Celiacs and Diving

[kelly7552]

Celiacs disease is a disease that your body thinks it can digest gluten and fails, slowly destroying your upper intestine. This is an easily solved disease, just don't eat anything with gluten, or that made with gluten, or that fried in the same oil as something with gluten. Oh boy, it's not sounding so easy .

The biggest issue I have as a celiac diver is where to go, eating in restaurants can either be a safe experience (rare) or and unknown experience (often), or a really bad idea. "Continental Breakfasts" often are food deserts for celiacs and exotic dive locations with limited food options are a nightmare.

I've been on the Nekton liveaboard, and on the Cayman Aggressor and they were awesome. The cook was knowledgable and was very helpful. My only frustration was over preparing and not being able to communicate with the actual cook ahead of time. I brought lots of gluten free four/pancake mix/cookies on the liveaboard and it was great.

What I need are ideas of great dive location ideas that have condos with REAL kitchens and markets nearby. I just came back from little cayman and can highly recommend conch club condos on little cayman. The one market was really small, really expensive but it worked!

Any other ideas?

 

[diversteve]

Curacao in town. Better diving is west but some resorts won't have all the appliances. Food shopping is really limited out west also.
Bonaire - many of the waterfront dive resorts are condo properties w/full kitchens. There's several large markets and 2 warehouse foods.
probably Aruba - never been there.
Maui - condos and food stores everywhere.
Kona - condos south of town and there's a Safeway and WalMart. There's a glut of rentals so $1000/wk gets you 2BR on the water.
Roatan with some driving required for food. There's affordable condos with full kitchens in the West End. Houses if there's more of you. The bigger markets are in French Harbor about 1/2 hr. away.

I can provide details on any of these via PM if interested.

 

[SayNo2Snow]

I concur with "diversteve" regarding Roatan and Curacao. We always stay in condo type accommodations and cook in most meals.

On Curacao - Shop for groceries at the Centrum and Cost U Less in Willemstad and stay up near Westpunt to be close to the best diving (we stayed at Marazul Dive Resort)
On Roatan - Eldon's Supermarket in French Harbor (it's been 2 years since we've been and I think there is another) lots of little shops in West End. My recommendation is use VRBO to find a condo (beachfront or otherwise) my favorite area to stay is West Bay Beach area (not to be confused with West End)

Belize - also has lots of shopping options - again I'd recommend VRBO to find the accommodations you prefer and in your budget.

Akumal, MX - on the Mayan Riveria. Akumal has very good diving - though I think Roatan, Belize and Curacao are better. There are large US style grocery stores in Playa del Carmen that you can stop at on your way to Akumal. Again I defer to VRBO or Loco Gringo to select my beach front condo.


PM me if you are interested in any of these areas. I've got a bunch of tip sheets I've compiled for vacationing in these destinations that I'd be happy to share with anyone.:admin:

Cheers,
Ann

 

[tracydr]

Celiacs disease is a disease that your body thinks it can digest gluten and fails, slowly destroying your upper intestine. This is an easily solved disease, just don't eat anything with gluten, or that made with gluten, or that fried in the same oil as something with gluten. Oh boy, it's not sounding so easy .

The biggest issue I have as a celiac diver is where to go, eating in restaurants can either be a safe experience (rare) or and unknown experience (often), or a really bad idea. "Continental Breakfasts" often are food deserts for celiacs and exotic dive locations with limited food options are a nightmare.

I've been on the Nekton liveaboard, and on the Cayman Aggressor and they were awesome. The cook was knowledgable and was very helpful. My only frustration was over preparing and not being able to communicate with the actual cook ahead of time. I brought lots of gluten free four/pancake mix/cookies on the liveaboard and it was great.

What I need are ideas of great dive location ideas that have condos with REAL kitchens and markets nearby. I just came back from little cayman and can highly recommend conch club condos on little cayman. The one market was really small, really expensive but it worked!

Any other ideas?

I've stayed in a condo in Bonaire. I think this could work for you.Dairy, fruits and veggies are reasonably priced, so these foods are good options and will be what I assume will be your safer grocery choices anyway,since processed foods are less safe.
Meat and processed food, more expensive. We eat relatively vegetarian while we're there and get by pretty cheap. We found a condo by looking on a condo by owner website,

 

[TSandM]

Not tropical, but I've done a couple of liveaboard trips on the Peace boat in the Channel Islands, and the cook was able to come up with an amazing menu that was both gluten AND lactose free!

 

[rockymountaindiva]

Just returned from a trip to Indonesia/Sulawesi. Stayed at 2 different places with our gluten-free request made in advance. NAD-Lembeh did an excellent job of providing tasty gluten-free food. When we arrived we had a discussion with the on-site manager and gave him some ideas. We had popcorn and fruit for snacks on the boat. And for each meal, the kitchen brought out a special dish for us. Most of the buffet dishes did not contain gluten anyway. And the diving was great, plus they have a 2 to 1 guest to dive master ratio, the prices are reasonable, and the rooms are nice. You can't cook your own food but we were very impressed with what they did. We are not celiacs, just highly gluten-intolerant and had no stomach issues.