Booze, Drugs, And Diving

[Marie13]

Whenever these type threads pop up on SB it gets me thinking, why are people so obsessed with needing to get high or impaired on something?
It seems Americans are the worst, IDK? It just seems that way. I look at the voracious appetite in this country for cocaine weed pills halucnogenics

You think Americans are bad with drinking? I’ve come across folks from various Eastern European countries that put away enormous quantities of alcohol. But yes, if someone absolutely needs booze, weed, or various other substances to “have a good time,” I’ll find someone else to hang around with. I prefer having all my wits about me all the time.

 

[Alekseolsen]

Why did you say 'some dive ops' have a rule when you're talking about drinking before a dive on the same day?
It's not some, it's virtually all. What dive op allows people to drink before the dive?

I've done so.

Liveaboard, finished dive, moving to next divesite. Had a beer, dove 4 hours later. I'd have a BIG problem with the op if they made a problem out if it (communicated in advance would obviosuly be different)

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Having done it a couple times: diving hungover is easily one of the worst experiences in the world. Even at shallow as 15’ It feels like your face is trying to explode but it’s being crushed into place by the water. All at the same time.
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I had the total opposite experience, going from hungover to "cured" the second I was submerged breathing cold air

 

[Lorenzoid]

I doubt we Americans are the worst. I'm not going to take the time to look up per-capita consumption of alcohol and drugs, but my bet is we're not the worst. My thinking is we're just the loudest--in everything we do. In other places in the world where people are getting wasted, maybe they just don't talk about it so much? Maybe we are bothered by a deep-rooted feeling it is "wrong," and yapping about our excesses is cathartic.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

You think Americans are bad with drinking? I’ve come across folks from various Eastern European countries that put away enormous quantities of alcohol. But yes, if someone absolutely needs booze, weed, or various other substances to “have a good time,” I’ll find someone else to hang around with. I prefer having all my wits about me all the time.

Yes, I know all about how Eastern Europeans can drink! Look at my last name and that will tell you my heritage.
My dad and his lifelong best friends used to get together on selected Sundays. His friends (aunts and uncles to me) would drive two hours down to visit him. They would get there in the morning and sit around the table with two giant room temp bottles of cheap vodka. By 1:00 pm the vodka was about gone, my step mom was under the table somewhere (no way she could keep up) and my dad and aunt/uncle (three in total) consumed most of the booze.
Then the relatives would need to go home, they would hug kiss and say their goodby’s and hit the road, like nothing ever happened!!
The amount if vodka they could drink would kill a normal person.

 

[Vicko]

Ill tell you the story of two Polish divers, we will call them 1 and 2 because if someone told their wife's 1 and 2s last act on this earth would be to end me, probably with vodka.
They would come to Vis to dive for a week. They would bring their own gasses, boosters and booze. Actually most of their dive van would not be filled with dive stuff but vodka and beer, the last one is for hydration purposes only.
For a week straight 1 and 2 would do insane dive profiles that would kill someone who had blood in their veins, luckily 1 and 2 would make sure their blood alcohol level would be more accurately called alcohol blood level.
They would not go to sleep but drink the whole night, I would try to join them but unfortunately my 20 something year old liver would not be able to survive being in proximity to their breaths for more then a few minutes. In the morning while the rest of us are sipping coffee and slowly lugging gear to the boat, they would be on the boat drinking. With the gear all ready.
Between dives they would drink. Actually I'm 100% certain that they even drank during deco stops. I'm guessing that the only reason their deco times were so short is that their dry suits did not have enough pockets to carry more booze.
These guys would drink their whole dive booze van dry, and when the last bottle was done jump on the ferry and DRIVE back home.
I'm not exaggerating, well I am but not that much.
The point is don't drink with Polish people if you want to be productive in the next few weeks.

The other point is that there are plenty of dive operators that don't care how much you drink as long as you are capable of getting on the boat and getting off it later.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

Ill tell you the story of two Polish divers, we will call them 1 and 2 because if someone told their wife's 1 and 2s last act on this earth would be to end me, probably with vodka.
They would come to Vis to dive for a week. They would bring their own gasses, boosters and booze. Actually most of their dive van would not be filled with dive stuff but vodka and beer, the last one is for hydration purposes only.
For a week straight 1 and 2 would do insane dive profiles that would kill someone who had blood in their veins, luckily 1 and 2 would make sure their blood alcohol level would be more accurately called alcohol blood level.
They would not go to sleep but drink the whole night, I would try to join them but unfortunately my 20 something year old liver would not be able to survive being in proximity to their breaths for more then a few minutes. In the morning while the rest of us are sipping coffee and slowly lugging gear to the boat, they would be on the boat drinking. With the gear all ready.
Between dives they would drink. Actually I'm 100% certain that they even drank during deco stops. I'm guessing that the only reason their deco times were so short is that their dry suits did not have enough pockets to carry more booze.
These guys would drink their whole dive booze van dry, and when the last bottle was done jump on the ferry and DRIVE back home.
I'm not exaggerating, well I am but not that much.
The point is don't drink with Polish people if you want to be productive in the next few weeks.

The other point is that there are plenty of dive operators that don't care how much you drink as long as you are capable of getting on the boat and getting off it later.

Maybe alcohol doesn’t absorb N2 like blood?
And then there’s the anti freeze factor.
No you don’t want to try and compete with Pols when it comes to drinking, you will lose every time.
The only one that could was my mom (real mom) she was full blood Swede and they can be sleeper hard cores. Nobody knows it until they get drank under the table.
I actually believe most of your story, it sounds about right.
Cast iron livers.
I’m sure it was probably potato vodka too.

 

[MacDuyver]

It seems Americans are the worst, IDK?

bud you really need to go hang out at a bar with Australians or Brits. I can’t keep up.

 

[Doctorfish]

Diving mixed with drinking or drugs is an example of potential Darwinian Selection at work. If people want to do stupid sh-t, and risk their lives, it's their decision. A bad one, but their's to make.

 

[BoltSnap]

Diving mixed with drinking or drugs is an example of potential Darwinian Selection at work. If people want to do stupid sh-t, and risk their lives, it's their decision. A bad one, but their's to make.

The problem with their "Darwinian" line of thinking is that they are going to either hurt or put other people in jeopardy because of their totally stupid and selfish behavior. They will hurt their buddies, mates on dive boat, dive leaders and rescue workers who have to put their lives and health on the line to save them when they get in trouble or to search for their drug and alcohol saturated corpses. If nothing else, they are selfishly going to ruin other people's time and dive vacation.

 

[Kimela]

You think Americans are bad with drinking? I’ve come across folks from various Eastern European countries that put away enormous quantities of alcohol. But yes, if someone absolutely needs booze, weed, or various other substances to “have a good time,” I’ll find someone else to hang around with. I prefer having all my wits about me all the time.

And THEIR wits too, if you may be depending on them during a dive.