I was diving with my wife, Kristy Hiltz, in remote Kimbe Bay, Papua New Guinea. We had taken all the necessary precautions and dived according to our computers. On what turned out to be our last dive, we sat on a rock ledge at 70 feet for 15 to 20 minutes and then made a slow ascent, completing a full safety stop. As I climbed onto the boat I knew something was wrong, but I thought I needed to drink water and wait for it to pass.
Thanks to previous readings and trainings, when a difficult situation presented itself, a diver was able to remain calm and advocate for the care he needed. Read more about his story.
An underwater filmmaker encountered problems when his right ear felt plugged. He powered through the work only for the ear to become worse. When he finally saw a doctor, he was told he may never regain hearing in his right ear. Read more.
It was 2004, the dawn of digital photography, and I was conflicted about whether to shoot film or digital. I had brought housings for both cameras with me to Thailand. Carrying two housings on a dive was ponderous, but I could manage it if I didn’t take two sets of strobes. My solution was to rig both housings with wet connectors called EO pigtails, which went into the regular sync socket, allowing me to connect and disconnect my strobes underwater.
A DAN member shares their story of how pain derailed a dive trip. Thanks to their DAN membership, they were able to get the care they needed. REad more.
Renewing DAN membership is a once-click process, but one member let lapse accidentally. It wasn’t until an emergency evacuation and 10 much-needed hyperbaric treatments did they realize the true power of DAN membership.
I am grateful for the safety information DAN publishes, their recommendations for dive medicine physicians, and the peace of mind their insurance coverage provides. My wife, Julie, and I have had DAN insurance for many years and are fortunate to have called DAN in an emergency only one time, 13 years ago when a lionfish stung Julie. Our diving had been without any incidents aside from that, but our last trip to Little Cayman was different.
After acquiring a severe infection on a remote Pacific island, one diver had to be medically evacuated to Queensland, Australia.
Accidents happen, even in Antarctica. A DAN member slipped on the icy boat deck and suffered a serious injury. DAN was there to help.
While vacationing in Cairns, a tourist suffered delayed-onset symptoms from a poisonous spider bite. Read more about the harrowing story and required evacuation.
