Booze, Drugs, And Diving

[neuneu]

New to diving. I picked it up because I love to travel and the last 3 countries I went to had amazing diving but I was not certified.

One of my favorite parts of traveling is meeting new people, and often times the best way to make a new friend is over a drink... or 5...

So assuming I will be drinking and diving on a trip I am looking for a realistic "middle ground"

The things I have heard vary greatly. I've heard people say, "Don't drink within 24 hours of a dive."

But I also know people who will dive while drunk (I understand this is stupid)

My questions are as follows.

How long should you wait after a night of "solid" drinking before you dive again?

Are there any risks to diving while drunk? Putting actual impairment aside, purely physiologic

And basically the same questions but with Marijuana. Planning a trip to Thailand soon so...

Does depth play a factor in any of this? After a night of drinking is a 10m dive totally ok but a 20m a no-go?


I understand risk, and that "not doing it" is the best way to go about it. However, lots of things in life are risky. I am looking to balance risk/reward.

I appreciate any response!
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[Outbound]

I know people who tie one on every night of a dive trip and dive the next day with no problems. I also know a person who did the same and ended up getting bent, likely due to being pretty dehydrated from drinking so much alcohol. What’s your exact risk? No one can tell you that. Too many shifting variables. No reputable dive op will let you on the boat if they know you’ve had a drink that day.

I know you don’t want to hear this, but drinking and diving don’t mix, despite the fact that so many people do it. My recommendation would be to keep it to a few drinks max AFTER diving, keep well hydrated, and make sure you get adequate sleep. Don’t dive aggressive profiles. Don’t ride your NDL.

 

[lowwall]

The FAA 8 hour "bottle to throttle" rule is a reasonable guideline unless you have gotten so unreasonably drunk you still feel impaired.

"§ 91.17 Alcohol or drugs.

(a) No person may act or attempt to act as a crewmember of a civil aircraft—

(1) Within 8 hours after the consumption of any alcoholic beverage;"

For pot, a few hours after you no longer feel high will be fine. Your can use the same 8 hour rule if you want to keep it simple.

Make sure you drink enough water to stay hydrated. And make you get enough sleep, especially before dives that are challenging or pushing your personal skill set.

 

[Brett Hatch]

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.

 

[BoltSnap]

And basically the same questions but with Marijuana. Planning a trip to Thailand soon so...

You are expecting that somebody will tell you it is OK to dive after taking drugs???

 

[neuneu]

I know people who tie one on every night of a dive trip and dive the next day with no problems. I also know a person who did the same and ended up getting bent, likely due to being pretty dehydrated from drinking so much alcohol. What’s your exact risk? No one can tell you that. Too many shifting variables. No reputable dive op will let you on the boat if they know you’ve had a drink that day.

I know you don’t want to hear this, but drinking and diving don’t mix, despite the fact that so many people do it. My recommendation would be to keep it to a few drinks max AFTER diving, keep well hydrated, and make sure you get adequate sleep. Don’t dive aggressive profiles. Don’t ride your NDL.

I figured that would be the response. Much appreciated

 

[neuneu]

The FAA 8 hour "bottle to throttle" rule is a reasonable guideline unless you have gotten so unreasonably drunk you still feel impaired.

"§ 91.17 Alcohol or drugs.

(a) No person may act or attempt to act as a crewmember of a civil aircraft—

(1) Within 8 hours after the consumption of any alcoholic beverage;"

For pot, a few hours after you no longer feel high will be fine. Your can use the same 8 hour rule if you want to keep it simple.

Make sure you drink enough water to stay hydrated and make you get enough sleep. Especially before dives that are challenging or pushing your personal skill set.

I really like that rule of thumb and its typically what I just naturally do before any riskyish behaviour. Being unreasonably drunk isnt too enjoyable for me, it seems like those days are in my past.

 

[neuneu]

You are expecting that somebody will tell you it is OK to dive after taking drugs???

I thought I was pretty clear in my post.

I wasn't looking for someone to tell me it was 'OK' but for a general consensus.

Which seems 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.

 

[SlugLife]

Aside from what others are saying:

Be aware of your limits, which may change from one dive to the next, or based on a variety of circumstances. For example, I recently "thumbed" my first dive. The short story is I hadn't gotten enough sleep, lost a fin, then got a cramp. I didn't feel there was any serious danger yet, but if something serious did happen I may have been unprepared to deal with it.

If you read the accidents-and-incidents section, the way most accidents become severe is that it's rarely just one thing going wrong. It's multiple things (about 3) going wrong at the same time. Often, at least one of those things is a lapse in judgement, or blatant disregard of some safety standard.

I've used the analogy of dice before. If you roll all 1's "snake eyes" your dead. So you want as many dice as possible. If you can add dice, such as redundant equipment, staying well within your limits, etc, even if several things go wrong you'll probably be fine. However, each time you ignore some safety standard, you're effectively taking away one of those dice that might save your life.

Drugs or alcohol themselves impair judgement ,but we can also add in other things like the amount of sleep, being nacred, dehydration, distraction, or even having a tendency to push limits or seek danger (there's a reason I don't own a motorcycle). I can't precisely tell you what you should or shouldn't do (and you might not listen anyway), however beware how drugs and alcohol may affect you, it's not always consistent, and that your ability to tell whether you're impaired may itself be impaired by your impairment.

 

[neuneu]

Aside from what others are saying:

Be aware of your limits, which may change from one dive to the next, or based on a variety of circumstances. For example, I recently "thumbed" my first dive. The short story is I hadn't gotten enough sleep, lost a fin, then got a cramp. I didn't feel there was any serious danger yet, but if something serious did happen I may have been unprepared to deal with it.

If you read the accidents-and-incidents section, the way most accidents become severe is that it's rarely just one thing going wrong. It's multiple things (about 3) going wrong at the same time. Often, at least one of those things is a lapse in judgement, or blatant disregard of some safety standard.

I've used the analogy of dice before. If you roll all 1's "snake eyes" your dead. So you want as many dice as possible. If you can add dice, such as redundant equipment, staying well within your limits, etc, even if several things go wrong you'll probably be fine. However, each time you ignore some safety standard, you're effectively taking away one of those dice that might save your life.

Drugs or alcohol themselves impair judgement ,but we can also add in other things like the amount of sleep, being nacred, dehydration, distraction, or even having a tendency to push limits or seek danger (there's a reason I don't own a motorcycle). I can't precisely tell you what you should or shouldn't do (and you might not listen anyway), however beware how drugs and alcohol may affect you, it's not always consistent, and that your ability to tell whether you're impaired may itself be impaired by your impairment.

Damn this is great. Much Appreciated. I don't own a motorcycle for the exact same reason.

I had no plans to dive while intoxicated but I have seen it happen a lot so it was more out of curiosity than personal desire.

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.

It seems that is the general consensus for maximum fun/safety balance