Risk warning

Please read this before you book or take part. Scuba diving and snorkelling can cause serious injury or death. This page sets out the main risks and what we ask of you.

1. Who this warning is for

1.1 This warning covers every session with M&M Jervis Bay, in a pool or at the beach: Try Dive, Basic Diver, Scuba Diver, Skills Update, Snorkel trip and Scuba Wellness.

1.2 Booking for other people? Please show them this page, or read it to them, before the session.

1.3 Under 18? A parent or guardian must read this warning for the child before the session. At the briefing we also explain the risks to the child, in words that suit their age.

1.4 Someone who may not understand this warning. If a participant may not be able to understand this warning because of their age or a disability, a parent, guardian or carer must read it for them before the session. For an adult participant, that person must also come with them to the session, be at the briefing and stay at the pool or beach until the session ends. They don’t have to watch the session.

1.5 How we give this warning. It’s on this page, we ask you to confirm you’ve read it when you book, and we go over the main points out loud at the briefing before anyone gets in the water. For SSI programs and Scuba Wellness you’ll also complete SSI’s forms, which include their own warnings. For a Snorkel trip you’ll sign our snorkel waiver.

2. These activities carry real risks

2.1 Scuba diving and snorkelling are recreational activities with a significant risk of physical harm. They can cause serious injury, permanent disability or death.

2.2 The risks are there in a pool, in shallow water and on calm days, not only in open water.

2.3 We keep groups small and plan around the conditions. That lowers the risks but can’t remove them. Some risks remain even when you, we and everyone else take care.

3. The main risks

3.1 Drowning. People can drown or nearly drown, including good swimmers and including in a pool. It can follow panic, running low on air, a gear problem, tiredness, a sudden illness or breathing in water. Water can also get into a snorkel.

3.2 Blacking out on a breath-hold. If you hold your breath and swim down while snorkelling, you can black out without warning, especially if you breathe fast and deep first. A blackout underwater can kill.

3.3 Pressure injuries (barotrauma). Water pressure grows as you go down. If you can’t equalise (gently balance the pressure in your ears, as we’ll show you), you can injure your ears (pain, a burst eardrum, dizziness, hearing damage), your sinuses, your face and eyes (mask squeeze) or your teeth. A cold or blocked nose makes this more likely. Ear infections can also follow a session.

3.4 Lung injury and air bubbles in the blood. On scuba, holding your breath while you come up, or coming up too fast, can tear the lungs. This can collapse a lung or send air bubbles into the blood (arterial gas embolism). The effects can be like a stroke, and can kill. It can happen after rising only a metre or two, so it can happen in a pool.

3.5 Decompression illness (“the bends”). Gas taken in under pressure can form bubbles in the body. Signs include joint pain, rash, numbness, weakness, breathing trouble, confusion and paralysis. The risk goes up with deeper or longer dives, repeat dives, fast ascents, cold, hard work, dehydration, and flying or driving over high ground soon after diving. Signs can start hours after the dive, sometimes the next day.

3.6 Fluid in the lungs (immersion pulmonary oedema). Being in water, especially cold water or when working hard, can cause fluid to build up in the lungs. You may feel breathless or cough. It can happen to fit people and can be serious.

3.7 Sudden illness and existing health conditions. Diving and snorkelling are physical, and gear can be heavy on land. A heart attack, stroke, seizure, asthma attack, faint or low blood sugar in the water can be fatal. The risk is higher with:

• heart conditions or high blood pressure
• being over 45 with heart risk factors, such as smoking, high blood pressure, high cholesterol or a family history of early heart disease
• lung conditions, including asthma
• epilepsy or a history of fainting
• diabetes
• ear or sinus problems, a cold or a recent illness
• recent surgery or injury
• anxiety, panic attacks, PTSD or another mental health condition, especially if you’re being treated for it
• a disability that affects feeling, movement or temperature control, which can hide cuts, pressure sores or cold
• allergies, including to latex or neoprene
• pregnancy: don’t scuba dive if you are or may be pregnant, or are trying to become pregnant
• some medicines, including medicines that affect alertness, mood, blood pressure or blood sugar
• alcohol or drugs, tiredness or not having eaten or had enough water.

3.8 Anxiety and panic. Anyone can feel anxious or panic underwater, including experienced divers. Panic may be more likely if you live with anxiety, panic attacks or PTSD. Panic can lead to holding your breath, rushing to the surface, pulling out your regulator (the mouthpiece you breathe from) or breathing in water. The feel of the mask, the sound of your own breathing, or being in deeper water can bring on anxiety. This matters for everyone, including Scuba Wellness participants: a Wellness session is still scuba and has the same risks.

3.9 Equipment problems. Gear can fail even after it’s checked. A regulator can free-flow (pour out air) or stop working, you can run low on or out of air, a mask can flood or come off, a fin can come loose, and the button that puts air into your buoyancy jacket can stick and carry you up too fast. Rarely, the air in a tank can be contaminated.

3.10 Entanglement and getting stuck. You can get caught in fishing line, nets, ropes, mooring lines or seaweed, or get stuck near drains and fittings in a pool.

