BUT FIRST prepare to be in a fit state to be amazed. Peter Ellegard suggests safeguards to keep you ahead of the game when it's a time zone away, with dodgy drinking water and medicine to match
The world is shrinking. Transatlantic holidays, once an unattainable dream for many, are now the norm for many people. Even journeys half-way round the globe are undertaken by hundreds of thousands every year. More and more people are travelling further afield; and divers are no exception. Malta, the Red Sea, the Maldives, the Caribbean, Palau, Cocos Island, the Great Barrier Reef: the destinations have been getting ever-more distant and exotic.
When things run smoothly, it is easy to forget how far you are travelling and what an expedition it would have been to reach there only a decade ago.
It is also easy to forget how vulnerable you are when things go wrong. At best, problems can be as harmless and irritating as delayed flights; technical faults; missed flights; unscheduled landings; lost luggage; or strike action.
At worst, though, they can be a danger to your health and your sanity. Holding a British passport secure in the knowledge that Britain once ruled much of the world is no protection against events such as military coups; theft; accidents; tropical disease; or natural disasters.
My own calamity roll-call includes being caught up in riots in Egypt and getting injured in a fall in the Negev Desert in Israel (both times missing out on planned diving in the Red Sea as a result); missing a flight to the US because of tube strikes and a bomb scare on my train; missing one from the US through a car break-down; having my wallet stolen on arrival in Canada and my return air ticket being pinched just hours before I was due to catch a flight home from Italy; taking 52 hours to get home - via Hong Kong - from the Andaman Islands when the airline went on strike; and a marathon 36 hours to reach New Zealand when the aircraft had to turn back to Hawaii for a passenger taken ill then stopped at Nadi Airport, Fiji, for six hours while a replacement crew flew out from Auckland to take over.
We also often fail to take into account the effects of long-distance travel on our bodies. Crossing numerous time zones leaves many people suffering from jet lag. Your eyes tell you it is night, but your body clock thinks it is day, and vice versa.
Eastward flights are more draining because they compress nights, leaving you feeling even more tired. The longer the flight, the worse the effect. Travelling back from the US can affect you for days. It can take as long as a week to recover fully from a flight to Australia or New Zealand. Jet-lag is something divers often forget when they book long-distant holidays, planning dives almost as soon as they arrive. How many divers would consider diving in this country after staying up all night, eating and drinking at irregular times?
Another oft-forgotten point is that flying dehydrates the body. Alcohol exaggerates the after-effects, and you will feel much better if you steer clear of it and drink plenty of other fluid instead.
Travel delays can add to the problem, forcing you to make unscheduled overnight stops when you miss connecting onward flights. Even without jet-lag, arriving at your final destination after a tortuous journey can leave you physically and emotionally drained for several days. Again, not a recipe for safe diving.
The further you travel, the more likely you are to need connecting flights or long transfers. If your trip has been put together by a tour operator, flight delays will normally have been allowed for, but it is something to bear in mind when arranging trips yourself.
Standards of equipment and hygiene in some of the more remote parts of the world may be lower than you would normally be used to. Take care with local food and water if you are unsure. Avoid salads or unpeeled fruit, which may have been washed in unclean water. Drink bottled water and use it to brush your teeth if available. If not, boil water before drinking it. And never have ice in your drinks - it could be contaminated, too. Remember that medical facilities may not be up to western standards. The threat of contaminated needles or blood in some parts of the world is a very real one. You can buy special kits containing sanitised hypodermic needles and blood plasma for travel to underdeveloped countries.
As for equipment, if it is a BSAC dive centre the standard will undoubtedly be high. Other organisations' credentials may appear impressive, but that does not necessarily guarantee high equipment standards. It is not always possible to take all your own dive gear, particularly on journeys involving small aircraft where space and weight are at a premium and you may only be allowed one bag. Personal experience has made me very wary, and I always check rental equipment thoroughly. Even so, I have had demand valves free-flowing under water because of sand particles left from previous dives. On one dive in Cozumel the strap of my rented mask was so perished it snapped at 15m!
If booking your dives through a tour operator or travel agent in Britain, ask their advice for reputable dive centres. If you are planning on booking when you arrive at the destination, look at several operations, or speak to diving clients as they return from dives. They will soon tell you if all was not OK. Divers also frequently congregate in particular bars at night. Ask them about the local diving scene.
Having dived your dream destination, there are points which your travel agent or dive centre may have forgotten to point out regarding your homeward journey.
If your transfer is by road, does it cross a mountain range to reach the airport? If so, have you allowed enough time since your last dive? There are cases of divers getting the bends as they returned through the Alps after diving the Mediterranean.
If you are on a small island, does it involve a "pond-hopper" flight on a small aircraft or helicopter before your intercontinental flight? You may have calculated your final day's dive profile based on the main flight, not the inter-island hop. In the Seychelles, where such flights are the only way to reach some islands, dive centres will often plan their dives to ensure clients do not encounter such problems.