Some family is traveling to AUS in Feb and the Great Barrier Reef is the first spot we're visiting. Some of the family is certified, some aren't; one of the non-cert wants to but is Type 2. They manage the condition fairly well if it matters. Not an athlete but good enough shape, good life-long swimmer. I imagine a Dr sign-off will be required for certification if it's possible. What do any of you divers think...is cert for this person a bad idea if it's even possible?

Complete non issue.

They will require a sign off if he answers yes to the question on the questionnaire.

If he answers no,  they'll never know.  And they'll tell him the same thing.

On any given dive trip I run or go on, 4 to 8 of us are diabetic.

Understood. I was telling him that "concealed means concealed" applies to a lot of things.
The area we'll be in isn't too terribly deep...maybe 60 feet? I figure if he takes a can of apple juice and a granola bar JIC he should be fine.

@flcroc

Just have him take the same precautions he would for any other activity that involves exercise.

I've been T2 for the past 25 years and have has zero issues with it. If it's under control on land, it's under control underwater.

As far as the questionnaire goes, it's nobody in the dive industry's business.

Gotcha. I don't know his exact numbers but I know he's pretty stable; I've never known him to have big BG swings. I'm sure he carries some juice/Coke and some food with him on all of his water activities already.

Class is set for this weekend. Friday 9-2 is class time. Saturday 8-2 in the natural pool at the jetties. Sunday might be final dive(s) off the boat offshore, might be in the pass on the outside of the jetties, or might be at some local springs...all dependent on weather. Given that the NOAA forecast for this weekend has seas between 3 and 6 feet I'm betting on the springs.

@flcroc

So how did class go? Ocean or the springs?

@Marie

Friday class there 3 of us scheduled, I was the only one to show. Blew thru the coursework in 4 or 5 hours since I had already read thru the book.

Saturday at the jetties was 2 of us - me for OW, another guy working on his Adv OW. The instructor had him help out when we had buddy skills to work on. The challenging thing here was trying to do everything in about 6 of water. I'm 6'4" so it was tough to try and stay off the bottom but also keep from breaching too much.

Sunday was a beautiful day. 1 foot seas, no clouds, 58 deg at sunrise, 80 or so midday. Light winds. Couldn't ask for better. Rode a little over an hour to the first spot - a 9-unit grid of concrete pyramids the state set out as fish structure in 90 ft. I got geared up, giant stride off the boat, follow the swim line down clearing my ears the whole time. Got to 15 feet and it felt like my head was in vise. Back up a few feet and clear...no go. Back up a few more feet...no go. Up a few more...still no go. Back up top, inflate BC, talk it thru with instructor. Give it a few minutes...same result. Not mad since I couldn't have done anything different. They want me to reschedule when I can to try and finish. All I lack as far as skills is the ascent on 1 breath, after that it's just get the 2 dives.

If you are anywhere close to Vortex Springs, it is a really great dive spot. Bring a thick wetsuit, because the water is in the 60's year round

Vortex is about an hour away.

I'm going to talk to the guys at the shop about trying those final 2 dives again next week. The bay and Gulf have gotten pretty chilly so Vortex might be where we end up. If I can get through those 2 dives then my daughter and I are gonna go make a couple of practice runs at Vortex just to get familiar diving with each other.

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