Before Booking

Send certification level, recent dive count, deepest recent dives, wreck or decompression credentials, and equipment needs to the center.
Confirm whether a medical certificate, physician form, or local check dive is required.
Ask about oxygen, first-aid equipment, emergency communications, diver recall, lost-diver procedure, and weather cancellation terms.

On the Boat

Listen to the French and international qualification placement given by the dive director.
Use an SMB and spool appropriate to the plan, even when the guide carries the primary marker.
Keep clear of props, ladders, mooring lines, and other teams during entries and exits.
Account for thermocline, current, reserve gas, and the possibility of a longer surface wait.

Deep and Overhead Profiles

Le Rubis, Le Togo, and other wrecks must be planned to actual training and recent competence. Do not penetrate without specific wreck training, guideline discipline, redundant light and gas, and a team plan that preserves a direct or managed exit. Follow the most conservative applicable decompression and no-fly guidance from the computer, training agency, operator, and medical adviser. After repetitive, deep, or decompression diving, keep the next day free of flights or significant altitude unless qualified guidance supports a longer interval.

Before Booking

Send certification level, recent dive count, deepest recent dives, wreck or decompression credentials, and equipment needs to the center.
Confirm whether a medical certificate, physician form, or local check dive is required.
Ask about oxygen, first-aid equipment, emergency communications, diver recall, lost-diver procedure, and weather cancellation terms.

On the Boat

Listen to the French and international qualification placement given by the dive director.
Use an SMB and spool appropriate to the plan, even when the guide carries the primary marker.
Keep clear of props, ladders, mooring lines, and other teams during entries and exits.
Account for thermocline, current, reserve gas, and the possibility of a longer surface wait.

Deep and Overhead Profiles

Call 112 or 15 for a medical emergency ashore. At sea, use VHF channel 16 or telephone 196 to reach the maritime rescue coordination system. Administer emergency oxygen when trained and available, keep the diver horizontal and monitored, preserve computer and profile data, and follow rescue instructions. Toulon's Sainte-Anne Military Hospital has a subaquatic and hyperbaric medicine service, but suspected decompression illness should be routed through emergency services rather than self-transported to a chamber. DAN Europe members should also use the current emergency contact shown on their card or app.

Le Rubis and especially Le Togo can involve advanced depth, decompression exposure, current, low light, entanglement, and overhead hazards. Use the center's qualification and gas plan, and do not enter a wreck without specific training and a redundant strategy.

Mistral and other strong wind patterns can produce chop, rough returns, poor entries, or cancellation. Accept sheltered-site substitutions and monitor the official marine forecast rather than pressuring a skipper to run an exposed route.

Pleasure boats, tenders, and personal watercraft increase in July and August. Use operator-controlled entries, remain close to the marker, surface under an SMB when directed, and avoid independent crossings of harbor approaches or channels.

Warm surface water does not predict temperature at depth. Pack exposure protection for the planned profile, not the beach forecast, and consider a hood for repetitive or deeper dives.

Coast-wide Practice

Maintain neutral buoyancy over gorgonians, coralligenous growth, and wreck structure.
Do not anchor, stand, or drag equipment through Posidonia seagrass.
Do not feed, touch, chase, collect, or reposition wildlife.
Keep lights brief and indirect around octopus, congers, lobsters, and resting fish.
Secure gauges and alternate regulators so they cannot strike the bottom.

Port-cros National Park Excursions

The park's marine core areas require current authorization and acceptance of regulations through CaPeL. Reviewed rules include use of designated moorings, capacity controls, no feeding, no turning rocks, no contact with the bottom or organisms, and regulated night or training activity. Specific zones can have seasonal limits, so the center must verify the current map and operating notice.

Pelagos Sanctuary

For cetacean trips, choose an operator following the official code: slow and predictable approach, respectful distance, limited observation time, no feeding or touching, and no swimming with whales or dolphins.

Contact	Rôle	Téléphone	Disponibilité
European emergency number	Police, fire, ambulance, and coordinated emergency access	112	24/7
SAMU	Urgent medical assistance in France	15	24/7
Fire and rescue service	Fire brigade and rescue	18	24/7
CROSS maritime rescue	Emergency at sea	196 from a phone or VHF channel 16	24/7
DAN Europe Emergency Hotline	Diver medical and insurance assistance	Use the current number on the DAN member card or app	24/7 for covered emergency assistance
Sainte-Anne Military Hospital, Toulon	Subaquatic and hyperbaric medicine referral center	Emergency referral through 112, 15, or 196	Emergency routing through public rescue services

Var Coast

Sécurité et conservation

Principaux risques

Sécurité plongée

Before Booking

On the Boat

Deep and Overhead Profiles

Sécurité et conservation

Principaux risques

Sécurité plongée

Before Booking

On the Boat

Deep and Overhead Profiles

Sécurité snorkeling et apnée

Vie marine et zones protégées

Coast-wide Practice

Port-cros National Park Excursions

Pelagos Sanctuary

Contacts d'urgence