40 Fathom Grotto
Guide Procedures

9 April 2007

Prior to Arrival at the Grotto

• Visit the Diving the Grotto section of the 40FathomGrotto.com website to get the latest updates on policies and procedures.
• For you and every other guide in your party, ensure that the Grotto has on file the following:
  • Photocopies of at least one of your leadership-level certification cards, showing that you are in Active status for the current year.
  • A copy of your current professional liability insurance certificate listing the following parties as Additional Insureds:
    • Commercial Diving Academy of Jacksonville, Inc.
    • Hal and Jan Watts.
• Contact the Grotto as far in advance as possible and let us know:
  • Arrival date and time.
  • Expected number of divers in your party.
  • How many days you plan to be at the Grotto.
  • General nature of your planned activities (i.e., teaching specific courses, guiding, etc.)
• You can do this on line, at the 40FathomGrotto.com website. Additionally, let us know as much as possible about the type and quantity of gas fills you will need, and any rental equipment group members may need to reserve.
• Prepare a single-page roster for each Grotto Guide in your group, listing the group name, the individual Grotto Guide’s name and the names of the individual divers for whom that Guide is responsible. Blank roster forms are available for download on the 40FathomGrotto.com website, in both PDF and Excel format.
• You can save yourself and your customers the greatest amount of time by e-mailing your completed Excel-format roster(s) to us ahead of time. Among other things, should your divers arrive ahead of you, we will know who they are and who they will be with.
• Invite your divers to visit the 40FathomGrotto.com website to download maps and directions.
• Download the latest waiver/release forms from the 40FathomGrotto.com website. Have each individual in your party complete and sign the appropriate waiver form (minor or adult, diver or nondiver), and then sign each form yourself, as the witness.
• If you will be getting air or gas fills at the Grotto: Guides are responsible for ensuring that all cylinders in their parties have current hydrostatic test stamps and visual inspection decals, and that any cylinders that will be exposed, at any time, to oxygen concentrations exceeding 40 percent are oxygen clean/service rated. (See Fill Procedures page.)

Upon Arrival at the Grotto

• Ensure that group members park in the designated parking area, and do not unload or begin assembling equipment, or wander about the property, until all check-in procedures have been completed.
• Have ready and give to the Grotto staff member handling check in all completed and signed forms.

While Diving

• In consideration of others, divers should bring only the most essential equipment with them to the docks. Nonessential items are best left in vehicles or in an area where their presence will not inconvenience others.
• As much as possible, equipment assembly and suiting up should take place before divers arrive on the dock.

Check Out Procedures

• Make certain that all outstanding balances for diver admissions, air and/or gas fills, or any other services have been paid prior to leaving.
• Confirm with the Grotto staff that all divers have exited the water and are in the process of packing to leave.
• Do not leave the Grotto yourself unless all group members are either leaving with you, or have left the property prior to this.