Standards for Safety and Conservation

 

Conservation Awareness

Some locations you may visit with Scubago will be in protected areas.

• Capturing, collecting, harvesting or disturbing any living natural resources in designated NO-TAKE zones of officially protected areas, including plants, animals, fishes and other marine life, is not allowed.
• Harvesting or disturbing any non-living natural resource in designated zones of protected areas, including taking of dead coral, shells or stone, is also not allowed.
• Additional regulations may exist for designated zones in protected areas. Make sure you are informed of official government regulations.

Observe the standard rules for environmentally-aware diving at all times:

• Practice good buoyancy and body control, keeping a safe distance from corals and other marine life, particularly in currents or surge
• Make sure gauges and other gear are clipped and secured so that they do not dangle, risking entanglement or damage to corals or other marine life
• Be careful of your fins, and never stand or walk on living coral or other marine organisms
• If you need to stabilize yourself in powerful currents or surge, look for a large boulder or dead coral – do not hang on to living coral
• Avoid wearing gloves unless required in very cold water

Photography

Underwater photographers should be particularly careful about avoiding physical contact with the reef. A camera is not a license to move, prod, or harass marine life. Do not move marine animals from their natural habitat, substrate or shelter.

Use of chemicals and explosives

Possession or use of chemicals (natural or synthetic) or explosives used for fishing, including for the purpose of stunning, is not allowed except for qualified marine scientists taking samples for legitimate research purposes.

Fishing gear

Possession or use of spear guns and other underwater fishing gear is not allowed except by prior arrangement and in designated areas, and is never allowed with scuba or other underwater breathing apparatus.

Rubbish disposal

Do not dispose of trash or rubbish into the ocean or onto the ground.

 

Dive Safety

Training

All divers must be trained and certified by a recognized international training agency and physically fit to dive. Every diver (or, in the case of minors, a parent or legal guardian) must sign a liability release form before being allowed to dive.

Insurance

Every diver is required to show proof of insurance covering medical evacuation and treatment for decompression sickness, baro-trauma, or other dive-related injuries.

State of equipment

It is your responsibility to ensure that your dive gear, including rental equipment, is in good working order and appropriate for the conditions you will be diving.

Responsibility

Make sure you understand these rules, as well as any special instructions or emergency procedures explained to you by your dive leader. It is your responsibility to attend dive briefings before every dive and to comply with depth limits, time limits, and other instructions from your dive leader.

Required safety items

• All divers are required to carry the following safety items on every dive:
• Surface marker buoy (SMB), such as a sausage, lift bag, emergency flag, or other appropriate daytime visual signaling device
• Dive light, emergency strobe or other appropriate night visual signaling device
• Whistle, air horn or other appropriate auditory signaling device
• Other recommended items include: compass, knife or line cutter, and back-up auditory and visual signaling devices (dye packs, pyrotechnics, signal mirror)

Dive conservatively

In some locations divers may experience strong currents, including down currents and eddies. These conditions can be dangerous, particularly for inexperienced divers. It is your privilege and responsibility to refuse to dive if you feel that conditions are beyond your current level of certification, training, experience, or physical fitness.

Adhere to sensible depth limits and profiles. Personal dive computers are strongly recommended, but make sure you know how to use your dive computer and understand the meaning of all the display data, warnings and alarms. Always dive conservatively – do not push the computer’s “no decompression stop” time allowances to the limits. Divers engaged in repetitive dives over multiple days should be particularly cautious about dive profiles and safety stops.

Ascent

Speed of ascent should be limited to 9 meters/minute (30 feet/minute).

Reverse depth profiles

If possible, avoid repetitive dives to increasing depths (reverse profiles), and observe at least a one-hour surface interval between repetitive dives.

Safety stops

Complete a 3-to-5 minute safety stop at a depth of 4-to-5 meters (13 -to-16 feet) at the end of every dive unless deteriorating sea conditions or other factors dictate that the safety stop must be abbreviated or omitted. If your dive computer does not provide guidance on performing deep safety stops, ask your dive leader for guidance and advice.

Other dive safety recommendations

Stay hydrated, and do not use alcohol, drugs, or caffeine while diving. Avoid strenuous exercise and/or long hot showers or baths after diving.

Report to your dive leader any changes in your physical condition that may impact your dive safety or the safety of others.

In the event of an accident or emergency, it is your responsibility to render assistance to another diver to the extent that your training, experience, and physical fitness allow, or to alert your dive leader or another diver qualified to render assistance. Do not undertake a rescue effort that puts yourself or other divers at risk.

Do not fly or ascend to an altitude of 2,500 meters (9,000 feet) or more within 24 hours after your last dive. A longer surface interval is recommended after repetitive dives over multiple days. Divers engaging in repetitive dives over multiple days should consider a 24-hour break every 3 or 4 days.

Hazardous marine life 

Most marine life poses little hazard for divers who refrain from touching or harassing marine life. However, fishes with venomous spines and some invertebrates (sea urchins, Crown of Thorns starfish, and some cone shells) can cause serious injuries if touched or handled. Other forms of marine life, such as hydroids, fire corals, and some anemones, jellyfish and sponges can cause injuries that could contribute to a serious diving accident, or may be dangerous to persons who are particularly sensitive. 

 

Behavioural Standards

Threatening anyone

You should not convey an intent to harm anyone by your words or physical actions. We also take threats of self-harm as seriously as we do actions and may intervene if we become aware of a threat.

Spam, phishing, or fraud

You should not make transactions outside of Scubago’s payments system; commit booking fraud, credit card fraud, or launder money; attempt to drive traffic to other sites or market unrelated products; divert payments meant for others; abuse our referrals system; or make false claims against other members of the community.

Violating others’ privacy or intellectual property rights

You should not spy on other people; cameras are not allowed in your listing unless they are previously disclosed and visible, and they are never permitted in private spaces (such as bathrooms or sleeping areas). You should not access others’ accounts without authorization or violate others’ privacy, copyrights, or trademarks.

Discriminatory behavior or hate speech

You should treat everyone with respect in every interaction. So, you should follow all applicable laws and not treat others differently because of their race, ethnicity, national origin, religious affiliation, sexual orientation, sex, gender, gender identity, disability, or serious diseases. Similarly, insulting others on these bases is not allowed.

Bullying or harassing others

You should not share personal information to shame or blackmail others, target others with unwanted behavior, defame others, or violate our review and content standards.

Misrepresenting your Listing information

As an Operator you should not provide inaccurate location information, have incorrect availability, mislead people about the type, nature, or details of your listing, substitute one listing for another, set up fake or fraudulent listings, leave fraudulent reviews, engage in deceptive pricing, or fail to disclose hazards and habitability issues.

Breaking commitments

Absent extenuating circumstances, you should not cancel after the deadline set in the relevant cancellation policy. You should also not fail to make check-in possible, fail to pay, or break on site house rules.