You’re a go-getter and you want to be as ready as you can be for diving ! But how do you make sure your body is as fit as possible ? Well there’s the obvious advice: keep physically fit, keep learning, and keep training. But here are some extra bits and tricks to make you the most ready diver.
Keep Hydrated and Well Fed
Scuba diving is a surprisingly dehydrating sport. And those of us diving in a tropical destination like Bali (poor us !) need to be especially careful. Dehydration makes you more susceptible to nasty things, like decompression sickness. Luckily, the fix is easy. Drink lots of water, duh ! Is your urine an orange color ? Skip the dive and drink heaps more water ! Is it yellow ? Have a another glass of water ! White ? You’re good to go ! Next, your fabulous PADI Instructor has likely taught you that water conducts heat faster than air, so when you dive your body has to work extra hard to keep warm. This “hard work” means you’re burning a ridiculous amount of calories without even trying (poor you !) Make up for that deficit and eat ! That’s right, no diver will judge you for helping yourself to some more sweet, sweet carbs.
Keep Your Cuts Dry
Cuts and scrapes happen, and they are reasonably benign and heal quickly enough. But did you know that when you keep diving and immersing your small wounds in the water, they cannot heal ? The water softens the scab and opens the wound up again. So all that work your poor body did to heal while you stayed dry, was for nothing ! Not to mention the ocean is teeming with life –and with life, comes bacteria- which we do not want in our cuts. You don’t have to stop diving over a scraped knee, just look after it. I recommend applying a topical antibiotic and a sterile bandage before diving. Then when you’re out of the water, leave it un-covered and let the dry air speed up the healing process.
Keep Your Ears Happy
No matter how excited you are about a dive, if your ears are telling you “no” you need to listen to them. Do not force a descent if you cannot equalize. What’s worse: Missing out on a day of diving ? Or missing out on several months because you perforated your ear drum ? Woah, sorry for getting so dramatic there. If you can equalize on the surface, you should be able to equalize at depth. So try it before you bother gearing up, entering the water, and attempting a descent just to be disappointed. And to prevent ear infections from the aforementioned bacteria that lives in the ocean, try cleaning your ears after a day of diving. Diver’s Alert Network recommends a few drops of equal parts alcohol and white vinegar. I know that’s something that doesn’t sound like it should go in your ear, but it works.
Finally, as with any skill, if you don’t use it you’ll lose it. So keep diving to keep yourself sharp. Why not check out some of our dive trips?
