Gran Canaria
Diving in 2021 during the COVID-19 Pandemic

If you are hoping to get some dives completed in Gran Canaria during the second half of 2021, or want to understand how COVID-19 has effected diving on the Island, this will hopefully answer some of your questions.

At the moment (early May 2021) The situation is much more stable than in 2020, but still changes and we will keep this updated with current information.

We are basing our plans and advise on the following assumptions, all of which are outside our control.

Squash down on COVID-19
  • COVID-19 is MUCH more dangerous than Scuba Diving, the likelihood of death is several hundred times higher than the risk of serious injury or death due to Decompression sickness or running out of air!. We know how to manage diving risks and can see them, but the virus is invisible and there are currently few good treatments.
  • Even with widespread vaccine roll-out, elimination of the virus at a European level is highly unlikely within 2021-22.
  • There are unlikely to be large volume tourist flights to the Islands until July 2021 at the very earliest.
  • A serious infection by COVID-19 may need long term lung recover and healing before divers can return to their hobby.
  • Asymptomatic carriers are impossible to spot and can infect anyone without either person realising.
In early May 2021 the World Health Organisation (WHO) said "while some Western countries are eying a return to more normal life in the coming weeks, the worldwide picture remains dire. The number of global Covid-19 cases has risen for the ninth consecutive week and the number of deaths is up for the sixth week straight."

You can understand that when we open for diving again there will be several key objectives

  1. We want to keep the dive centre, our staff and customers 100% free of risk of COVID-19 infection.
  2. We want to still offer excellent diving experiences
  3. COVID-19 protocols will dominate the pre and post-dive time in the centre! for most of 2021
  4. We will follow best-practice advice from around the world, particularly from DAN, PADI, BSAC and other industry leaders.
  5. Keeping the virus out is a shared objective for everyone - so we will expect our customers to help by following the changed procedures and contributing to a safe environment for all

Fortunately, the best ways we can prevent the spread of the virus are by social distancing, regular hand cleaning, and the sort of care and preparation that as divers we carry out before a normal dive. To make these highly effective we will make many little changes to our normal protocols and procedures, around the areas of gating, diving protocols, disinfection, social distancing and cleaning.

We have completed a detailed risk assessment and the protocols we will follow will include several that are required or recommended by the national and local government, and best practice recommendations from PADI Europe, DAN, ANETA, and our equipment manufacturers.

Plenty of space in our private dive centre garden in Gran Canaria

However on the positive side we have a secure base to work from, as our dive centre has a large, enclosed private garden, with no general public access. This means that we will give you a safe place where each set of guests have a personal area and space to kit up and maintain social distancing with little 'third party' contact. No other dive centre in Gran Canaria has as much private space and by limiting our number of customers we will significantly reduce the risk of transmission of the virus. We always spend most of the day outside in the garden and in future will do this even more.

COVID-19 Gating

One of our main protections is to reduce our number of daily clients and exclude any person who may be infected with the Virus. We are extremely lucky in that we are the only dive centre in Gran Canaria with a PRIVATE garden space where we are away from the general public, and in control of our facilities. our Gating protocols will include :

  • No admission to the centre without a prior booking or appointment for customers, suppliers and the general public.
  • Only divers should attend. Family and friends would normally be welcome as well, but reducing footfall will reduce infection risks
  • NOBODY should come to the dive centre if they have ANY symptom of cold, flu or respitory problem or are with somebody with symptoms. With our Flexi-book policy you will not be charged if you cancel at the last minute.
  • All divers must follow all best practices to stamp out the virus including distancing, hand-washing disinfection and cleaning.
  • All divers must fully comply with Spanish Diving regulations
  • We will have limits on the numbers of people who can be in confined spaces at the same time.
  • We will focus on activities for qualified divers, and selected PADI courses, with a maximum number of guests of between six and eight.
  • We are going to spend most of the day outside in the sun and garden and minimise 'indoor' time in the buildings.

Diving Protocols

We will be diving in smaller groups, and there will be more separation between groups, both physically and by having different start times for different groups. Buddy checks will be visual and personal without touching buddy equipment. You will need to clean your hands regularly and disinfect your equipment after the dive.

Underwater is one of the few places where very little changes! It is unlikely that virus particles on expired air can connect with other divers if they keep their regulator in the mouth. Air sharing skill practice will be modified during courses. Distancing underwater should follow diving protocols, not social distancing protocols!

Disinfection and Cleaning

In principle we will follow best practice as already issued by DAN. More detail will be provided nearer the opening of the centre.

Customer Responsibility

We ask all customers to make a series of small changes to the way we normally operate, these may include :