3.11 Cold, heat and sun. Water takes heat from your body fast. Cold can cause shivering, poor judgement and hypothermia, even in summer and even in a wetsuit. On land you can get sunburnt, overheat in a wetsuit or become dehydrated.

3.12 Sea conditions. Currents (including rips), surge (water pushing back and forth), waves, wind and poor visibility can change quickly. Getting in and out through waves or over rocks is harder than it looks. You can get separated from your instructor or guide.

3.13 Boats and other water users. Boats, jet skis, kayaks, paddleboards and swimmers share the water. Boat drivers may not see you, even with a float or flag nearby. In a pool, other users can bump into you.

3.14 Marine life. Jervis Bay is full of life. Most of it is harmless if you leave it alone, but:

• stingrays and other rays rest on sandy bottoms and can sting if stepped on or touched
• bluebottles and other jellyfish can drift in, and their stings hurt and can cause reactions
• Port Jackson sharks and wobbegongs rest on the bottom and can bite if touched
• some animals are venomous, including the blue-ringed octopus, cone shells and fish with spines
• sea urchins, rocks, oysters and barnacles can cut you, and cuts can get infected
• larger sharks live in and visit the bay; encounters are rare, but they can’t be ruled out.

Look, don’t touch.

3.15 Slips, trips and heavy gear. Pool decks, ramps, rocks and wet sand are slippery. Lifting and wearing a tank can strain your back, and hands and feet can get pinched or hit.

3.16 Distance from help. At the beach, an ambulance may take time to arrive. Some diving injuries need recompression (treatment in a pressure chamber), which is only available at specialist hospital units, hours away by road or air.

3.17 Other risks. This is not a full list. Other risks exist, including some nobody can predict.

4. What we ask of you

4.1 Be honest about your health. Everyone doing scuba, including Scuba Wellness, completes a health check before their first session: the SSI medical questionnaire or, for a Try Dive or Scuba Wellness, SSI’s fit-to-dive screening. For Scuba Wellness, if your screening flags something, we may also ask you to complete SSI’s full medical questionnaire. Snorkel trip participants sign our snorkel waiver. SSI’s form tells you whether your answers mean you need a doctor’s sign-off. If they do, you must get it before you get in the water. Please bring the form your doctor signed to your session, and don’t send it to us by WhatsApp or email. If you’re not sure how to answer a question, answer yes and ask us.

4.2 Tell us about changes. If anything changes before your session, such as a cold, an injury, new medicine or pregnancy, tell us before you get in the water. Please also tell us about anything that might affect how you learn, communicate or cope, so we can plan with you. Please tell us by phone or in person, not through the website forms. We use it only to run your session safely, and we handle it as our privacy policy explains.

4.3 Follow the briefing and our instructions. Stay close to your instructor or guide. On scuba, breathe slowly and never hold your breath. Equalise early and often. Use the signals we teach you.

4.4 Come ready. No alcohol or recreational drugs before your session. If you take prescribed medicine, tell us. Eat something, drink water and get some rest.

4.5 Speak up early. If you feel unwell, cold, scared or in pain, signal straight away. You can stop at any time.

4.6 After your session. If you feel unwell in the hours or days after diving (for example joint pain, numbness, weakness, breathlessness, dizziness or confusion), call 000 and tell them you’ve been diving. You can also call the DAN diving emergency hotline on 1800 088 200 (24 hours). Tell us too. We recommend you don’t fly, or drive over high ground, for at least 24 hours after scuba diving.

4.7 We may stop or change a session. If we think conditions, someone’s health or how the session is going make it unwise to start or continue, we may delay, change or stop it. If we cancel or cut short a session because of the weather, the sea, our illness or any other reason of ours, you choose a new date, a credit or a full refund. If someone can’t take part for a reason on their side, such as a health check that isn’t cleared, a doctor’s sign-off that isn’t back in time, ears that won’t equalise, or choosing to stop, you get a credit for the session they couldn’t do, whatever notice you gave. The credit lasts 12 months and you can give it to someone else. It’s worth the full price of a single session, or that session’s share of a course ($147.50 for Basic Diver, $139 for Scuba Diver). There’s no credit if the pre-session forms weren’t done or the participant turns up affected by alcohol. Our terms explain the details.

4.8 Parents and guardians. For anyone under 18, a parent or guardian reads this warning for the child (clause 1.3) and signs the child’s forms before the session. Please go through the main risks with your child too.

5. What this warning doesn’t change

5.1 Nothing on our website, social media or anywhere else means diving or snorkelling is risk-free. If something we’ve said seems to suggest that, this warning is the one to rely on, so please ask us.

5.2 Our terms say you take part in these recreational activities at your own risk. They also explain your rights. Nothing in this warning limits your rights under the Australian Consumer Law.

5.3 Not sure about something? Ask us before you book or before you get in the water. Call or WhatsApp 0481 759 272, or email mmjervisbay@gmail.com.

6. About this warning

6.1 This is a risk warning under section 5M of the Civil Liability Act 2002 (NSW). It is given by M&M Jervis Bay (ABN 99 768 149 271), and by and on behalf of each of our instructors, Mim and Mark.