Diving and alcohol

[boulderjohn]

Let me start by saying that I would never drink then dive. That's just me. Just to play devils advocate, wouldn't a couple of cups of coffee in the morning be just as bad as drinking a bottle of beer as far as dehydration goes?

If we were only talking about dehydration, there would be some truth there. We have to recognize the danger of dehydration and act accordingly. Thus, if I have a few drinks the night before a dive, I make sure to hydrate. If I drink coffee before a dive, I make sure I am also drinking other liquids.

But we are not just talking about dehydration.

If we are talking just before a dive, there is a world of difference between the morning coffee and the morning beer. You need to exercise good judgment throughout a dive, and you want to avoid anything that will impair that.

As someone who has made a number of speeches in settings where there was alcohol available before, I limit my drinking to next to nothing if I am going to be speaking. Even a little will keep me from being my best.

 

[DiverBeth]

I've been on dive trips and heard a couple of divers say "I'm a big guy a beer isn't going to hurt me" Well then don't dive with me :no . A drink or 2 the night before ok but not at lunch between the morning and afternoon dives. I've even seen the results of being up all night drinking and diving the next day. :11:

It's just better to be safe than sorry. If you can't wait until the end of the day after you've finished diving to have a drink you might be having other problems.

 

[Cacia]

Hopefully a level headed discussion may help

The truth is that a person who might occasionally have ONE cold beer during a three hour surface interval somewhere in Mexico with their fish tacos, probably should not post that.

But people do need to keep in mind that there are experienced adult divers out there that have a pretty good grip on themselves, their health, and their diet and do make their own rules. It is good to have guidelines and even rules if you are an operator. I worry when the zero tolerance mindset creeps in because you do wonder what will come next. yes, coffee will dehydrate you, but I still have one in the morning.

I am the first person to complain about big drinkers. The truth is, in the years I have been diving ( a long time), I have seen a lot of alcoholism rampant in the Instructor/DM/operator/captain community seemingly at a higher incidence than the general population. I have no proof of that, but that is what I believe, based on the people I have known. I am very careful around those people when they are making decisions that effect me. It has many implications ranging from vehicle safety to boat maintenance and daily financial pressures. I have often wondered why the dive community doesn't do more to address the issue in terms of awareness of the problem. It is not nice to talk about it. I see alcohol as a problem, but not as much with the traveling diver as much as the operators/ captains/ dive guides. Those people are many of my best friends, so I get no pleasure saying that but I get uneasy when they start making blanket statements that others should not even have a drink the night before.
People that find it hard to have one and then stop probably should not.

There are many people who enjoy a glass of wine or a beer with their dinner and are very responsible divers.

 

[CompuDude]

I think most people here agree that drinking between dives is a bad idea. Some get away with it, and in reality, I don't think ONE beer during a 2-hour lunch with a dive later that afternoon is likely to cause a problem (unless you are a small person or very susceptible to the effects in general), although I would never do so myself.

Curious as to people's takes on drinking in the evening on a dive weekend: If you start drinking around dinner time after the day's last dive, but plan to dive the following morning, how safe is drinking? I'm not talking about drinking until you're hugging the toilet, but I'm also talking about more than one or two beers. Lets assume a couple things:

1) You are completely sober the next day before your first dive. If you're still drunk, you'd better thumb the dive, period.

2) You hydrate like crazy before, during and after drinking, and especially the following morning to minimize any dehydration. If you don't, diving is a dehydrated is a bad idea, don't do it.

3) You are not prone to hangovers, or perhaps keep the drinking small enough to minimize any hangover issues.

Bearing those three condition in mind (if you fail one of the three, no diving, bucko!), how do people feel about drinking the night before a dive? Not that they always follow all three rules, going back to Catherine's post, I have seen many a DM or boat operator drinking and partying the night before a dive, but still show up ready for work and apparently sober the next day. Problem, or not? Problem for the diver vs. the DM?

Discuss.

 

[cmaha76]

It just seems to me that when people answer this question they either go the dehydration route or assume that drinking before diving assumes shot gunning a twelve pack right before the giant stride.

