Fly and Dive?

Please register or login

Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.

Benefits of registering include

  • Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
  • A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
  • You can make this box go away

Joining is quick and easy. Log in or Register now!

MarkSteffen

Registered
Messages
14
Reaction score
0
Location
Portland, OR
# of dives
0 - 24
I'm going to be in Costa Rica for a 4 nights. Refresh my memory. I can fly THEN dive, but I can't dive THEN fly, right? So, if I'm there for 4 nights, I'll want to do my dive by the 3rd morning. correct?

Tried to google this and got 9 million different answers.
 
You've got it right. The rule of thumb accepted by most of us is no flying until 24 hours after your last dive. At one time DAN suggested 18 hours might be a safe enough minimum, but I believe they have since questioned whether that is conservative enough. It's all statistical, and the longer the period between your last dive and the flight, the lower the likelihood of symptoms arising. As I understand it, after 24 hours, the incidence rate is vanishingly low.

(Gosh--two replies showed up while I was typing this.)
 
I also use the 24 hour rule before any flight and I've definitely headed straight to the dive boat from the airport on a few vacations!
 
I have done morning dives on the day before flying without issue. Keep dive times conservative, stay shallow and use Nitrox.
 
I have done morning dives on the day before flying without issue. Keep dive times conservative, stay shallow and use Nitrox.

Depending on flight times a morning dive usually gives you 18-28 hours so that is within recommendations

Also depends on how aggressive you have been diving and for how long before that.
 
The "fly then dive" can be questionable with excessive fatigue and dehydration (and the type of dive), but not nearly as risky compared to "dive then fly".

YMMV

Not sure this is an actual rule but I have been diving long enough and have spoken with enough experienced dive ops who discourage jumping right in to start diving just after you land that I have adopted the same rule for my diving. I now usually skip diving the day of arrival.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/teric/

Back
Top Bottom