Why is Reef Safe Sunscreen so Important?

Reef Safe Sunscreen or Bust!

By now, we all know that global climate change has endangered our coral reefs due to rising ocean temperatures, as the stress of warm water causes corals to bleach. But did you know that scientists are now saying chemically based sunscreen can induce the same bleaching response in coral?!

When corals absorb these toxic chemicals found in our common sunscreens, it creates a similar reaction to that of warmer water temperatures created by global warming: bleaching.On top of that, the presence of these chemicals allows viruses to thrive, subjecting corals to catch infections leading to bleaching and ultimate death.

In fact, scientist are estimating up to 14,000 tons of sunscreen are introduced into the ocean each year! That is something absurd like 60 million bottles of sunscreen a year… UMM WOW

It is metrics like this that recently prompted Hawaii to place a ban on all sunscreen containing Oxybenzone and Octinoxate (the two most commonly harmful chemicals), taking effect in 2021. While this is a great start, we still have a lot more work to do… and here at Coconut Tree Divers Roatan we are committed to keeping our reef as healthy as possible!

What makes a sunscreen reef safe?

There are two types of sunscreen:

Chemical based. (the bad guy) These include two major ingredients used to block UV rays: Oxybenzone and Octinoxate (the same chemicals banned in Hawaii). Many of your major brands will have these ingredients included and are very harmful to the coral reefs you have traveled so far to see! *Beware that while these are the two most common harmful chemicals, they are not the only harmful chemicals used in sunscreen… more on this below!*

Mineral based. (The good guy) Also known as physical sunscreens, these products use zinc oxide and titanium dioxide and are considered “safe” for coral reefs. *It is important to use mineral sunscreens that are “non-nano” in size because any mineral sunblocks having a partical size below 100 nanometers can be consumed by corals*

Unfortunately, the term’s “reef safe” or “reef friendly” are not regulated… meaning you may not always be able to trust a product advertising this label.

It is important to read the active ingredients found in your mineral sunscreen to check for the absence of harmful ingredients found on the HEL list (a list of chemicals that are known pollutants in many different environments). Below are the most common HEL list ingredients that you do NOT want to find in your mineral based reef safe sunscreen…

Oxybenzone
Octinoxate
Octocrylene
4-methylbenzylidene camphor
PABA
Parabens
Triclosan
Any nanoparticles or “nano-sized” zinc or titanium (if it doesn’t explicitly say “micro-sized” or “non-nano” it is most likely nano-sized and a no go)
Any form of microplastic, such as “exfoliating beads”

SO.. What can I do to help protect our coral reefs?

Most people want to know what they can do to help protect the very thing they came on vacation to enjoy. The good news is there is plenty you can do to make a difference…

Use less sunscreen

Okay this sounds terrifying… especially if you tend to turn into a lobster like me! Protecting your skin from UV rays is 100% crucial and should not be compromised. However, sunscreen is not your only option. Wearing items to minimize your sunscreen use can drastically reduce the amount of sunscreen introduced into the ocean. Think hats, wet suits, rash guards and even simply putting on a T-shirt while snorkeling!

Apply sunscreen 10-15 minutes before entering the water

This allows for the sunscreen to sink in, dry and therefore a less chance of washing straight into the ocean.

Choose the correct reef safe sunscreen

Be active in reading the back of your sunscreen. Look for ‘reef safe’ labels as well as ensuring none of the harmful ingredients listed above are used in the making of your sunscreen. This may sound labor intensive but cute little guys like this Sargassum Trigger Fish pictures below need us to do our part so they can continue to have a healthy home….!

To help you out, here is a great article with not only more information but an awesome list of reef safe sunscreen options.

Spread the word

Educate your friends, family and fellow scuba divers about the importance of protecting our coral reef. Luckily here in Roatan, we have some of the healthiest reef around and we intend to keep it that way!

So find the perfect time to come join us at Coconut Tree Divers and make sure to bring your reef safe sunscreen!! If you forget to pick up a bottle at home, our friend Andrea makes a line of all natural sunscreen and skincare products right here on the island called Aegis All Natural, a great option to keep our reef healthy!

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Picture credit : 1, 2 All other photos by our very own Alex Harper-Graham

We would love to have you come dive with us!

For more info on Coconut Tree Divers, schedules, courses, and pricing head to our homepage HERE!

To make a reservation head to our online reservation page HERE!

Report Cards Are In

Scuba Diving

We were never fans of report cards growing up. A percentage or a letter used as a representation of who we are as people and what we might be capable of was largely useless. Whether our report cards brought us praise or groundings we found they weren’t really useful for telling our story, what we did right, what we did wrong and how could we could improve.

When the Healthy Reefs Initiative began the Mesoamerican Reef Health Report Cards 10 years ago, they wanted to create an understanding of the management of an ecosystem that sustains our culture, fisheries, coastal protection, and tourism. The HRI completes these surveys to create accurate, science based knowledge to inform dialogue and collective management in the Mesoamerican Reef (MAR). Unlike our school grades that gave us meaningless percentages and letters based on performance, this report card teaches us where we are going wrong and how we can change for the better.

Ian Drysdale (Representative for Honduras in the HRI) and his team made our boat Pot Licker their ‘home’ for a week as they completed this years reef health investigation in Roatan. To the inexperienced eye it looked as though they had an obsession with PVC, slates, and rubber bands but we knew that although that may be true, it was their love for the reef that had those volunteers jumping 4-5 times a day to survey over 25 sites in Roatan alone. The heroes involved this year were a mix of students from mainland and local conservationists who gave their time, energy, and expertise to successfully complete this years survey. Each volunteer was trained through a program called AGRRA (Atlantic and Gulf Rapid Reef Assessment) who have developed a standardized assessment with the ability to be applied to many different reef types.

