Drinking & Diving

[Krazytomdiver]

As a dive guide, I state you all have spent this money to dive then dive;you can get drunk anywhere in the world. Personally I have seen so many different kinds of impairment from birth,mental,ego,stupid,uneducated,lost,loser,nearsighted,farsighted,bad knees,bad arm,fingers missing,head injuries,bad marriage,perverted,bad back,stoned and on & on. Being drunk just usually means you stink,you're loud and will be feeding the fish.

"living life without a hard bottom"
KT

 

[Sas]

I would never make blanket rules about things like drugs and alcohol with other divers. Each situation on its merits...

I personally would not drink or take drugs before diving but I don't see an issue with someone who has had a beer three hours before a dive. One regular buddy, I have only rarely seen not baked too and he is one of the best divers I have dived with with skill, situational awareness, experience. I'd probably be more worried about what he would be like underwater when straight!

 

[Kern]

Odd, isn't it? However, I generally dive shallower than 70 feet for that very reason. Back in the 1970s, I went to 130 feet once and felt the effects of IGN. I didn't like it and haven't been that deep since. I don't dive to go deep, anyway, so staying in relatively shallow water doesn't bother me.

With the OP's permission, I would like to hijack this thread for a moment. My aversion to narcosis has led me to consider getting a nitrox cert. The one deep dive I would like to do is the U-85 and maybe the U-352. Both of these are deeper than 100 feet and I know I would get narked. Would nitrox be of benefit to me for this dive? I haven't really done much reading about nitrox and the thought of using it is a recent development. No one I dive with uses it.

O₂ has a similar narcotic charictaristics as N₂. If you would like to decrease narcosis you'll have to exchange some N₂ for an inert gas like He. You'll need to do a rec trimix course, not a nitrox course.

 

[gcbryan]

I don't see the point of drinking and diving either. How would you feel if the players on your favorite basketball team all had a beer 3 hours before their game and then lost?

Some people are just more sensitive to change than others anyway. If I'm on vacation I'm not in my normal routine as far a sleep, food, my own bed, a different time zone, etc. Why add alcohol to the mix. The alcohol may be out of my system in 3 hours but the headache or tiredness that it sometimes causes may not along with the dehydration.

I don't have a problem with what others do in moderation but alcohol for me when diving just isn't something that is appealing (for me).

Diving isn't always a physically demanding sport or activity but I still treat it more or less the way I would other more demanding activities and adding alcohol isn't generally the way I prepare for physical activity.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

Well, at the Dive Expo this week-end I found the answer ... this stuff is sold as, among other things, hangover helper for divers ... :shocked2:

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[Tortuga68]

How would you feel if the players on your favorite basketball team all had a beer 3 hours before their game and then lost?

I'm really struggling to see the relevance of an analogy comparing professional sportspeople playing a game for points in a championship in front of a paying crowd, with sponsors, TV advertising etc - to recreational divers doing fun dives

 

[DocVikingo]

It's up to you to determine what your criteria for buddy selection are, so I'm not going to bash you for it. If I applied the same rule, it would probably eliminate 95% of the people I buddy with (both friends & instabuddies), and I would have missed out on diving with some great divers (including most if not all of my instructors) and people. Like you I also enjoy the peace & serenity of a solo dive, but there are plenty of times when it's nice to have a good buddy along too

Personally I don't believe that someone who doesn't drink is automatically a good buddy, any more than I believe that someone who does is a bad buddy. I can't understand the logic behind your statement "If find myself diving with people who are drinkers, I go into the water with the knowledge that I am on my own if anything goes wrong" as it implies that they couldn't or wouldn't help you

Frankly I think you're letting your own morals colour your judgement, but that's your call

IMHO, nicely stated Tortuga68.

Regards,

DocVikingo

 

[kanonfodr]

I would never make blanket rules about things like drugs and alcohol with other divers. Each situation on its merits...

I personally would not drink or take drugs before diving but I don't see an issue with someone who has had a beer three hours before a dive. One regular buddy, I have only rarely seen not baked too and he is one of the best divers I have dived with with skill, situational awareness, experience. I'd probably be more worried about what he would be like underwater when straight!

Bingo, worked with some folks like that. And I also don't agree with blanket rules concerning others' life decisions, they are rarely true.

Well, at the Dive Expo this week-end I found the answer ... this stuff is sold as, among other things, hangover helper for divers ... :shocked2:

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

I didn't see that listed on the website. Would you mind trying it for us?

I'm really struggling to see the relevance of an analogy comparing professional sportspeople playing a game for points in a championship in front of a paying crowd, with sponsors, TV advertising etc - to recreational divers doing fun dives

As much as I hate to agree with those I typically don't agree with (no offense, Tortuga68 ), I have to agree with the above.

I've got my own soapbox speech, but I have to go to work.

Peace,
Greg

 

[Tortuga68]

None taken - just read my sig

 

[DocVikingo]

It isn't just in the realm of diving that I shy away from people who drink. Beyond the acquaintance level, I have never been one to associate with people who drink or use drugs. Being around people who are drunk or stoned makes me uncomfortable.

Now don't get me wrong. I don't act all anti-social with people that I know are drinkers and I'm not one of those people who climb on a soap box and lecture about the evils of Demon Rum. I just quietly keep a little distance....I am not trying to offend anyone here, it's just that I have seen what alcohol and drugs do to people and I want no part of it.

That certainly is your prerogative, Paladin, but as the realm of alcohol and drug use fall within my area of clinical expertise I must say I find this comment sweeping, summary and conclusory. You have made no accommodation for or taken any consideration of the vast continuum that runs from complete abstinence to diagnosable substance use disorder.

There are many, many people who drink modestly without getting "drunk" and there are illegal substance users who do so without becoming "stoned," both terms which generally mean such things as "to stupefy or excite by the action of a chemical substance" and "incapable of acting as an ordinary prudent and cautious person would act under similar conditions." Prudent users of alcohol and recreational drugs often manifest no readily observable features of inebriation or intoxication. They are in good control of their faculties and behavior. Among substances users, for obvious reasons many of their friends and acquaintances well may have no knowledge of their situation.

Assuming that you are even able to identify who these users are, if you're going to steer clear of every person who drinks a beer or takes a toke on occasion you're likely to have a very limited social life, indeed. For example, see --> U.S. Drinking Rate Edges Up Slightly to 25-Year High and NIDA - Publications - NIDA Notes - Vol. 23, No. 3 - Tearoff.

Regards,

DocVikingo