Offer to "sort the dive trip" and you've just become the project manager. You pick the operator. You collect everyone's certs. You chase the deposits. You answer the same question in the group chat for the eleventh time. And two nights before you fly, you're awake at 3am wondering whose dive insurance you never actually saw.

The trips that run well aren't run by relaxed organisers. They're run off a clear timeline. This is the one we use.

12 weeks out: lock the trip and the people

The single hardest part of a group dive trip is getting commitment. "Yeah I'm keen" is not commitment. A deposit is. Before you book anything:

  • Pick the trip properly. Liveaboard or resort? Number of dives per day? Required certification level and minimum logged dives? A Raja Ampat liveaboard that expects 50+ logged dives will quietly exclude half your group if you don't check first. If you're leaning liveaboard, our liveaboard dive trip planning guide goes deeper on boat choice and cabin logistics.
  • Get real commitment. Set a deposit and a deadline. The people who pay are coming; the people who don't, aren't, and it's far better to learn that at week 12 than week 4.
  • Confirm the headcount the operator needs. Many liveaboards price per cabin and need minimum numbers. Know your floor.

8 weeks out: flights, visas and the boring-but-critical stuff

This is where group trips quietly go wrong, because everyone assumes someone else has checked. Make it explicit:

  • Flights and internal transfers. Dive destinations often involve a long-haul flight plus a domestic hop to a small airport. Coordinate arrivals so the group transfer to the boat or resort actually works.
  • Visas, per nationality. A mixed-nationality group will have different entry requirements for the same destination. Check each person individually, don't assume.
  • Certification and logged-dive requirements. If the operator requires Advanced Open Water or a Nitrox cert, the people who need to upgrade need to know now, not at check-in.
  • Travel and dive insurance. Standard travel insurance often excludes diving below a certain depth. Everyone needs cover that actually includes the diving they're doing, DAN or a diving-specific policy.
Collecting certs and insurance from ten people over WhatsApp is the single most thankless job in dive trip organising. Give everyone one place to upload their own, and a dashboard that shows you who's missing what.

4 weeks out: gear, packing and confirmations

  • Own vs rental decisions. Confirm who's bringing their own kit and who's renting from the operator, rental needs to be reserved, especially for less common sizes and computers.
  • Packing for the conditions. Liveaboard packing is its own discipline: tight space, salt water everywhere, limited power. Build the list around that, not around a normal holiday.
  • Reconfirm every booking. Flights, transfers, the boat, the first night's accommodation. Get the confirmation numbers into one place the whole group can see.

2 weeks out: money and the group briefing

Pre-trip costs (deposits, charter balance, group gear, the transfer) should be settled before you leave, not reconstructed from memory afterwards. Agree how you're splitting things while everyone's still paying attention:

  • What's split evenly (the boat, shared transfers) versus per-person (rentals, Nitrox, the bar).
  • Who fronted what, and who owes whom, clear and visible, so there's no awkward maths at the end.
  • A short written briefing: meeting point, transfer time, what to carry on the plane (certs, computer, meds), and the emergency contacts.

On the trip: keep it findable

The group chat is great for the banter and the real-time "we're at the gate" messages. It is terrible for finding the transfer time three days later. Keep the actual information (itinerary, documents, who's paid) somewhere structured and offline, because the moment you need your dive insurance details is the moment you have no signal.

Or skip the spreadsheet entirely

Venture is built for exactly this. Forward your first booking email and it builds the itinerary. Everyone uploads their own certs and insurance. Costs split inside the trip. It all works offline on the boat. Start free.

See it for dive trips

Get these four right

Lock commitment with a deposit. Check visas and insurance per person, never as a group. Settle the money before you fly. Keep the trip somewhere you can open at 5am with no signal. Do that and organising the trip stops being a second job. You go back to looking forward to the diving.

Still deciding where to go? Our guide to the best dive sites in the Philippines covers the top locations by experience level and trip style.