Booze, Drugs, And Diving

[neuneu]

On a dive vacation, I'll often tie one on, as @Outbound put it, the night before a dive. Often several days in a row. But, I don't drink enough to wake up to a hangover, or to wake up drunk -- if I did, I'd probably skip diving until I felt better. Not so much because I'm worried about getting bent, but because I don't like diving when I don't feel good, and definitely not while impaired. I do stay hydrated. Never been bent, don't plan on getting bent any time soon.

Some dive ops have a "no diving for the day after drinking, even 1 drink" rule, and for a good reason. Make sure that whatever choice you make with respect to your own substance consumption, you are within the guidelines of whoever you are diving with. And, make sure that your dive buddy is aware of and comfortable with your choices.

I don't speak from a place of expertise, just from experience: I'm an engineer, not a doctor, and am not not a dive professional. Not trying to be rude here, but the "10m is OK but 20m is a no-go" rule of thumb seems a little wacky to me, either you are fit to dive, or you are not... 10m dives are comparably risky to 20m dives.

Ah I didn't mean for it to sound like my personal rule of thumb. I was thinking it may be similar to a flight, where being drunk gets amplified at altitude. Not to mention weird things happen under pressure, maybe crossing a certain depth mark causes something weird to happen. I figured not but was curious regardless.

Some dive ops have a "no diving for the day after drinking, even 1 drink" rule

I like this rule a lot and its what I will follow until I have a lot more experience if not for my whole diving career

 

[SlugLife]

Once alcohol/drugs are in my system I won't be diving till the next day. And if I feel like **** in the morning I (obviously) won't be diving.

I would probably recommend something like planning your week so you start out sober, get your diving in, pack up your scuba-equipment, and then perhaps finish your week with whatever partying. Usually, there's not much partying to do on a week-day anyway. That way there's no ambiguity or guess-work.

 

[lowwall]

[Consensus] eems to be "Keep it to the night before and stay well hydrated. If you feel like **** in the morning don't dive."

Which is what I typically do regardless but I have heard varying things. I know a guy who smokes before every dive and swears by it. Personally not my thing, but just wanted to get some info.

I think you summed it up well.

Don't dive stoned. If you are experienced enough, you can certainly handle your own dive. But what if your buddy has a problem? You need to act quickly and decisively which is pretty much the opposite of what marijuana does to you.

Since we are talking about drugs, my time taking ecstasy was done before I started diving. But if I had a chance, it'd totally be worth hiring a DM to look after me while I did an E dive. Imagine the parrotfish!

 

[Outbound]

I don’t drink very much anyway, and drink even less while on dive trips (usually too tired from multiple dives, being out in the sun, etc.). But I never drink the day/evening I arrive if I’m going to dive the next morning. After a long day of flying I’m usually pretty dehydrated and tired. So I make sure to drink lots of fluids and go to bed early. The next evening I’ll probably have a beer.

 

[Doc]

What could possibly go wrong, i mean, you had a consensus, right?

 

[berndo]

Some dive ops have a "no diving for the day after drinking, even 1 drink" rule, and for a good reason.

Are you serious? I've never been to or ever heard about a dive op with a rule like that. Especially '1 drink'.
If this is actually a thing they must not have any European customers. Having at least one 'deco beer' right after the dive is pretty normal.

 

[Outbound]

Are you serious? I've never been to or ever heard about a dive op with a rule like that. Especially '1 drink'.
If this is actually a thing they must not have any European customers. Having at least one 'deco beer' right after the dive is pretty normal.

So they let you have a beer between dives on a 2-tank dive? I’ve never heard of that.

 

[Brett Hatch]

Are you serious? I've never been to or ever heard about a dive op with a rule like that. Especially '1 drink'.
If this is actually a thing they must not have any European customers. Having at least one 'deco beer' right after the dive is pretty normal.

I was on an Aggressor liveaboard in Belize a few months ago, and that was their rule. Or, as they put it, "you can have all the beer you want, but once you have one, you become a snorkeler or sunbather for the day." They had no problem with customers drinking after they were done diving for the day, and most customers did so -- some, quite a bit.

One could argue that diving after a beer at lunch is perfectly safe, and I dunno, it probably is. But, they're not in the business of nitpicking customers' behavior, or counting their drinks. They are in the business of providing a good balance between diving and everything else, and a clear rule is much easier to deal with than a fuzzy one. I'm sure this is a dealbreaker for some fraction of their customer base, and they probably lose a handful of customers this way, but they take that into account when they choose their rules. I had no problem with it, and neither did anybody else on the boat, as far as I could tell.

 

[Lorenzoid]

I was thinking it may be similar to a flight, where being drunk gets amplified at altitude. Not to mention weird things happen under pressure, maybe crossing a certain depth mark causes something weird to happen.

I don't think the effects of alcohol intoxication on diving have been studied much, so we can't rule out some kind of "amplification" or other effect.

Yeah, liveaboards and some land-based dive ops/resorts have a strict rule about a diver's first drink ending their diving for the day.

To me, it depends on the context. A few of my dive buddies have been known to enjoy a beer at lunch between morning and afternoon laid-back tropical reef dives. I have tried it, and while I love beer, I believe I felt "off" on the afternoon dive (though it could just as well have been an effect of eating too much!). Now, if we're talking 12+ hours before some laid-back diving, sure, I'm fine with having a couple of beers--nowhere enough to induce a hangover. But if I have challenging dives awaiting me, where I need to be at the top of my game, all alcohol is out of the picture for me.

Non-alcoholic beers are getting better and better, and it has even been suggested that they might help with hydration and electrolyte balance, etc. But I don't think that's what the OP was getting at.

 

[Mr. Sunday]

So they let you have a beer between dives on a 2-tank dive? I’ve never heard of that.

My very first dives were on the Great Barrier in 1994 and the DM's had a side hustle of selling beer.
I have to admit I did partake and got pretty loaded. I was 19 and dumb.

But since that one occasion, I have never heard of any diver operation allowing any diving if any drugs or alcohol have been consumed.