Introduction

For any kind of foreign travel you need to think about getting adequate insurance cover. This is even more important when participating in a ReefDoctor expedition. There are two options that you can consider:

• Dive insurance, policies tailored to diving emergencies and medical costs and the needs of divers and may or may not cover non-diving medical treatment, personal possessions etc.
• Travel insurance, policies that cover personal possessions and non-diving medical costs and may or may not make a provision for scuba diving.

We recommend that you purchase dive insurance as these policies are tailored to meet the needs of divers and the providers have a greater understanding of what might be required in the event of a diving injury. However, since they do not all include cover for non-diving medical emergencies, personal possessions or cancellation or curtailment you may need to consider buying additional insurance to cover this.

Although there are a number of public and private hospitals in Madagascar, only routine operations can be handled. For serious illness, complex surgery or any kind or diving injury, patients will need to be medically evacuated to South Africa or La Reunion, so your policy must include cover for medical evacuation by air as well as for treatment of diving injuries.

During your time with ReefDoctor you will be diving every day for up to six days a week, to maximum depths of 30m. There are no recompression chambers in Madagascar and transport to the nearest hospital is up to an hour away. For this reason our Diving rules and procedures are strictly enforced and all dives are undertaken in a conservative manner.More information on our Diving rules

If you are a divemaster or instructor, please note that you will not be allowed to work with us without prior agreement. If agreement is in place, you will be required to have a professional diving medical and meet all teaching requirements with regard to liability insurance etc. specified by PADI International. For more information, visit our Dive professionals section.

The following sections provide details of some of the different kinds of cover available and links to give you an idea of costs and levels of cover.

Once you have purchased your policy, remember to bring the policy documents and the 24 hour emergency phone number with you and make sure you know what to do in the event of a problem.

Note to UK residents: If you buy your tickets with a credit card (but not with debit cards), your money is protected under the terms of the Consumer Credit Act and should be able to get your money back if the airline with which you booked with becomes insolvent, including the cost of unused return tickets.

Top