Getting Back in the Water? Here's What You Need to Know
Andrew Simpson Aug 06, 2026
Life happens - illness, injury, work, family, or just a run of bad weather. Whatever kept you out of the water, getting back into diving deserves a bit more thought than just dusting off your gear and jumping in. Even experienced divers can find that a period away from the water affects their confidence, fitness, and skills more than they expected.
Our partners at Divers Alert Network (DAN) have put together a solid framework for returning to diving safely, and it's well worth following - regardless of how many dives you have in your logbook.
How Long Have You Been Out?
The length of your break matters, and it should shape how you plan your return. Diving requires special skills learned during training and maintained through practice. "Use it or lose it" is especially true in diving. While skills will degrade with as little as six months of inactivity, most dive educators and instructors consider one to two years sufficient to warrant refresher training.
DAN's guidelines break it down clearly:
(Source: DAN)
The Four Areas to Address
DAN's return to diving framework covers four key areas and all of them deserve attention, not just the obvious ones.
Watch: DAN's Return-to-Diving Guide
Don't Skip the Basics - Even If You're Experienced
If you have not been diving in a long time, consider how much you may have changed and what changes may have occurred in the diving world. You may need to take action in multiple areas and should devise a personalised return to diving plan. Even if you are an experienced diver, you should not skip these steps.
We see this regularly, divers with hundreds of logged dives who underestimate how much a gap has affected them. A refresher isn't a sign of weakness; it's a sign of good judgement.
Get in touch with the team at Global Dive and we can help you work out the right path back into the water, whether that's a simple refresher course or full Open water course.
Information on our Refresher courses, with teh next course dates can be found HERE
A Note on Dive Insurance
All of our overseas dive trips require diver emergency insurance. We recommend DAN, their Worldwide packages start at US$100 per year and provide genuine peace of mind wherever you're diving.
New Zealand divers have the benefit of ACC coverage for domestic incidents, but a DAN World membership also helps support the NZ Diver Emergency Services phone line so it's worth having regardless.
Join DAN World through our affiliate link and support Global Dive at the same time.
This post draws on resources from Divers Alert Network (DAN), the world's leading dive safety organisation. DAN operates a 24/7 emergency hotline on 0800 4-DES-111 (0800 4337111) and a medical information line at +1 (919) 684-2948.
