrated Guide to Snorkel and Deep Diving," 1963 (foreword by J-Y Cousteau) and predating most of he agencies, 139 feet was already established as a practical max depth for no-decompression diving, because:

• that's about all you could do with a 72cuft tank (the standard at the tome)
• not much to see deeper than that
• limited bottom times

And, this even assumed just one dive per day.

The Encyclopedia of Recreational Diving said a primary concern was that beyond 130 feet, narcosis affects just about everyone.

 

[tursiops]

According to Owen Lee, in his book :Complete Illustrated Guide to Snorkel and Deep Diving," 1963 (foreword by J-Y Cousteau) and predating most of he agencies, 139 feet was already established as a practical max depth for no-decompression diving, because:

• that's about all you could do with a 72cuft tank (the standard at the tome)
• not much to see deeper than that
• limited bottom times

And, this even assumed just one dive per day.

I had a typo. I said 139 ft; I meant 130 ft.

 

[tursiops]

The Encyclopedia of Recreational Diving said a primary concern was that beyond 130 feet, narcosis affects just about everyone.

Owen Lee said nitrogen narcosis ("Rapture of the Depths") "usually begins to affect the diver at around one hundred feet and sharply increases with depth thereafter."