Coming next Thursday in Outside: Get your muscles and mind in shape for surfing --a six-week exercise program perfect for those spring break getaways.
Scuba instructor Ken Pon does a giant stride entry into the pool, as Herald reporter Trent Edwards looks on.View Larger Image View Larger Image
Scuba instructor Ken Pon does a giant stride entry into the pool, as Herald reporter Trent Edwards looks on. Heaving my breakfast over the boat's side in spurts, I tried to at least keep my fears down.
I knew the concept of "the bends," a horribly painful expansion of nitrogen bubbles in a person's blood caused by surfacing too quickly after a deep dive. This decompression sickness can kill you if you aren't put on pure oxygen and rushed to a hyperbaric chamber where your body can slowly depressurize.
I struggled to remember: how deep can you dive with-out having to worry about the bends? Is vomiting one of the first signs? And if so, how long do I have to get to a hyperbaric chamber on shore?
Cursing myself for my stupidity, I realized I had put my-self in a possibly deadly situation. Here I was, a decade after my last dive, sitting on a boat rocked by 1.5-to two-metre swells near a reef in Belize. Beside me was a boat driver who didn't dive and a tourist who didn't want to dive in rough conditions.
Anyone who could answer my questions was still under water...[CalgaryHerald]
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