Altitude after diving in Hawaii

[Chip Fong]

Would love a little friendly advice from the dive community on whether or not horseback riding at a ranch at approximately 3000 ft after the manta night dive would be ok. Planning 2 fun dives Friday and 4 fun dives Saturday with Kona Honu Divers ending with the night manta dive. Wanting to go horseback riding on Sunday morning but will 12-14 hours be enough time between the last dive and that altitude Sunday morning? Thanks in advance all!

 

[loosenit2]

Generally ascending 2000 ft or less can be done with no wait.

DAN recommends divers should wait 12 hours before flying, and they should wait 18 hours after doing multiple NDL dives. They suggest longer waits for longer exposures. PADI has accepted those guidelines. But those are based on ascent to 8000 ft in airplane and are the most conservative guideline out there

The NOAA ascent to altitude tables say the wait time is based on the highest pressure group you achieve in the previous 24 hours. The NOAA table is attached. Based on you indicating 12-14 hours before ascending to altitude you should be fine. The NOAA table gives a 11:42 wait for a PG of Z and ascent to 3000 ft.

 

[Chip Fong]

That was what I imagine to be the perfect response to my question. Many thanks!

 

[diversteve]

Up in the Parker Ranch area? One consideration is the Saddle Road goes to 6000' somewhere near the observatory turn-off.

I think there's a back way in - inland from the Waikoloa area but I haven't done that in decades. Pretty sure it was all paved.

 

[dmaziuk]

The speed aka ascent rate is a factor. I wouldn't drive up to 6000 right after a dive but hiking speed should be no problem. Horseback I expect will be much closer to the latter. Also spending some time at 3000 before going up to 6000 should help.

 

[kafkaland]

I’m not sure I would prefer hiking over driving from a decompression perspective. Physical exertion matter, too. So driving up to altitude might be better than hiking. In any case, the manta dives are quite shallow, maybe 30 ft. or so. And if you can do that on nitrox, you may be hardly load up on nitrogen at all.

 

[dmaziuk]

post corrected

 

[lowlysubaruguy]

Ok I’ll throw out a thought. Or more so a question. You just finished a dive and get in your car and drive To a 6500 feet elevation over the mountain passes which can occur here in the NW in some of the lake dives. Less on mount of the coastal mountain roads.

Your sitting in your car legs folded arms etc are there veins that may not allow proper off gassing because of the restrictions you create on them when sitting for long periods. I ask because often my local dives here land me in a car fairly soon after the last dive. We have talked about it and the elevation changes have come up a lot but no ones ever mentioned restrictions in blood flow? One thought that i have heard quite a bit is the risk could be even higher driving then flying given that i bet a lot of people do there last dive for the weekend load up and head home. In my case if I dive some of the more southern lake dives in Oregon I drive over the steepest parts of the mountain to get home.

 

[Saniflush]

I think I remember reading a thread where @boulderjohn said that he would breath O2 (or at least I higher concentration of O2) while driving home from his "local diving" which had a significant elevation change. I absolutely could be wrong in remembering this though (Mrs Flush likes to point out that my memory is not as good as I think it is)

 

[boulderjohn]

I think I remember reading a thread where @boulderjohn said that he would breath O2 (or at least I higher concentration of O2) while driving home from his "local diving" which had a significant elevation change. I absolutely could be wrong in remembering this though (Mrs Flush likes to point out that my memory is not as good as I think it is)

I do.

When I am deco diving, I of course have O2 left in a deco bottle when I am done. After I pack up and start to drive home, I have that bottle in the front of my van, and I breathe it as I start the drive. It is about 45 minutes before I get to the first real elevation change--I have been gradually climbing before that. I then have a couple hours of driving at about the same elevation before the second (and more serious) elevation change. By the time I get to that second change, I have done roughly the same thing as astronauts and U2 pilots do before their rather sudden ascents to even more serious altitudes.

There is a technique to it. Put the regulator to your mouth and take a good, long pull. Take the regulator out and let the O2 linger in your circulatory system for a while. Exhale slowly. Take another hit. Do not leave the regulator in the mouth while you breathe as if you were on a dive. It will slobber up in no time.