Traveling as a scuba diver adds additional complications to a vacation. In addition to planning for your trip, you must plan to have the gear and paperwork necessary for you to dive.
Planning
After you have decided to go on a trip, you will know your destination, travel dates, and trip cost. You can then plan ahead for certain details.
- Pay trip deposits
- Buy trip insurance
- Place an alert on the airfare and purchase tickets ASAP
- Book your pet sitter
60 Days Before
Most planned trips have a balance due date around 60 days before travel. This is a good time to take care of other items that you can take care of early.
- Pay all outstanding trip balances
- Confirm your airfare
- Let the U.S. State Department know about international travel – State Dept STEP
- If you are renting a vehicle, call your insurance company to see if you are covered – otherwise, check if your trip insurance covers rental cars
- Check medical requirements – Do you need to have a doctor sign a dive form? Do you need shots prior to the trip? CDC (Center for Disease Control)
- Service any dive equipment that needs maintenance
Two Weeks Before
Complete a some items a couple of weeks before your trip.
- Check your airfare for flight changes
- Inform your credit card company and banks that you’re leaving the country
- Plan to bring a card with no international fees, like Capital One
- Plan to bring the airline card used to purchase the flight (AA/Delta/United)
- Put your mail and package deliveries on hold:
- USPS Mail Hold
- UPS Package Hold
- FedEx Package Hold(Click My Profile at the top of the page. Go to FedEx Delivery Manager, and then edit the delivery address to add a vacation hold.)
- Review your packing list and order items that you need (Amazon Prime includes free 2-day shipping)
- Double-check all of your dive equipment.
One Week Before
A week before your trip, you can start getting excited, and actually prepare for your trip!
- Withdraw cash from the bank
- Print (or save PDF to your phone) copies of the following:
- Passport
- Drivers license
- Credit cards
- Dive cards / Dive insurance
- The last page from your dive log book
- Print and fill out early registration or dive forms for your resort (Check the resort website)
For example: http://www.buddydive.com/blankslate/save-time-on-check-in/ - Check that you have enough prescription and OTC meds for the trip
- Download movies or Audible/Kindle books for vacation
- Back up and delete photos on your phone/tablet/computer to make room for new ones
- Clear camera memory cards
- Test/charge the battery for your dive computer (and backup computer)
- Prepare for service people that come while you’re gone (trash, plants, lawncare, housekeeper)
- Confirm your pet sitter arrangements
- Check the weather for your destination and plan your clothes accordingly
- Begin packing, or at least gather everything on the list to find last-minute missing items
The Night Before
The night before you are scheduled to leave is the last chance that you have to prepare for your trip.
- Recheck your packing list and make sure that you have everything packed
- Pre-charge all batteries (cameras, dive computers, phones, laptops, tablets)
Downloads
Download the editable Microsoft Word document or the single-page PDF to keep this list handy.
| Editable Page | One-Page Checklist |
|---|---|
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| PrepareDiveTrip.docx | PrepareDiveTrip.pdf |
