SNUBA stay safe · SNUBA travel safety advice
All Destinations | Europe | Asia | North America | Africa | South America | Oceania | Hotels
SNUBA travel safety advice
SNUBA travel safety advice
Snuba diving is NOT dive training. Before attempting to scuba dive on ones own, proper training is required.
Snuba's safety record among introductory diving methods looks quite impressive. Over 4 million dives and not one insurance claim for injury. The SNUBA® system is designed with safety in mind and Snuba guides are trained to ensure your dive is a safe and fun one. However, diving does carry with it risks that one should be aware of.
Pay close attention to your Snuba guide's safety briefing. Never let anyone (husband, family member, friends, etc.) force or pressure you into doing something you are not comfortable with. Discuss any concerns with your Snuba guide before going on a Snuba dive. Snuba guides are trained to inspect all equipment and evaluate all participants prior to every Snuba dive.
After your Snuba dive if you are interested in going to the next step and trying scuba diving, your Snuba guide can assisst you in locating a reputable dive training center / organization.
In strong current, wave action, or breeze, the combination of underwater hose and surface raft can pull quite hard on a diver. Snuba is therefore best used in areas where wind, waves and current are negligible. Since all SNUBA® use is offered by licensed operators who operate the systems as a guided tour, the probability of being subjected to strong current, high waves or high wind is not likely. However it is good practice if one employee of the operator remains on the surface to monitor conditions.
Since the depth of a snuba dive is limited to about 6 metres (20 ft), decompression sickness is not likely to be a problem. However, as the snuba diver is breathing compressed air, there is still a risk of injury or death due to air embolism, which is a more severe hazard at shallow depths.
If a diver ascends as little as three feet without venting the expanding gas volume in the lungs can cause rupture of lung tisue and escape of air into the circulation and/or other tissues. Air bubbles travelling with the blood may block circulation in vital tissues such as the brain or heart. This life-threatening condition is known as Arterial Gas Embolism. This danger is easily avoided by breathing normally and continuously while ascending. This point should be thoroughly covered in Snuba pre-dive briefings, and should be monitored by the dive guide throughout the dive by watching for the continual release of bubbles from each diver. However most lung overpressure diving accidents do happen within 15 feet of the surface of the water because this is where the greatest change in volume occurs, and a panicking diver may reach the surface before the guide has noticed a problem. Unfortunately this depth range is where snuba diving takes place. According to certified diving agencies, like PADI and NAUI, Snuba is slowly being phased out due to the number of the diving accidents that have been recorded due to the lack of certification and training involved, but according to the Snuba website, since starting operations in 1989, almost 5 million dives have been done without injury or fatality (they do not mention whether any other dives have resulted in injury - the wording is ambiguous).
The Snuba Liability Release form releases the operators and developers of the Snuba system from any liability or responsibility for damage, injury or death due to neglect, system failure or any other reason, nevertheless there are many nonofficial reports about inadequate training.
The Most Frequently Asked Travel Questions about SNUBA
Where To Stay & Best Hotels in SNUBA - updated Apr 2024
SAVE up to 75% on Last Minute deals! Search for discount SNUBA hotels, motels, apartments, hostels, guest accommodations and vacation resorts. Book now and pay at the hotel. Instant email confirmation!
>>> SEARCH FOR DEALS <<<
WHERE TO TRAVEL NEXT IN 2020
SNUBA Travel Guide from Wikitravel. Many thanks to all Wikitravel contributors. Text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0, images are available under various licenses, see each image for details.