Are you fit enough to dive?

If you want to be safe while diving you need to be physically and mentally healthy with strong heart and lungs, a certain level of maturity and discipline.

If you want to enjoy diving you should also be fit enough for the activity. That doesn’t mean you need to be able to run a marathon or do 50 press ups. But you should be fit and agile enough to carry the SCUBA gear and you should be able to swim.

Before you do a dive course with us we will ask you to complete a divers medical statement declaring yourself fit to dive. It is not mandatory for you to get a doctors certificate before diving in Thailand but if you currently have or have previously had any of the medical conditions listed on the medical statement you should get doctors approval before diving. The main issues are illnesses of the heart and lungs or any mental health issues. Asthmatics, old smokers, anyone who has had major surgery and the obese should get medical approval. If you want to see the complete PADI Medical Statement let us know and we’ll send you a copy.

If you are congested you may not be able to equalize your airways making diving to depth painful and dangerous so if you have a cold it’s best to wait it out.

Other (but not all) general dive safety considerations that all divers should think about are to stay well hydrated, don’t drink alcohol until after you’ve finished diving, dive with a buddy and do your buddy checks, plan your dive within safe limits and dive your plan, keep your SCUBA gear well maintained, don’t fly too soon after diving (see flying after diving guidelines), get adequate dive insurance.

Decompression Illness refers to both decompression sickness (the Bends or DCS) and Arterial Gas Embolism (Lung Expansion or AGE). For a full definition of both have a look at this Divers Alert Network article. Obviously we don’t want to get either of these scary sounding conditions. Both are serious and you should be aware of their signs and symptoms because early recognition and treatment is important. If you are fit to dive and dive safely DCI is very rare.

In the unlikely event that you do get DCI you’ll be happy to know that Phuket is well supplied with health facilities for divers. Both the major international hospitals on the island have recompression chamber facilities attached and a well practiced system is in place to evacuate divers quickly from boat to chamber. Dive boats also carry emergency breathing oxygen.