At Southern Dreams Diving Club, we are aware of the impact of the coronavirus on our day-to-day life and on diving. That is why we constantly work to minimize the risk of virus transmission. We want to protect both each and every one of our clients and our staff, which leads us to apply exceptional measures. These protocols are based on government and industry expert recommendations. It is important that we all adapt so that we can continue to enjoy diving safely.
Coronavirus. New Normal Protocols
- No one should come to the SDDC facilities with symptoms that could be related to COVID-19. Be responsible, cancel your reservation and seek medical help.
- SDDC’s capacity is limited exclusively to people who are going to carry out any of the activities we offer.
- Our facilities are open, outdoors, so the risk of contagion is lower. However, customers are required to come with their mask on, maintain security measures and the necessary social distance at all times.
- The number of clients we accept per day is minimal. We work exclusively privately or in small groups. This has been our policy since the starting of SDDC, and in these times of pandemic, we continue to work along these lines.
- We ask all clients to confirm their reservations in advance in order to maintain our protocols. You can confirm both by email and by WhatsApp.
- SDDC provides hydro-alcoholic gel and/or soap at its facilities. It is the customer’s responsibility to make sure that they look after their own hygiene and wash their hands regularly and properly according to the WHO guidelines. It is also the responsibility of the customer to avoid contamination in order to protect themselves as well as other guests and staff of SDDC by avoiding touching their face and coughing in their elbow or equivalent. SDDC cannot be held liable for looking after a person’s personal hygiene.
- We also have an available infrared thermometer (touch-less) and pulse oximeter
- We clean both diving centre, car and boats daily with specific disinfecting products.
- The surfaces most used by customers (tables, chairs, counter …) are cleaned after each use.
- SDDC will add any other measure that the team deems appropriate to ensure everyone’s safety.
Diving equipment:
- Each diver has an assigned bag to store her/his personal gear. All equipment is numbered and will be used exclusively by the client. Each diver is responsible for putting all the equipment in her/his bag at the end of the activity.
- SDDC team will clean and disinfect all the equipment of each client every day with specific solutions for this purpose. Regulators, masks and snorkels will be disinfected before and after each activity. Wetsuits will be disinfected individually. It is the responsibility of each diver not to exchange equipment with other clients.
- At the end of each course or diving days, the material will be sanitized only by the dive centre staff following the following rules:
Individual disinfection of each piece of diving equipment with suitable virucidal solutions.
It will be guaranteed that the equipment remains 24 hours without being used after being sanitized.
Sanitized equipment and newly used equipment will be stored in separate areas.
It is important to note that in diving, physical contact between buddies is sometimes necessary and unavoidable.
SDDC will add any other measure that the team deems appropriate to ensure everyone’s safety.
Practicing skills in times of coronavirus
Certain standards have been modified to ensure the safety of all divers due to Covid-19. These are some examples. Your Instructor, depending on the activity or course you take with us, will give you specific guidelines as needed.
• Pre-dive safety check (BWRAF) will be carried out visually/verbally and also spaced for social distancing separation. Dive teams can have masks on and have sanitized hands if contact is needed. Some checks can shift to set up (e.g., buddies watch each other open valves).
• Air sharing exercises performed underwater and with the partner’s alternative air source, in no case can the second main stage be shared. This second alternate stage will be disinfected after exercising.
We continue to work with government regulations and procedures, and also listening to industry experts and recommendations. We will adjust our protocols to ensure that we all remain safe and that you can enjoy a safe and stress-free dive vacation with SDDC.
Do you have any questions?