Preparing for your Caribbean dive trip

The hardest part of a Caribbean dive trip is usually the week before — the packing, the paperwork, the "did I forget something important?" feeling at 2am. Here's how we prep our students so the only thing left to think about is the dive brief.

What to bring

Resorts and dive ops on our trips supply tanks, weights, BCD, and regulators. You don't need to own gear to come. That said, a few personal items make every dive better:

• Mask + defog — a mask that fits your face is the single best comfort upgrade.
• 3mm shorty or rashguard — Caribbean water is warm, but four dives a day still gets chilly.
• Reef-safe sunscreen (oxybenzone-free) — many islands now require it, and it's better for the reef regardless.
• Seasickness meds — even if you "never get seasick," boat dives in chop are a different game. Take it the night before, not on the boat.
• Refillable water bottle — dehydration is the #1 driver of bent divers in warm climates.
• Logbook + pen, certification card, and a printed copy of your dive insurance.
• A small dry bag for phones, keys, and the day's logbook on the boat.
• Light long sleeves and a wide-brim hat for between dives — the sun on a Caribbean dive deck is brutal.

Leave at home: anything heavy you "might use." Checked-bag fees and 4am taxi rides will change your relationship with your gear bag forever.

Considerations for the hot climate

You're going from an Alberta winter to 30°C+ humidity, plus saltwater, plus exertion. The combination sneaks up on people. A few rules we drill on every trip:

• Hydrate like it's your job. Start the day before you fly, and aim for 3–4L of water per dive day. Coffee and beer don't count.
• Skip the surface-interval beer. Save the cold one for after the last dive of the day — alcohol plus residual nitrogen is a known risk factor for DCS.
• Eat before diving. A light breakfast (eggs, fruit, toast) — not a giant resort buffet, and not nothing.
• Get out of the sun between dives. Heat exhaustion looks a lot like the early signs of decompression illness, and it'll wreck your second dive.
• Watch your skin. Sunburn under a wetsuit on dive 3 is a uniquely bad time.

Travel and dive insurance

This is the part most new divers underestimate. Standard travel insurance often does not cover scuba, or only covers it to a shallow depth that an Open Water diver can blow past on day one. You want two layers:

• Travel medical insurance — covers general illness and injury abroad, including evacuation home. Confirm in writing that recreational scuba is included up to at least 30m / 100ft.
• Dedicated dive insurance — DAN (Divers Alert Network) is the standard. An annual membership is inexpensive and covers chamber treatment, dive accident evacuation, and a 24/7 emergency hotline. Worth it for a single trip; essential if you're going to keep diving.

Bring a printed copy of both policies and your DAN card. Phones die, signals drop, and you do not want to be explaining your coverage to a Honduran ER over a roaming connection.

What training days actually look like

If you're finishing your Open Water on the trip, your first couple of days will look different from the certified divers on the boat. Here's a typical day:

• 06:30 — Light breakfast at the resort. Hydrate.
• 07:30 — Walk to the dive shop. Gear is set up the night before; you do a final check.
• 08:00 — Boat ride to the first site (15–30 min). We brief on the water: site, depth, the skills you'll demonstrate, and the "fun" part of the dive after the skills are done.
• 08:30 — Dive 1. Usually 35–45 min, max depth 12m / 40ft on the first day.
• 09:30 — Surface interval on the boat. Water, snacks, sun cover, debrief, log the dive.
• 10:30 — Dive 2. Slightly deeper, more skills, more reef.
• 12:00 — Back at the dock. Lunch and a real break — out of the sun, off your feet.
• Afternoon — Optional knowledge review or video session if there's an exam coming. Otherwise: nap, swim, read. Recovery is training.
• Evening — Dinner with the group, plan tomorrow, in bed earlier than you think.

Two things will surprise you. First, you'll be tired in a way that doesn't match how "easy" the dives felt — sun, salt, and breathing compressed air all add up. Second, the skills you stressed about in the pool feel completely different over a sand patch with a turtle drifting by. That's the whole point of doing certification on a real reef instead of a quarry.

Day-before checklist

• Confirm flight, transfer, and resort pickup times in one place (we send a packet).
• Photos of: passport, dive cert, dive insurance card, travel insurance policy.
• Reusable water bottle filled and ready.
• Seasickness meds in your carry-on, not in checked baggage.
• Read the first dive site's briefing the night before. Future-you will be grateful.

Got a trip on the calendar with us? You'll get a personalized version of this list in your member portal a few weeks out, plus a Zoom call to walk through any questions. Talk to us if you're still in the planning phase.