Like I said, I don't drink before I dive, but I don't see a problem with someone having a coldy for lunch and then diving as long as they know their limits.

 

[Cacia]

I agree with everything you have said. I think that people who LIVE in dive destinations have special challenges. I was in the Caribbean for eight years, the first one, was a perpetual vacation/ happy hour. I realized early on, at about 22, that if I was going to live in places like this, then I had to not drink like I was on vacation, because I wasn't. That's why many residents of these places look 20 years older than they are...they live hard. My opinion is that more than six drinks or so a week takes a toll on you, one way or another. You just cannot tell people how to manage that, it is a life choice.

To give my opinion to your 4+ beers the night before,...most people just can't be on top of their game, mentally sharp doing that. Personally, for me, it would be worse than the one beer with food over a long lunch. (Maybe because it really interferes with REM sleep and you are not as rested). Alcohol induced sleep deprivation is a big factor.

 

[TxHockeyGuy]

I think most people here agree that drinking between dives is a bad idea. Some get away with it, and in reality, I don't think ONE beer during a 2-hour lunch with a dive later that afternoon is likely to cause a problem (unless you are a small person or very susceptible to the effects in general), although I would never do so myself.

Curious as to people's takes on drinking in the evening on a dive weekend: If you start drinking around dinner time after the day's last dive, but plan to dive the following morning, how safe is drinking? I'm not talking about drinking until you're hugging the toilet, but I'm also talking about more than one or two beers. Lets assume a couple things:

1) You are completely sober the next day before your first dive. If you're still drunk, you'd better thumb the dive, period.

2) You hydrate like crazy before, during and after drinking, and especially the following morning to minimize any dehydration. If you don't, diving is a dehydrated is a bad idea, don't do it.

3) You are not prone to hangovers, or perhaps keep the drinking small enough to minimize any hangover issues.

Bearing those three condition in mind (if you fail one of the three, no diving, bucko!), how do people feel about drinking the night before a dive? Not that they always follow all three rules, going back to Catherine's post, I have seen many a DM or boat operator drinking and partying the night before a dive, but still show up ready for work and apparently sober the next day. Problem, or not? Problem for the diver vs. the DM?

Discuss.

I can't say I'm proud of it, but I've had probably more than I should have the night before. I made sure to drink plenty of water that night and again in the morning. I also was not in anyway impaired by my previous night of drinking the next morning. I will also say my dive buddy was well aware of how much I had to drink the previous night as well as how much water I had been drinking and they had no problem with it, they were there.

 

[WeekendDiver]

I have sinned myself. Usually I am a real hardass about being hydrated, drinking very little when I am on a dive vacation etc but once I got completely thrashed at night and I was still drunk when I woke up for an early morning boat dive. My dive buddy did not wake up so I went by myself. There was a significant chop and I sat right next to the outboard. We all just jumped in the water (no buddie) on a shallow dive with lots of surge and seagrass, waving around. There also was a current. Needless to say I had to do all I could to not barf. I was unable to determine whether my diziness was due to the alcohol, surge or the chop at the surface. In any event, that was the first and last time that I did something that stupid. I was lucky that I there were no real consequences..
my recommendation is to drink very, very lightly (if at all) at the end of the dive day and not at all during).

 

[CC1020]

Besides the obvious issue of having your judgement clouded by the effects of the alcohol, my understanding is that alcohol has the physiological effect of reducing surface tension in the vascular system. This increases the likelihood of the formation of nitrogen bubbles, thereby increasing the possibilty of DCS. I'm not an MD or anything, but this would clearly make alcohol consumption a very bad idea.

 

[Daner]

I will have a beer with lunch between dives. I don't see it as a problem. I look around at other divers and see people taking alot greater risks than me. ( I don't have to list them).

I will party it up the night before diving as well. I've been know to come up with a few new dance moves at disco every now and then after a few pops. I don't get hung over, I don't get dehydrated (which is usually the cause of a hangover) and I make the decision to dive the same as I would for any other dive.

If anyone wouldn't buddy up with me, it wouldn't bother me. I make choices and have to live with them. Good thing is that my normal dive buddy feels the same way I do.