Decompression sickness: Driving from Hilo to Kona after diving?

[ScubaWithTurk]

I would dive in the morning, have lunch and then take 19 through Waimea. It only gets up to 2700 feet but after a longer lunch you may be OK. It's only about 20 miles more than the Saddle Road. Either that or stay in Kona for a night.

Waimea is a cool little town as well. My ex father-in-law lives and work there at Parker Ranch. That is a great option with a little sightseeing many don't see there as the cattle town is not on most visitor's list of must-see things on the Big Island.

 

[MaxBottomtime]

We took a day off from diving and drove around the entire island. On of my favorite stops was horseback riding through Waipi'o Na'alapa Stables. It's a great way to see the valley.

 

[Rocketman3]

Last year we were staying near Hilo, and wanted to do the Manta Ray dive. What we did was just did the one dive that day, I don't remember if we dive with nitrox (I don't remember if we were certified for it at that time) but I would. Then we went through Waianae. Very late night.

No problems on our trip. Good luck with yours.

 

[EricTheDood]

My buddy thinks we will be okay to drive back to his house but I'm not so sure.

A lot of people think things are a certain way because they want them to.

Back to reality, good info provided by @Asheron and @boulderjohn. You don't necessarily need to camp out at sea level.

Maybe split the difference with the slightly longer route that tops out at 2700 as @MaxBottomtime suggested. If I were in your shoes I'd be comfortable with this course of action. You're right to doubt your buddy. DCS is not something to take lightly.

 

[tphelps]

I'll be on the big island next week. I can't wait to get back underwater! I'm going to visit a friend who lives in Hilo and we are going to plan some dives over in Kona for a day or so. I have read, however, that driving back to Hilo over Saddle Road is very much a risky move for decompression sickness as Saddle Road tops out around 6000-6500 feet. (1800-1900m)

I fear my comment may be a bit late but allow me to offer my insight to the protocols we have at UH Hilo's Diving Safety Program.

For dives within NDLs, we wait until we are "D" divers on the NAUI tables (be it air or nitrox). The only passageway we use is through Waimea. We treat going over saddle road like flying, which at 7,000ft (~0.5atm), it practically is (at least to the pressurization of a commercial airliner. For going over saddle we abide by the 24 hour rule.

UH Hilo's Campus Recreation Department uses PADI tables and requires students to be "B" divers. We also took Waimea only, and refer back to the PADI table recommendations of 18 hours after repetitive dives before going over saddle road.

For anyone else concerned, this gives you a window of recommendations. The reason why these are different is because they are different programs - one occupational scientific divers, the others purely recreational.

Divers get bent every year driving over saddle road. It does, and could, happen to you so error on the side of caution. That being said, in my years of being involved with UH Hilo, I have not heard of any DCS incident following these protocols in their corresponding departments.

 

[Hawkeye Mark]

I am diving in August in Kona. My wife wanted to drive to Volcano the afternoon day of the second dive(diving 2 days). In looking at the altitude of Volcano I decided it was too risky. So we are leaving the next day after hotel check out and driving to Volcano. Its just not worth the risk. Plus we cant get into the hotel in Volcano till 3 so why even take a chance.

 

[garrytuba]

We have lots of guests at our sugar cottage in Papa Bay (sugar-inc.com) that want to go to the Volcano National Park after diving with us in the mornings. We always recommend waiting until late afternoon after we have taken them on shore dives in the early mornings in our area (Miloli'i, Pebble Beach, 2 Steps or Kei'ie). After 15 years no problem!