Lembeh, polluted water and illness?

[Luko]

Just a word about the original subject. I was in Ambon when another diver got a very bad case of the runs on the morning after his first or second dive (I forget). He was out of action for the next 5 days. Really bad case, barely surfacing a few times to make a brief appearance at meal times to join us sometimes. Imodium did not help, neither did a trip to the local doctor. No one else had any issues at all. He has just come in from Lembeh and taken a day off in Ambon, where he was going to be for 2 weeks (first trip to that part of the world). So travel/rest was not a factor, and he seemed to be generally careful.

Finally, he speculated what had caused the problem was his habit of taking his regulator out and sipping a bit of water on a regular basis. I got the impression he did this a few times each dive, salty water notwithstanding. He was backed up on this practice by another diver who said she sometimes did the same thing. Anyway, the speculation was that the water he happened to imbibe was so badly contaminated that it had laid him flat.

So, any divers that do the same "just a little sip" thing, think twice, be careful.

I had a smilar thing happening to me a couple of years ago in Alor : while diving in front of a village.
I probably surfaced at the wrong place on the wrong moment,.. i don't "sip" seawater but I clearly relate my troubles to this dive and therefore gather that just taking my reg of my mouth and putting it back would have been enough to catch some nasty belly bugs. I also was the only one at the resort to hit with the runs, And the first time for me in 35 years traveling (OK...Nepal excepted).
Immodium (loperamide) does not help the flow is too "powerful", you need panfurex (Nifuroxazide) in this case to neutralize the bacteria. i spent 4 days very near to a toilet and drank a plantationfull of coconuts in order to avoid dehydration (Coconut water was much more help than Pocari Sweat) I could only eat nasi bubur for a few days.

So to say Lembeh is not the only place, Alor is not known for the density of the population, take a bay or a strait where a remote village does not handle properly wasted water and there you are with some ugly bacteria sitting on your 2nd stage staring at you right in the eyes.

 

[Dan]

...Immodium (loperamide) does not help the flow is too "powerful", you need panfurex (Nifuroxazide) in this case to neutralize the bacteria. i spent 4 days very near to a toilet and drank a plantationfull of coconuts in order to avoid dehydration (Coconut water was much more help than Pocari Sweat) I could only eat nasi bubur for a few days...

This is good info, @Luko Thanks for the tips!

 

[Cali_diver]

Sipping Ambon water... (couldn't find the throw up emoji!!) When I dive Ambon... regulator is never in water. I hold it above my head or it is sealed (with a death grip) in my mouth.. If I am ever diving near a fish market, harbor, or just any heavily populated place. Same rule applies.

"Love the smell of Dettol in Ambon..."

Ha found it!!

 

[Wingy]

My first dive at Ambon last October turned out to be a "Hello! Surprise! I'm Mrs migraine and I just thought I'd drop in on your dive" affair which did not thrill me at all I clamped and chucked through my reg being somewhat mindful of contaminants then promptly spat it out and chucked up again on the surface giving me a taste of Ambon. FWIW - I didn't get sick at all.

 

[Cali_diver]

My first dive at Ambon last October turned out to be a "Hello! Surprise! I'm Mrs migraine and I just thought I'd drop in on your dive" affair which did not thrill me at all I clamped and chucked through my reg being somewhat mindful of contaminants then promptly spat it out and chucked up again on the surface giving me a taste of Ambon. FWIW - I didn't get sick at all.

Oh that's tuff... so sorry

 

[billt4sf]

no overeating, not too much alcohol and washing your hands should prevent most problems.

You touched on all three of my weaknesses there buddy!

- Bill

 

[Indah]

Luko's story about Alor is unfortunately still true for some villages near beaches or rivers. Before we built them, the people of Sawai Itepo at Halmahera did not have private and/or public toilets. Everybody would use a certain part of the beach for this.
The people living in such places know when and where you can ****, wash your clothes, get water out of the river and cook it to drink. Tourist without this knowledge want to swim in front of their toilet-beaches, wash their feet in the drinking water of the villagers and get water out of the river in the wrong place. As far as I know, all villages around Lembeh Strait are having toilets with septic tanks, but the boats do not.

 

[pelan-pelan]

Interested in comment about Bintang being dangerous. This is ringing bells with problems with trips about 8 - 10 years ago when the only link seemed to be Bintang. But not drunk out of the bottle (hands/fingers on neck of bottle). Thought we were imagining it. Any comments?

Also, ear infections - the medicine to ask for in the local pharmacy is the aptly-named Otopain (pronounced pretty well the way it looks Otto Pain).

Does anyone know the name of the appropriate stomach medicine in Indonesia? (Knowing that it is Ercefuryl in Morocco doesn't help!)

23 days and counting before I'm out there again.

 

[Luko]

Does anyone know the name of the appropriate stomach medicine in Indonesia? (Knowing that it is Ercefuryl in Morocco doesn't help!)

Just ask the apotek for Nifuroxazide, it's the generic component used for Ercefuryl or Panfurex..

 

[pelan-pelan]

Thanks Luko. That's really useful - and also in other parts of the world.