What's up with Houston to Bonaire flights?

[Rhone Man]

I am always very skeptical of the "you must leave 20+ hours between your last dive and your flight" crowd. The vast majority of your off gassing is done in the first four hours after the dive. I have a really hard time believing that after (say) 8 hours subsequent to a dive made within NDLs there is enough residual nitrogen in your system to cause damange simply by a small drop in ambient pressure (most cabins are pressurised to 8,000 feet, which is a pretty darned small drop in ambient pressure).

My old US Navy tables (I know, I know) warn not to fly within 4 hours of diving, or 12 hours if you have been engaging in decompression diving.

 

[highdesert]

Rhone Man - I think a lot of the time recommended by the various dive agencies is "CYA" and worst case scenario thinking. But then, when you throw in a few beers the night before, or dehydration, or being tired, or overweight, or whatever, there's a lot of gray area in there for different individuals. We've been fine with 18 hours on several trips, but I don't really like to promote that to others ... let them set their own limits.

 

[georoc01]

Other than the Friday night Continental flight, the only other real option from Colorado is the Delta flight, which leaves Denver at 1:00am and you change planes in Atlanta. Either way its a very long day. I did the Continental flight last year and while I did dive upon arrival, I was pretty much done by early afternoon.

What we did at the end of the week was ended with a night dive at the resort on Thursday and used Friday to drive around the island and dry out our gear prior to leaving for the airport early Saturday morning.

 

[DiveMaven]

Rhone Man - I think a lot of the time recommended by the various dive agencies is "CYA" and worst case scenario thinking. But then, when you throw in a few beers the night before, or dehydration, or being tired, or overweight, or whatever, there's a lot of gray area in there for different individuals. We've been fine with 18 hours on several trips, but I don't really like to promote that to others ... let them set their own limits.

Agreed. Everyone needs to read the information regarding diving and flying and make their own decisions.

 

[phelana]

Please see my blog for updates on airline changes. Bonaire Bliss