Any Scuba Divers On This Forum?

[codetalker]

If there are any divers on this forum, I'd be interested in hearing about dive destinations and whether they were or were not celiac-friendly. I'm particularly interested in hotel experiences. I normally use liveaboards but some destinations I want to visit have land-based operations only. Any info would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Chuck

[Mayam]

Hi, I dive also and would love it if we could get a response to this post. Maybe you could post your question on the travel board, if you haven't already.

Since I've been diagnosed I've been on one liveaboard to the Channel Islands (So. Cal), Truth Aquatics. Mostly we dive pretty local. I live in Sacramento, CA and we dive mostly the north coast (between Fort Bragg and Bodega Bay, if you are familiar with the west coast of CA), Monterey and Tahoe. We've also dove in Hawaii.

I would love to do more traveling and diving, but with three small children we are limited with time right now.

We are hoping to go to either Cozumel or the Cayman Islands next year and I was wondering the same thing about hotels and how accomodating they are. Often when I travel now I get tired of explaining what my dietary restrictions are and I just try to eat things I know are gluten-free. However, I would think this would be difficult in Mexico since you aren't supposed to eat fresh fruit and vegetables.

Please let me know if you go onto another board and receive a response to this question.

Best Wishes,

Rachel - diagnosed by biopsy 9/03

daughter age 5 positive biopsy 8/03

daughter age 3 positive bloodwork

son 13 mos currently awaiting genetic testing

[tarnalberry]

If there are any divers on this forum, I'd be interested in hearing about dive destinations and whether they were or were not celiac-friendly.  I'm particularly interested in hotel experiences.  I normally use liveaboards but some destinations I want to visit have land-based operations only.  Any info would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Chuck

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I don't have any good suggestions, only wanted to say "congrats" and a little "ooo, I'm jealous" on the diving front. My asthma keeps me from diving. :-(

[Guest BERNESES]

Hi There- I dive but haven't gone in quite awhile. I got certified in Cozumel which is an amazing place to dive. Unbelievable! But I was there before I was diagnosed.... it was quite awhile ago and Cozumel was not very "big" yet. I know there are quite a few resorts there now and Mexican food can be very Celiac friendly (corn tortillas etc.) but I'm not sure. It's a great question and I'll see what I can find out. I'll be interested to see what you find out too. Beverly

[codetalker]

Hi There- I dive but haven't gone in quite awhile. I got certified in Cozumel which is an amazing place to dive. Unbelievable! But I was there before I was diagnosed.... it was quite awhile ago and Cozumel was not very "big" yet. I know there are quite a few resorts there now and Mexican food can be very Celiac friendly (corn tortillas etc.) but I'm not sure. It's a great question and I'll see what I can find out. I'll be interested to see what you find out too. Beverly

Cozumel is actually the destination I had in mind. It is relatively close and I've always heard great descriptions of the diving. You really picked a top spot to get your certification. I got mine in the cold water of a Pa. quarry.

Based on what I've seen posted on scubadiving.com, Cozumel is working hard to recover from the recent hurricanes.

Chuck

[Rusla]

In early March I am going to Jamaica I wanted to take up diving so, that I could dive while I am there. I wished I had known how to dive when I was in Cuba and San Francisco last year. I would like to get some great underwater pictures while I am there, all the ones I missed when I was in Cuba.

Now the question is I have asthma but it does not effect me in moist sea level climates. However, where I live is dry and high altitude and causes my asthma no end to grief. I have heard that they will not teach or give a dive certificate to anyone who has asthma, is that true? Am I doomed to a life of snorkeling?

[tarnalberry]

Now the question is I have asthma but it does not effect me in moist sea level climates. However, where I live is dry and high altitude and causes my asthma no end to grief. I have heard that they will not teach or give a dive certificate to anyone who has asthma, is that true? Am I doomed to a life of snorkeling?

Talk to your asthma doctor about it - it depends on how well your asthma is controlled. The diver's association (I forget their name) and the asthma doctors' association have a set of guidelines that help determine which asthma patients can be allowed to dive and which shouldn't. It's based on how often you have asthma attacks (even small ones), how often you use your emergency inhaler, and your pattern of control medications.

