Smoking on a dive boat

[KevWind]

It never ceases to amaze me that in 2013 with everything that is currently known, that anyone, still smokes at all, period. I suppose it is a sad and scary commentary on the incredibly severe nature of the nicotine addiction. Very sad really especially if you have experienced the horror of watching someone slowly suffocate from emphysema.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

It never ceases to amaze me that in 2013 with everything that is currently known, that anyone, still smokes at all, period. I suppose it is a sad and scary commentary on the incredibly severe nature of the nicotine addiction. Very sad really especially if you have experienced the horror of watching someone slowly suffocate from emphysema.

It's more a sad and scary commentary on the incredibly severe nature of marketing. The health effects of smoking ... and the addictive nature of nicotine ... have been well known, documented, and widely publicized for more than 50 years ... well before most readers of this board were born, much less old enough to take up smoking.

I don't have an issue with people making their personal choices ... even if those choices are to turn themselves into an addict of a substance that'll eventually kill them. It's their choice.

I have a big problem when they think they have the right to impose their choices on others.

That's really what it boils down to. If you can figure out a way to enjoy your nicotine addiction without "sharing" it with others, I'll be first in line to defend your right to make that choice.

As for dive boats ... the final choice isn't up to the captain ... it's up to the customer. We all need to remember that ... nobody's forcing anybody to go out on a particular boat. We all get to choose whether or not to go ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[Dsix36]

31 pages of this and still going. Damn, ya' all need to go diving!!!!

 

[TMHeimer]

31 pages of this and still going. Damn, ya' all need to go diving!!!!

You have to wonder why. My thought is being anti-smoking just became the popular thing to do going back to the 80s. Then the smokers fight back, and on & on it goes. A specific question on dive boat smoking has to lead back to all the other stuff. Bob points out it's the customer's choice to go on a smoking (or non smoking) boat, but we can't just leave it at that (what possible arguement could there be against that?). I'm retired and a thread like this gives me something to do.

 

[Dsix36]

I guess that by being a former smoker, I can see both sides of the argument.

I look at it very simply. I do not much care if you want to smoke cigarettes, snort coke, shoot heroin, smoke crack, have extramarital gay sex with underage polar bears, or much of anything else - as long as you do not try to force it on me either by accidental exposure, forcefully, or by association.

Very few smokers are so rude and arrogant to subject others to it if they are politely asked not to. I have found that non smokers seem to be the most rude and arrogant (yes, I am a non smoker).

 

[ams511]

And, as usual, the issue is reduced to personal feelings about odors (etc.) rather than something that has been scientifically proven to kill you.

Smokers, please try to understand this concept: second hand smoke is different from body odor. It seems to be a very difficult concept, but if you really, really try, you might be able to see the difference.

John please list your scientific information on how second-hand smoke breathed outdoors kills people. My understanding is that there is an increased risk of lung cancer for people living in the same house with a heavy smoker but no study about breathing cigarette smoke outdoors where the smoke is no longer concentrated. There probably never will be such a study because there is no way to separate the effects of cigarette smoke from other forms of pollution.

I no longer smoke but non-smokers are becoming ridiculous. First smoking is banned inside buildings so smoking areas are set up outside and now non-smokers do not want you to smoke outside. I remember when the building I worked at went non-smoking, the management installed a covered area outside with a picnic table for smokers. I went out for a smoke and had words with a women who complained she wanted to sit outside without smelling the smoke. I told her too bad because this is a designated smoking area (2 signs and 4 ashtrays should have tipped her off), she left rather upset.

 

[tracydr]

I just noticed that Truth Aquatics has a smoking policy allowing smoking, just so long as its outdoors on deck. Does anybody have experience with their Livaboards? We have a trip planned in July. I sure hope nobody is smoking, even if it is outdoors. That's a huge trigger for my usually mild asthma.

 

[lv2dive]

I just noticed that Truth Aquatics has a smoking policy allowing smoking, just so long as its outdoors on deck. Does anybody have experience with their Livaboards? We have a trip planned in July. I sure hope nobody is smoking, even if it is outdoors. That's a huge trigger for my usually mild asthma.

Every liveaboard I've been on (4 or 5 "brands") allowed smoking in one outside section of the ship. I was a nonsmoker for all but maybe one of several trips and although I can find smoking very annoying I did not, on the liveaboards. There is a lot of wind on a boat.

In general, I found that except in extreme cases (cough, recent trip report- see Thumbs Down, not *my* experience, just an example of an exception) one's experience matches ones attitude on a liveaboard. As in... be prepared to not sweat the small stuff and enjoy the reason a liveaboard was the vacation of choice. Its a boat... a/c or Heads or both are going to break... Rooms are going to be small... But all that matters not when all you have to do is take a few steps and drop straight into ow heaven... Right?!??

 

[tphelps]

This is a good thread. I know some boat captains that smoke in California and from my DM experience in Honduras. The times that I do remember them smoking though is when I hanged behind when everyone else was diving. In other words, they weren't smoking in front of everyone.

Of course there is an overwhelming amount of research that shows smoking is bad for you. There is also research that smoking can increase your risk of DCI while you are diving. This is ESPECIALLY prevalent if you are a rebreather diver. The carbon monoxide in smoking can come out of solution in your blood and into the breathing loop which can lead to carbon monoxide poisoning. My lips have never touched a cigarette and never they never will. To all the divers out there that do smoke, be careful. Smoking does add more risk to you and it is something that divers need to be aware of.

 

[Dsix36]

..................................
This is ESPECIALLY prevalent if you are a rebreather diver. The carbon monoxide in smoking can come out of solution in your blood and into the breathing loop which can lead to carbon monoxide poisoning.
...............................................

My rebreather is what finally gave me the motivation to stop smoking. I asked my ccr instructor if he would train me as a smoker before i ever bought my rebreather. His answer was "Yes, just as long as You don't smoke for a minimum of 1 hour prior to diving". Those 1 hour periods were total hell and seemed to last for days in my craving little mind.

After I got certified, I shaved off my beard of several decades and quit smoking. Now I not only act like a dive god, but look like one too.