Scuba divers carrying Garmin's inReach satellite communicators now have a faster route to specialist help if things go wrong underwater or on the surface. Garmin and the Divers Alert Network (DAN) have teamed up so that triggering an SOS on an inReach device alerts both Garmin's emergency coordinators and DAN's dive-medicine experts at the same time.
The setup is straightforward. If you own an inReach device — such as the inReach Mini 3 Plus, which can be taken diving inside Garmin's waterproof case — and hold an active satellite subscription plus DAN membership, you simply add your DAN membership number to the Emergency Notes section of your Garmin account. From then on, if you activate SOS, the 24-hour Garmin Response centre handles the rescue coordination while passing relevant details to DAN.
That division of labour matters. Garmin Response stays in contact with you, your emergency contacts, search-and-rescue organisations and local services until the incident is closed out. DAN, meanwhile, brings dive-specific medical knowledge to the table: advising on likely conditions such as decompression sickness, working out what level of care is needed, finding nearby hyperbaric chambers and medical facilities, and liaising with healthcare providers. Once a diver reaches treatment, DAN can continue to assist, and may help arrange medical transport or evacuation when it's medically necessary and covered by the member's benefits.
The SOS feature can only be used at the surface — these are satellite devices, not underwater communicators — so divers would need to have the unit in its dive case on a boat or on shore. But for anyone diving remote sites far from the nearest chamber, the appeal is obvious: one button press now reaches both a rescue coordination centre and doctors who actually understand dive injuries.
Why it matters for travellers: dive trips increasingly push into far-flung destinations where the nearest recompression facility may be hours away, and DAN chief executive Cliff Richardson noted that remote diving is growing in ever more challenging environments. If you already dive with DAN membership — and many operators and liveaboards strongly recommend it — this integration makes the inReach a much more compelling piece of kit for liveaboard and expedition trips. Note that you'll need an active satellite plan for the device as well as current DAN membership; neither works on its own.
The two companies framed it as a natural fit. Richardson said the goal is getting dive-medicine expertise into the emergency process more efficiently, while Garmin's VP of consumer sales and marketing, Susan Lyman, pointed to connecting Garmin Response with DAN's trusted resources at the moment they're needed most.
If you're planning a dive holiday to a remote region this year, it's worth checking your DAN membership is current, adding the number to your Garmin account before you fly, and confirming your inReach satellite subscription covers the country you're visiting. Details on linking devices to DAN's network are on Garmin's website.