Drinking the Night before a dive

[ev780]

Personal choice IMHO. To each his own. As long as your decision doesn't directly impact or effect someone else's safety or rights, then everyone else with an opinion can go fly a kite.


But..... keep in mind that if your decision places someone else in a position of having to perform a rescue..... then that still counts as impacting someone else's safety.


Personally.... I go on vacation to dive, sleep, relax, read , and......party. I'm a big boy and have no problem diving with a bit of a hangover. Also, I really enjoy having an ice cold brewski.. waiting for me in the truck right after an afternoon dive.... and even if I'm gonna dive again in an hour, it's no big deal. One of the great things about shore diving in Bonaire. No rules, no standards and especially..... no self appointed righteous know-it-alls who think they are experts and that others are supposed to live by their rules.

Took 29 posts for someone to tell the truth! I will admit I have back rolled off a boat with a hangover bad enough I didn't know my name!

 

[supergaijin]

My own experience when I had alcohol available was: 3 drinks were too many, 4 was not enough. I had to define my limit as '2' because a 'few' was too broad and open to interpretation.

Are you on vacation to drink scotch or dive? Serious question. If it's a 'cruise' you may not be diving every day- have your drinks then. But when you're doing a dive or 2 the next day, definitely limit your alcohol consumption, drink a few waters and get to bed early.

You'll feel better, enjoy your dive more, and be safer for yourself and those diving with you.

 

[TSandM]

Seldom do I have more then 2 beers occasionally I will have 3 almost never 4. If I am spending the money to go diving 2 will probably be the limit

My saying about Mexico is that the problem with the second Margarita is that it makes the third one look like a good idea . . .

Scubadog, if you think nothing of having a beer and then going diving, you are in the very small list of people with whom I really don't want to dive. Narcosis is bad enough; I don't want my teammates adding acute alcohol ingestion to it!

 

[Bob DBF]

Do as I say, not as I have done.

Now I might have 2 beers in the early evening before a dive, may be one for lunch when off work the day before the dive. I find no difference between that and abstinence the day before. Over that I notice.

Back in the day, I dove in various conditions and at times narcosis was the least of my problems, I found that having a clear head has improved my enjoyment of diving so I have been bringing that to the table when I dive. Also I'm a lot older and, sometimes, wiser.

Now I have a little chuckle when I watch a hungover diver on the boat ride out, or miss the first dive or more, or return to the boat green, and so on. Of course it's only amusing because it's not me.



Bob
--------------------
I may be old, but I'm not dead yet.

 

[Tortuga68]

good example why so many people lurk but dont post here
There are a lot of online forums where people learning to dive can ask noob questions without some barnacles crack calling the stupid
Way to go @ss

Bailing out on this thread. It got to "stupid" pretty quick. Guy with 14 posts and a soon to be OW asks a question and takes a beating for it

and you too are now a target
And 100℅ correct
shame isnt it

Just thinking the same thing. Some people forget that they were novices once, too...

I really think you guys are being a bit oversensitive, but if I offended the OP by calling his question stupid then I apologise. I just don't think How long should I wait to dive after "drinking a lot of scotch" is a well-phrased question, especially from an uncertified non-diver - nevertheless I did my best to answer it, as did a lot of other people

When I was a novice I didn't drink a lot of anything before diving

granwiscour if you want to see a beating, try posting a deep air thread

 

[Searcaigh]

Everything in moderation couple of drinks then a lot of water and go to bed early.

I was on a boat last year where our second dive was cancelled due to one diver being very ill after the first dive. The instructor on board was very concerned and put the diver on O2 and we had a 90 minute boat ride back to Dibba in north Oman. Later I discovered that this young lady had been out on the piss the night before and really should not have been diving. It ruined a day of diving not just for her but for all of the other divers on the boat that day, who all had traveled by road for 2 hours first followed by a 90 minute boat ride to the dive site.

 

[Panama Jones]

So I guess the OP has read enough to form his/her own conclusions then. Night

 

[jeffromonty]

drink plenty of water, one beer one water and you can't get drunk unless you want to swim as you walk.

 

[tamas970]

Personal opinion: drinking and driving is the same as drinking and diving. More so, that with a severe hangover one might drive, but diving is done in pairs and your buddy will be pretty upset if you ruin his day by staying on the boat puking.


I didn't take the time to read all comments, here are the DAN guidelines.

Among others, I'd highlight: " In any form, alcohol has a direct effect on the kidneys, causing an obligatory loss of body fluids. " - meaning you have an increased chance of DCS until your tissues are not re-hydrated.

Personally I'd limit the alcohol amount to 2 beers (max 1L) or something equivalent the day before and finish drinking by 10pm.

 

[DivemasterDennis]

The amount of alcohol and time between drinking and diving are critical. There is the same amount of alcohol in one ounce of liquor, 4 ounces of wine, or 12 ounces of beer. Consider each "one drink." You should allow a MINIMUM of 4 hours of no drinking if you have one or two drinks. For each additional drink over 2, add another 2 hours. This formula will leave you with.00 alcohol in you body, or so close thereto as to not matter. Of course, this makes no allowances for differences in individual metabolism, but is a good rule of thumb to be SAFE. 4 one ounce scotch's means no diving for 8 hour or more. If each is 2 ounces, "a double" then 16 hours. I know some divers will say (or post here) that they have 6 or 8 beers and dive 8 hours later. Fine. But they are lucky, unique in their metabolism, stupid, or all of the above. Have a great trip, but be safe.
DivemasterDennis