Going to Fantasy Island - Roatan Dec 28 to Jan 4

[CODMAN]

And mainly for jelly stings...

Or just pour some vinegar on it when you get back to the dive shop...wonderful way to kill the bacteria. They keep it on hand at the Fantasy Island dive shop for just such occasions

 

[DandyDon]

I don't want to hijack this thread with a Dive Medicine discussion; sorry. :blush: But shorties do leave a lot of tender skin open for ladder scrapes, etc. DAN published articles last year greatly reducing the appropriate uses of vinegar as it really is not the cure-all so many old timers thot it was, and there is an infection possible from injuries in the sea that kills several Texas fishermen every year among others: If you wound looks worse in the morning, you need to find a qualified ER as you do not have time for an appointment.

This is getting off on what-ifs, tho - sorry. Much more info in Dive Medicine forum.

 

[diversteve]

Diversteve, are you sure that wasn't tax? I know the tax rate is pretty high, but was not aware other establishments charged a credit card usage fee...that's ridiculous :shocked2:

I'm not really sure - it was a couple years ago and I've been to other areas since then. It might've just been on the house we rented but there was some incentive for me to pay for the diving via PayPal also IIRC.

Really I just don't remember...

 

[simonds]

Have a great time at Fantasy. I've been there 20 times now and will go back again this summer. I've also been to the Turks and Caicos six times and will dive there again in March. Roatan man is right about looking at the small things at Roatan. I also find the corals and sponges are better, more colorful and more plentiful, than in the Turks and Caicos. The tops of the reefs are shallow in Roatan, that probably accounts for some of the differences. You won't see the big fish and the sharks that you see in T&C.

By the way, don't forget that you will need about $40.00 American per person for the airport tax when you depart the country. (I'm not sure what that is in Lempira.)

Have a great trip.

 

[sft109]

Less than 12 hours before we fly out!

I will make sure to post back when we return with a brief trip report, etc.
I've been reading mixed things about FI (seems some people have problem with hot water in rooms, bad smelling rooms, etc.) but I'm not too worried. I read a lot of negatives on tripadvisor.com that I just simply don't find to be true quite often but I do realize that this is a lower-cost place to stay and to expect accordingly and this is the expectation that we have going in. Hopefully we'll be pleasantly surprised. As for the dive op - almost everything I have read with regards to the operation itself (not counting gear) has been positive. Thanks again to everyone that contributed, you have definetely helped us out best prepare for this and given some good advice.

I only have a p&s with a magic filter that I use for underwater photography. I wish I had a housing for my dslr but I haven't yet been able to justify the high costs of running a dslr system underwater. For anyone interested my photography site is: Zenfolio | Sinan Tarlan I'll post shots up there eventually when I get back - for non diving photos I suggest to check out my Cuba gallery which has been my most recent work, I absolutely loved shooting Havana!

 

[CajunDiva]

DAN published articles last year greatly reducing the appropriate uses of vinegar as it really is not the cure-all so many old timers thot it was...

DD...are you calling me an OLD-TIMER

Seriously - vinegar is no cure-all, but if applied immediately it can provide relief from stings and can prevent infection from coral cuts, etc. that might occur otherwise. I didn't mean to suggest it was a cure-all, just something smart and easy to use until you can get further treatment, if necessary

 

[DandyDon]

DD...are you calling me an OLD-TIMER

Let me think about that one. No the common problem is asking the local experts when in some cases DAN has determined that they have been doing it wrong all along. I would not be surprised if the dive instructors at FI told everyone to use vinegar for all stings, but it would be wrong if they did.

Seriously - vinegar is no cure-all, but if applied immediately it can provide relief from stings and can prevent infection from coral cuts, etc. that might occur otherwise. I didn't mean to suggest it was a cure-all, just something smart and easy to use until you can get further treatment, if necessary

In some cases, the DAN articles have mentioned vinegar making the stings worse. If you know what it was that stung you, or even if you don't, then you can get expert advise from DAN for free. My first reaction to a sting is lots of rinsing in salt water, not fresh, and scraping with a plastic card I carry; second is usually a hot water soak & hydrocortizone cream; calling DAN is always good, and you can't just search their articles as some of them are out of date too.

My original stand in this thread http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/di...r-included-my-dive-bag.html?highlight=vinegar was that vinegar had no place in my first aid, but I was corrected in the discussion. Late in the thread I adjusted my stand...

Okaaay, I am revising my thinking as I so often do after I start a News thread and we enjoy some discussion. My thanks to all, especially DocV, for the input - even those called foolish.

I'll keep the vinegar in my dive bag first aid for fire coral and similar but remember not to use it on jellyfish stings or man-of-war.
And replace the calamine with a larger tube of hydrocortisone.

>>----> Here is the DAN article: "Stings Update" http://www.divebumoki.com/images/Sting Update.pdf