The thing is, the air in the tank, which is what you'll be breathing when you dive, is cool and dry - two things that can exacerbate asthma symptoms. So, if that air gives you a non-trivial chance of having as asthma attack under water, you risk having part of your lungs inflame in the attack, trapping air inside some of the branched structure of your lungs, and when you surface, the change in air pressure can cause the trapped pocket of air to "burst" your lungs. Pulmonary embolism. Not a fun thing, particularly since you may not know at first, if it's a small, localized inflammation. In bad cases, pulmonary embolism is fatal. Of course, it's rare, even among asthmatic divers, but is the reason that anyone with poorly controlled asthma, or asthma that needs significant control is advised not to dave.

Even if your doctor advises you not to dive now, you can work on doing what you can to improve your asthma situation (for me, regular exercise helps keep it under control, and things like Advair, though I hate the side effects), and look into getting "approved" later. There's also SNUBA, which uses a long air hose to attach you to a boat on the surface. It doesn't have quite the same freedom as SCUBA, but because you're getting warmer, moister air, the chance of an asthma attack is lower, and because the air is not pressurized, you don't risk the emoblism upon surfacing.

[Rusla]

Thanks Tiffany,

Advair was so bad for me that it put me in the hospital by giving me an asthma attack. I use Ventolin and Flovent. Usually I have good control over my asthmas except when the landlady moves in people who smoke below me. Then instead of smoking outside they smoke night and day below me.

The Scuba center here has you fill out a medical form for diving and snorkling. I snorkled in Cuba and loved it except when I got trapped on spiney coral which was the fault of the pretty purple fish I was following.

I don't need to get pulmonary embolisms, I know how dangerous they can be. I was in the hospital one month before going to Cuba with a serious asthma attack and when I was in Cuba snorkling, I never felt better. Climate and altitude change does wonders for me.

[codetalker]

Rusia -

I would hesitate to recommend SNUBA to someone with asthma. Based on 25+ years of dive experience and certification up to ass't instructor, I would think SNUBA has the same issues for you as SCUBA.

I went to the www.snuba.com site and read up on it. According to the site, SNUBA uses a 20 ft. air hose to connect the SNUBA diver to a SCUBA tank on a boat at the surface. Since both SCUBA and SNUBA supply air from a SCUBA tank, the problem of dry air exists in both cases. Having the tank in the boat rather than on your back would not change the moisture level of the air. If dry air triggers your asthma, then SNUBA probably is not advisable.

Also, as a SNUBA diver, you would still be breathing compressed air. It goes without saying that the air would not come out of the SNUBA system unless it was at a pressure greater than the ambient pressure. It can be noted that the air is compressed not only so that a lot of it can be put in the tank but also so that the air in a diver's lungs is at a greater pressure. This greater pressure compensates for the water pressure acting on the diver. Without it, it would be difficult and even impossible to overcome the surrounding water pressure enough to breathe.

Of even more concern would be the depth. Embolism can happen even in shallow depths. The reason for the concern is that the change in pressure per unit of depth is greater in shallow water than in deep water. For instance, if you dive down from the surface to about 30 feet, there is a 100% increase in total pressure (from 1 ATA to 2 ATA). However, if you go another 30 ft from 30 ft to 60 ft, there is only a 50% change in total pressure (2 ATA to 3 ATA). This means that as you surface, any air in your body is expanding at an increasingly faster rate. The fastest rate of expansion would be closest to the surface. As a result, embolism would be a possibility, esp. if the person is experiencing a breathing problem, such as an asthma attack.

Considering that the overwhelming percentage of people never have the opportunity to snorkel, let alone dive, I would think that being "doomed" to snorkeling would not be that bad a fate. Some of my best experiences have been at snorkeling depths. In the Galapagos, I snorkeled with sea lions and penguins. In Grand Cayman, we fed the rays at Stingray City (10 to 12 ft). Dives under docks and piers in Bonaire provide some of the best photo ops I have ever seen.

Best of luck!

