Your Dive Adventure

[Conor]

Along similar lines to Bren's enquiry.

I would like to organise a real Adventure diving holiday next year. I guess something more along the lines of exploration than tourist diving. It could be living out of tents and jeeps for a couple of weeks or a particularly remote live aboard.

Have any of you guys had any experiences that meet this description? got any advice/suggestions/reccomendations? or want to come along ?

[Mr T.]

Take a very comprehensively packed emergency-medical kit - which hopefully you've never have to use! To include, and dependent on just how 'outback/going-bush' you wanna make the trip:

* Salt tablets
* 'Customs & Excise Bend Over' (surgical rubber) gloves (pairs, seven, for the use of)
* Sea-sickness/travel-sickness meds
* Sealed-packet, Alcohol-soaked clean wipes - multi purpose: can be used for the cleaning of a wound/infected area; to clean hands/face; can be used to start a fire if required.
* Field-dressing: four of each (size 8 and a size 16)
* Needle-n-thread - for any repairs, or to stitch yourself up in extremis, or see below.
* Sutur and needles.
* Your own syringes.
* Surgical tape.
* Scissors, sharp, pairs, two, small, for the use of.
* Swiss Army knife/multi-purpose tool.
* Bandages, plasters etc.
* Liniment.
* TCP, bottle, one.
* Non-stick Parafin muslin gauze
* Water purification tablets.
* Wax-covered (ergo water-proof) matches.
* Hexamine ('Hexy') blocks (for cooking)

And yes, could be very interested in the gig. Where did you have in mind??

[rasilon]

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] (Bren Tierney @ Oct. 02 2003,17:30)]* Sutur and needles.

* Lidocaine hydrochloride - Boots will sell you a small bottle known as Anbesol liquid, it's for teething babies, but it makes the use of the above more tolerable. Apply locally.

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] ]
* Wax-covered (ergo water-proof) matches.
* Hexamine ('Hexy') blocks (for cooking)

Waterproof matches are usually shit, but they do survive immersion, however an old fashioned brass zippo is usually better if you aren't going to submerge it IME.  Hexamine is also very survivable, but I still prefer the MSR XGKII stove if weight isn't an issue.  It'll survive most things and will burn any liquid fuel, and actually cooks stuff in less than a week and produces more heat than soot -- unlike hexamine.


Edit:
Lifesystems do quite good sterile medical stuff, I used to take a combination of the Moutain Leader set, the sharps set, and the dressings set, with suitable modifications.

The boil in the bag stuff that camping shops will sell you is quite good, but don't buy it from them.  It's actually repackaged army rations with a huge markup, see if you can get ratpacks from an army & navy store.

The book "Mountaincraft and Leadership" (I can't remember who it's by) is quite a good source for expedition planning.  

There's quite a lot of things that may be helpful, but it all depends on what exactly you are planning on doing...

I'm usually up for suitably silly expeditions...

[JohnK]

Dont forget condoms - more uses than the obvious !!!

[tom]

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] (kirky @ Oct. 03 2003,18:48)]Dont forget condoms - more uses than the obvious !!!

Really? What else would one do with a condom other than carry water in it?

Tom  

[CotoChris]

<font color='#0000FF'>If using a jeep there are some exciting possibilities:

Scandinavia
Morrocco &amp; Tunisia
Turkey
France &amp; Iberia Peninsula

There are local laws you will need to know as regarding diving then local conditions. Local knowledge would be very important- &nbsp;Presumably they will be mostly shore dives.
It would be fun lets say with a group of 8-10 people in three vehicles, taking a compressor and other vital equipment.

Other possibilities is chartering boats in the Med for example and dive off banks inaccesible to others.

[Conor]

Lots of good ideas so far.

Getting flashbacks of ratpacks and fieldcraft manuals, can't believe I actually have fond memories of rat passions. Although I have often thought that hexamine stoves are designed to smell bad to soften the impact of the taste of the rations.

I guess what I would have in mind would be (as suggested);
*Getting a group together (8 to 10 sounds about right)
*Choosing a suitable location with the right balance of support and adventure
*Finding a local guide(s) to make arrangements 'in country'
* transport/accomodation in the form of jeep/tent or small liveaboard. depending on Terrain/access could consider a RhIB
* Duration (hmm would like to say month plus but maybe should start at 2 weeks)

The main decision has to be location, which bring up the following points;
* distance v cost - to go somewhere relatively uncharted we would need to go somewhere quite remote. although North Africa sounds promising as a compromise. Having said that for a first time, even some of the less dived areas of Europe become a possibility. I don't know how people would feel about doing this in Egypt for example, and trying to do Sinai, Israel, Jordan and Saudi (Saudi of course being a nightmare for bureaucracy and passing through Israel may stop entry into some Isalmic countries), or going the other way to Sudan. Maybe you could do a lap of the Red Sea .
* Access to services, diving and emergency. Diving - Ideal would be compressor and enough spares to keep people diving.  Emergency - this is where the local guide really comes in, but careful planning (first aid, O2, training and comms) and setting the skill level appropriately would also help, e.g. min Rescue (i.e. PADI RD or BSAC SD), current first aid, 50 + dives and some Leadership/expedition experience/taining in the group (although the latter could be the guide).

The starting points would be;
1. Get a Party together (min 4 max 10 with some commitment)
2. Choose a location (Still open to suggestions)
3. Identify and contact local support
4. Plan plan plan

Until 1 and 2 are sorted the rest is redundant.

So anyone interested in planning an adventure then shout and start throwing some ideas in the hat.

You never know, if we find a new reef it could be named after YD

[rasilon]

I'd opt for the &quot;less dived area of Europe&quot; to start with. &nbsp;The red sea is tempting from a diving point of view, but would be a pain from a logistics point of view since it is bordered with countries that a) hate each other, b) are war &nbsp;zones, c) are contagious, and are generally on the foreign office list of places not to go -- and anyway have visas that are mutualy exclusive.

[Conor]

Although not ruling out Europe it is worth pointing out that you could fly to taba, head south, drive around the Red Sea and get to Jordan, via nothing but Islamic countries, and then get a ferry from Aqaba to Nuweiba (sp?). so you would have done the whole red sea except for 15 miles or so. In fact I reckon you would be ok to get through Israel going in that direction but if you went the other way I think you may have issues getting into Saudi, having already been in Israel.

In reality the real problem with that plan would be the time it would take versus how much time you would need to do it justice. Not to mention the fun of getting permission to enter and travel through Saudi. But if you could pick up a local guide in each location it may be possible.