COVID-19 Safety measures
Summary of operational, hygiene and disinfection procedures for diving trips
“Pepez Dive and Sail” Dive and Water Activities Center, has as its main pillar the protection of the health of people who practice recreational diving and carry out activities with us, the goods and the marine environment. As a result of the health crisis caused by the Covid-19 virus, it is necessary to generate a new document that includes the operating procedures and cleaning and hygiene in the base boat itself and in the rental equipment.
- Planning the activity so that an interpersonal distance of more than 1 metre can be maintained between staff and customers at all stages of the activity. The fact of carrying out the activity from a spacious yacht and the establishment of a maximum capacity by zones, allows the requirement of interpersonal distance to be met. However, the number of clients is limited to 8 people plus skipper/guide and sailor/guide.
- Material labelled with a marine animal and therefore individualised will be assigned to each diver, for use during the diving operations. It consist of a zippered bag for their street clothes and personal items, a drinking cup and a box for storage of hand diving equipment such as mask, snorkel, knife, gloves, computer,…
- Two groups of a maximum of four clients each are established for safety briefing of the boat and dives, for diving equipment shift and water entry, etc.
- Documentation for the practice of activities will be requested in advance to minimize checks on the boat.
- The rental equipment will be prepared and assembled at the corresponding diving stations with regulators, mouthpieces and masks protected in closed protective bags to preserve their disinfection conditions until use.
- The clients’ diving equipment will be mounted on the outside jetty and introduced already mounted on the boat by the crew to stow it in the corresponding locations.
- Customers’ street clothes will be stored in individual closed bagsCustomers will be able to change for activities and between activities distributed in the areas of the stern cockpit and bow, maintaining the minimum safety distance.
- Any permitted activity must be carried out in conditions of safety, self-protection and social distancing. The use of masks during the stay on the base boat is mandatory, since during the movements of people on the yacht, a social distance of more than two meters cannot be guaranteed. The crew will also use protective gloves.
- Cleaning and disinfection of the base boat facilities will be carried out twice a day with special attention to the most frequent contact surfaces such as door handles, counters, furniture, handrails, dispensing machines, floors, hangers, carts and baskets, taps, public toilets, kitchen, leisure areas and other elements of similar characteristics.
- In order to practice frequent hand hygiene, containers for the supply of hydro-alcoholic solution will be available, as well as a toilet and wash basinwhere customers can wash their hands with soap.
- After each use of the toilet, a member of the crew shall disinfect it with bleach. The use of the portable fresh water shower will be done on the bathing platform and individually
- Customers will be advised to bring their own diving equipment and remove it with the rest of their belongings at the end of the activity. Upon request, the dive centre will only rinse its light equipment and independently from the rental equipment and equipment owned by the dive centre. No disinfection tasks will be carried out on the equipment owned by the clients in contact with the breathing cycle.
- The rental equipment used during the development of the activities will be daily disinfected and sanitized with products authorized by Health and proven effective in neutralizing the virus. The disinfection protocol applies to the interior of the mask, second stages of the regulator, second stage mouthpiece, snorkel, oral inflation buoys and hoods, as well as the oral inflator of the vest if used. Afterwards, all the equipment shall be rinsed with clean running water and left to dry in the air until they can be placed in their corresponding disinfected individual protection bags.
- For the rest of the equipment, wet suit, booties, fins, vest…, an individual rinse with running water will be done , using a hose, not in a tank, and then, proceed to air dry on the racks of the stern. Once the equipment is dry, it will be stored in the stern lockers separating equipment for rental from client equipment.
The base boat is an Astinor 1275 LX (luxury version), 12.75 m long and 4.25 m wide. In order to ensure an interpersonal safety distance compatible with the protection measures implemented, we have reduced the maximum occupation of the boat to 10 people, which means a reduction of 20% in the number of clients.
One of the cabins, the owner’s cabin and his private bathroom, will be kept as an isolated area in case a person with symptoms compatible with Covid-19 disease is detected and can be confined there.
Studies have been carried out on maximum capacity in each of the zones where the boat has been sectorized and in diving or anchoring and cruising situations.
Interior zone
Bow zone
Cockpit and platform zone
Flybridge zone
Developing the Protocol, the requirements of the Ministry of Health and the recommendations of various relevant sources have been collected, in particular FEDAS and DAN.
*The complete Protocol is available to customers upon request.