[Rusla]

Thanks Codetalker,

Well I did like snorkeling, even though the masks did not fit right,and I had half the ocean in my nose or mouth, I will just get my own. As I live in a place where half to 3/4 of the year is cold dry air and the rest of the time dry air, that alone is a killer for my asthma. I guess if the tanks were moist air it would not be so bad. So, I will just snorkle

You have gone to the one place on earth that I want to go to, the Galapagos Islands. I have Bonaire is great diving and snorkeling. I just won't be able to dive down and find the town that is below the water in the mountains here.

I don't need that kind of pressure on my lungs from diving.

Thanks to you and Tiffany providing me with the information I needed.

[tarnalberry]

My apologies on misleading you on the SNUBA. My research into it is five years old, and left me with a different impression. :-)

When my husband and I went to Hawaii for our honeymoon, we purchased at home and brought with us our own snorkels, masks, fins, and wetsuits. (Yes, wetsuits. Yes, Hawaii. Yes, I'm glad we had them. :-P) It meant an extra (and large) bag to check, but was well worth it as we got to research the type of snorkel we best liked, find masks that fit our faces best, and found fins that were best for us. (I also could not fathom using a shared snorkel... Bleh! ;-) ) (And I'm glad we did this, our gear was WAY better than the rental stuff. Though that crazy sea lion was a little too fond of the blue on the fins... ... ;-) )

[Rusla]

No problem. I talked to Adventures in Scuba here they are a 5 star PADI here. They suggested if I don't get a wet suit to at least wear a t-shirt in the water.

I am going to buy my own equipment prior to going except the wet suit. As I am losing weight since going gluten-free, I don't want to shrink out of it before I get there and then ending up with a whole pile of wet suits that don't fit.

Perhaps the sea lion thought your were it's date or at least someone he wanted to have a relationship with.

[codetalker]

Rusla -

I would like to hear more about Cuba, especially the condition of the reefs, etc. I've heard mixed reviews. With the U.S. travel restrictions in place, checking first-hand is a bit difficult. A couple of years ago when my company had an office in Uruguay, I had dinner with the office manager. He spent his honeymoon there and described it in glowing terms (pristine beaches, etc.).

Chuck

P.S. If anyone is interested in sea lions, I have some video on my web site:

Open Original Shared Link

Patience downloading is required because I host the site myself on my DSL connection.

[Daughter-of-TheLight]

Well, I more snorkle since I don't have that handy diving license yet. (I want to get that soon,) But I know some great places. I live in Diving Heaven. Around South Florida there are some really good places. Don't know the exact places (exact meaning GPS location) But if you go to Biscayne National park visitors Center they can give you some coordinates. There is also a place I went this summer. It is in the Carribean and is the Diving Paradise. Seriously, you can snorkle off any beach anytime you want. There is this place called Spooky Channel that goes Straight down 90 ft all coral reef on Roatan. It. Was. The. Coolest. Thing. I. Have. Ever. Seen.

[codetalker]

Well, I more snorkle since I don't have that handy diving license yet. (I want to get that soon,) But I know some great places. I live in Diving Heaven. Around South Florida there are some really good places. Don't know the exact places (exact meaning GPS location) But if you go to Biscayne National park visitors Center they can give you some coordinates. There is also a place I went this summer. It is in the Carribean and is the Diving Paradise. Seriously, you can snorkle off any beach anytime you want. There is this place called Spooky Channel that goes Straight down 90 ft all coral reef on Roatan. It. Was. The. Coolest. Thing. I. Have. Ever. Seen.

You're right. Florida has it all. Reefs. Fish. Springs. Manatees. Wrecks. Treasure ships (if you're among the lucky few). Nobody could ask for more.

A long time ago I stayed with friends in Key Largo. The house was on a canal with its own dock. One night we made a quick dive in the canal. I heard some cracking sounds and made a calculated grab in the dark. Caught a nice midnight snack: http://brandtbeach.com/trips/KL92/KL92_Lobster.webp

[Daughter-of-TheLight]

Ohh, nice. I go on lobstering trips every lobster season. Florida is paradise. And fishing trips every dolphin season. And snorkling in between... Yeah, I get out a lot.