Driving After Diving

Aquanomad

Aquanomad

Member
Hey All,
So I'm hurtin here on the Big Island. This place is full of elevation and it's almost impossible to avoid. Im looking at homes to buy and at the passes I drive and I sure as shit dont need to get bent post dive. So heres the deal. Some of the homes I am considering are at 2500' max. That is also about the max I drive daily but the drives are short at that elevation. Maybe half hour to hour. Also I dive 10/60 80% of time but am doing average 250' with 3hr total run times.
So the 1500' threshold is not realistic for me. What are my options? Suggestions? Insight? I dont want to hang at the beach for a day just to go home. However with the type of weather most of you are getting it wouldnt be so bad in comparison;)
 
Im anxious! Have a few condos I'm wanting to pull the trigger on. Come on dive gods amongst us. Enlighten me. Is sea level my savior?
 
I have had niggles a couple of times driving back to Utah from diving in Lake Mead. Elevation rise was about 2500 feet if I remember correctly. Both times, I hit the road without much of a surface interval before leaving. Since then, I usually wait a little longer before I drive home.
 
Like a burger and beer wait? Catch up on biz on the laptop wait? Mid day nap wait? Does it help with the heavy helium mix? Less nitrogen. Faster off gassing? Would definitely like to hear as many as possible chime in here. I dont even know if I can afford to buy a place at sea level:(
 
Nothing scientific about my wait period. I just figured that the longer I wait, the better off I am. I am usually waiting about 3 hours or longer now before I start the drive. I've even been known to be sucking on an O2 reg while driving over some of the higher passes! :hehehm:
 
Nice. Definitely sounds smart. I may start to put off some things I can do while off gassing a bit. I think the drive is one thing. But buying a house at elevation is another. Im going to try to find a place lower but the drives are almost unavoidable.
 
Exposure to 2500' the same day as diving must be a concern. Have you considered buying an RV and driving next day? I'd have a chat about this with a hyperbaric physician...

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This is an interesting topic.

I normally dive at a elevation of 450m/1475ft.

All the large lakes, in and around my area Switzerland are in the valleys.

I have made it common practice driving home over the mountain passes(1500m+/5000ft+), much closer home and a lot less traffic.
I have on a few occasions gotten the *twitchies* and few other symptoms when driving over the passes. Nothing serious, for any real concern.:spin:

I now rest for at least 3 hours before heading home. Works very well:)

I also installed a 3 lt bottle of 02 in my truck with flow mask. If I have to leave after a dive and head home I make it standard practice to breath the 02 on my way home for about 30min. Since I started doing this a year ago I have had No issues at all.:yippee:

All my diving profiles has stayed the same or increased depth and time.
 
+1 for Ollie Firth at LDC. He's mended me a couple of times...

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The McGyver solution: Get a Beetle bug, they're really tight. Then pressurize it to 6 meters with oxygene while driving home post dive. :lol:

/nils
 
If you know the max elevation you are going to be passing through on the drive home, surely the easiest way is to plan the dive as an altitude dive using dive planing software? at that point your already off gassed enough to go to the elevation, and any time taken to drive there will provide additional off gassing?
I suspect you'll find that with 3 hr dives that 1 hr of using the rebreather on pure O2 while packing up will leave you fine, but I would recommend planning it rather than just "winging it".
HTH
 
Mr Walker said:
The McGyver solution: Get a Beetle bug, they're really tight. Then pressurize it to 6 meters with oxygene while driving home post dive. :lol:

/nils
Click to expand...

That's funny. There might be a market for an ambulatory decompression truck...
My instructor leaves at 2000 ft. He seems to be fine.
 
Simon A said:
If you know the max elevation you are going to be passing through on the drive home, surely the easiest way is to plan the dive as an altitude dive using dive planing software? at that point your already off gassed enough to go to the elevation, and any time taken to drive there will provide additional off gassing?
I suspect you'll find that with 3 hr dives that 1 hr of using the rebreather on pure O2 while packing up will leave you fine, but I would recommend planning it rather than just "winging it".
HTH
Click to expand...

This is the advice I received from my instructor Mel Clark as well. Just wanted to hear all angles. So. Vplanner and Multi deco allow me to plan dives at altitude. The extra deco time is negligible. At least at that altitude. However my Predator and Petrel do not. Sea level or auto are the only options. That would be a great update but I doubt it will happen. Any further suggestions on pulling this off real time? Im diving in caves with known depths or offshore ascending on a shot line. Im usually coming up a reef so the dive rarely matches the plan.
 
So as mentioned Shearwater only does sea level and auto. No way to force an elevation. I wonder if that would be a reasonable thing to add to the next software release? Do any of the other computers do that? I can't avoid these 2500' drives and don't want to be stuck at the beach or risk a hit behind the wheel. I wish I could say that my dives all follow a square profile but that would be one big lie. Because multi deco let's you set elevation I ran 2 profiles. 200', 60min, 10/60, gf15/85. One at sea level. One at 2500'. Difference is only 15 minutes. 218 minute run time vs 233 minute run time. Not too bad. Im wondering if I pad all my stops and take an hour or so post dive if I can hit the road with peace of mind? Really wish I could just force the Shearwater into elevation so I had a real time deco schedule.
 
I've just got myself a Divesoft Freedom computer (thanks to the Guys at Narked@90). And one of the things shown on the surface screen is max altitude, which is how far above sea level you can go at your current state of decompression.
Once you know the max elevation of your drive, you can decide when it's time to leave the beach...
HTH
Simon A
 
full face mask and a cylinder of o2 in the car , drive home ,, or dont go home , go t0 the bar and have a few deco beers ,

ps

if you add ..4 of a meter per 10m . you may find your ok

i get the same time for a 70m dive for 50min with altitude (1000m)
as a 73m dive for 50mins no altitude ,

make what you like from that , round it up to half a m per 10 and your quids in maybe lol

best ask someone that knows wtf thay are talking about tho ,:agree:
 
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I wouldn't worry about it. Think about it - even you ascended outside the atmosphere its only like ascending another 10m. I don't have numbers but I would be surprised if the pressure drop at 2500' is equivalent to ascending even 3m and when you consider how long its gonna take you to drive to that altitude it becomes insignificant pressure change
 
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