| Planning a Cayman Dive Trip |
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Planning a Cayman Islands Scuba Diving Trip Planning a diving trip is no easy task. Divers need to consider the environment they are diving as well as their own personal safety before submerging into the water. Whether you are tying to find out the weather forecast, flying after diving recommendations, equipment considerations and other useful tips, remember Ocean Frontiers Dive Center is here to help make it easy for you. Health and Diving Partying and Scuba Diving often clash while on vacation. Please be careful not to over indulge the night before a day of diving. Make sure you are well hydrated by drinking at least 2 liters of Fresh drinking water ever day in addition to what you normally drink. Avoid Caffeinated beverages such as sodas and coffee. Avoid heavy work outs at the Gym or jogging immediately after diving. If you eat and drink healthy your body will be better able to off-gas all the nitrogen you absorb while diving and make you a safer diver and make each dive that much more enjoyable. 80% of decompression sickness cases in the Tropics are caused by dehydration and happen to divers that were diving well within the dive table limits. If attending a training course, please ask for a copy of the medical questionnaire in advance, just to make sure. Certain medications and conditions need to be checked out by a physician. Flying after diving Over the years there have been over 30 FAD procedures or guidelines promulgated by researchers, table developers, and military or civilian divertraining organizations. And each model of dive computer has its own way of telling the user when it¹s okay to fly. So there¹s no mystery as to why FAD has been a confusing issue for recreational divers. June 21, 2002 Provisional Consensus Recommendations of the 2002 Flying After Diving Workshop: A Single No-Decompression Dive. A minimum preflight surface interval of 12 hours is suggested. Multiple Dives per Day or Multiple Days of Diving. A minimum preflight surface interval of 18 hours is suggested. Divers who plan to make dives that require decompression stops should take special precautions and wait for an extended surface interval beyond 18 hours before flight. The greater the duration before flight the less likely decompression sickness is to occur. There can never be a flying after diving rule that is guaranteed to prevent decompression sickness completely. Rather, there can be a GUIDELINE that represents the best estimate for a conservative, safe, surface interval for the vast majority of divers. There will always be an occasional diver whose physiological makeup or special diving circumstances will result in bends. Equipment considerations Dive Computers and Nitrox are 2 of the best additions to your dive plan that you could possibly add. If you don't already own a dive computer - rush out and get one and get one that is Nitrox compatible or buy one direct from us - we can have your new Nitrox computer ready when you get down here or just rent one from us to check them out. The best way to increase diver safety is to dive Nitrox, especially if you are over 45 years old and doing 2-3 dives per day. Not Nitrox certified???.......it's easy. We can arrange a program around the diving you've already booked with us. Bringing your own dive equipment?? If it's been in the bottom of a closet for a year, please take it to your local service tech to be checked out. Most problems can be handled by our experienced techs best to get this dealt with prior to arrival. Water Temperature & Wetsuit Information Average Ocean Water temperatures for the Cayman Islands vary only 6 degrees throughout the year. This makes for beautiful tropical and bath tub like conditions year round. The water temperatures also vary little from the surface all the way down to 100ft. The graph data was taken from sensors around the island over the last 3 years and at an average depth of 60ft. The snorkel sites and sites such as Stingray City may be 1-2 degrees warmer and wall dives may be half to 1 degree colder than listed on the graph. For exposure protection for the average person we recommend:
Divers have the wonderful privilege of visiting a world that our landlocked brothers and sisters will never see first hand. To explore the beautiful, and often mysterious, underwater world is like no other experience on earth. But with this privilege comes the responsibility to keep this unique environment as nature made it...undamaged by human activity. If it's been a while since you got wet, grab a couple of tanks and head for the pool. Try achieving that neutral buoyancy position... you know... floating like a Buddha. If you can stay off the pool bottom, you'll be doing a great job staying off the reef. Remember, we have a 10' deep training pool so you are more than welcome to do a check out once you get here.
Carbon Offsetting Coral reefs are particularly vulnerable to global warming. An increase in sea temperature, usually no more than 2-3˚F above the long-term average maximum, is enough to bleach corals and kill corals. Mass coral bleaching is a new phenomenon, first recorded less than 30 years ago. In 1998 coral reefs experienced a massive bleaching event, the like of which nobody had ever seen before, which is estimated to have killed 90% of coral on 16% of the world’s reefs. 11 of the last 12 years rank among the warmest 12 years since detailed global records began in 1850. And sadly, like many of us, I have seen many more bleached reefs since 1998. Last month, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released their forth assessment report stating it is “very likely that climate change is caused by human activities” (IPCC are the leading climate scientists from 130 countries). Global warming is caused increased concentrations of greenhouse gases, particularly carbon dioxide, in the atmosphere. The current atmospheric carbon dioxide levels (>380ppm) far exceed the natural range over the last 650000 years (180-300ppm) prior to the Industrial Revolution, and the IPCC conclude the primary source is human burning of fossil fuels. The IPCC report predicts that global average temperatures will rise by between 3˚F and 6˚F by 2100. Coral reef scientists predict that a 2˚F rise will cause 80% of reefs globally to bleach. Ironically, our love of visiting coral reefs contributes significant carbon dioxide to the problem. Flights, dive boats, desalinated water, air-conditioning all contribute. By diving on coral reefs we are contributing in a small way to their demise. Of course, our daily lives contribute plenty of carbon dioxide too. The difference when we travel is we are doing it voluntarily. I am not advocating stopping visiting coral reefs. The tourist value of reefs helps protect them from other threats, such as over-fishing, mining, pollution and damaging coastal over-development. And diving on reefs is something we all love doing. Instead I suggest that we all look into offsetting the emissions we produce when we choose to visit them. So our dive travel is carbon neutral and sustainable. Offset schemes are run by not-for-profit organizations and provide us with ways to offset out carbon emissions in schemes like re-forestation and in carbon neutral technologies etc. The costs involved are surprisingly small, and these websites are well worth a look. Even if your next dive trip isn’t with Ocean Frontiers. http://www.sustainabletravelinternational.org/
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