Extremely simplified explanation of survey methods

Ouch, that’s a lot of yellow.

In understanding and comparing changes in benthic, coral, and fish indicators using this AGGRA method, the Report Card has been able to collect and compare data giving us a real long-term picture of what has been happening in our waters.

The chart to the left was taken from the 2018 MAR Report Card and represents the surveys conducted by the team to quantify our reef health. Honduras was given a 3.3/5 in the Reef Health Index and was one of the few areas surveyed to experience decline since 2015.

The majority of the volunteers had helped complete the surveys previous and were pretty well informed with the issues in Roatan. The week of the survey was sympathetically rain filled and added a lot of ambience to the disappointed faces, but this crew was much more interested in the positive aspects. On one of the last days we were huddled under the shelter of Potlicker, sharing sips of warm tea, to discuss just why we were experiencing a decline.

First off, they said, Roatan was doing a lot of things right.

Amazingly our coral coverage was some of the best in the Caribbean and that part seems to have held. The reason? Our Marine Park. The Roatan Marine Park (RMP) has been doing a heck of a lot more than putting in your mooring balls. They are patrolling, educating tourists, developing our communities and changing the way we use plastics. They do this through the continued support of sponsors, visitors, and community. Reasons to support them, in whatever way we can, whether it’s through donation or active participation is being proven by these studies, and it’s awesome.

What is not so awesome is that Roatan has too much macroalgae.

According the report card, this is our number one ‘Calls to Action’. It’s one of corals biggest competitors here, and it’s growing and spreading at a very serious rate.

Fleshy macroalgae in Roatan is blanketing areas of the reef, completely taking over the environment. In small quantities the aptly named ‘fleshy’ algae provides food and oxygen exchange, but human intervention has tipped the balance invariably in it’s favour. Wonderfully, their data, doesn’t just prove we have too much algae, it also tells us why.

Turns out, it’s shit. Not shit the expletive, shit the excrement. West End is the only area that adheres to fecal health standards in all of Roatan. Even the main city of Coxen Hole is only about 10% connected to it’s treatment facility. This doesn’t mean that there are little turds floating around everywhere else, but we as humans happen to excrete nutrients and those nutrients are changing the environment around our island. With cruise ship traffic, tourism, and immigration increasing, the volume of defecation on our reef is also increasing. This provides the perfect conditions for macroalgae to grow.

In Half-moon Bay, they said they have seen and confirmed the improvement to reef health since the establishment of a wastewater system and all the houses aren’t even connected (although, that’s the goal!) . Only 15% of blackwater in the Caribbean is currently being treated, so it’s pretty cool that our little island is a part of that. If we can do it through the efforts of our community members, we hope that our grassroots example will spread and our island can be a role model in effective solutions.

Once the algae has been sorted to insure the non offending critters are returned to the water, it can even be used as fertilizer! HAWAII’S DIVISION OF AQUATIC RESOURCES

To deal with the algae we already have they offered the possible solution of using reef weeders or underwater vacuums. These ‘super-suckers’ will allow us to fully remove the algae leaving space for new coral to form and suffocating coral to flourish. Hawaii has already been implementing these vacuums to increase reef health in their own areas and are open to sharing their knowledge in an effort to improve ocean environments around the world.

You can’t tell because of the lights but this bad boy was caught on a night dive here in Roatan by one of our regular guests!

The next step that is still being explored, is the re-introduction of our pointy little friends; the Long Spined Urchin. Our sneakiest and spikiest algae eaters were wiped out by disease in 1983 have seen very still seen very little comeback in our area. The team was very enthusiastic for re-intro as an option. Herbivorous fish numbers like parrot fish and blue tangs are up, but without our urchins feeding in the hard to reach spots, it’s unlikely the natural balance can be restored.

It was amazing to get involved with this years Report Card. Not only did we get to see some of the most enchanting dive sites in the MAR, we got to hang out with the important and amazing individuals who are working everyday to ensure the future of our reef. Although these solutions are simple, we know that implementing them is going to be a lot hard work. We look forward to helping these guys out as these projects move forward, channeling our love and knowledge into this world that we call home!

We just want to say a big thank you to everyone who is doing their part. When it comes to the environment and trying to save it, we get it, some of us weren’t born to be the heroes of epics but we all fight our own daily battle to improve the world around us and that is amazing. Each person has their own impact and we thank you for yours. We also want to thank all the organizations working with our communities planting coral, working with our governments and cleaning up garbage. It’s important and you are important.

Thanks Again, to Ian and his team for keeping the world up to date with our reef. This information will allow our guests and divers to engage with our island as they enjoy the beauty that we have been afforded through the efforts of many, and understand the work that they are doing. Thank you for showing us a world with solutions and a world with hope.

A list of sponsors who all contributed to the 2018 Report Card!

So long and thanks for all the fish!

If you want to learn more about ways you can help you can always contact us at [email protected] and we would be happy to answer questions about how you can get involved on your holiday. If you just want to come down and see some of the healthiest reefs in the world, check out our websites for package options. Our shop is located in Halfmoon Bay and we offer several conservation courses and complete regular Dive Against Debris course and volunteer dives. As always my source information is included in the page with links to the relevant sections.

Rachael Sorochan

We would love to have you come dive with us!

For more info on Coconut Tree Divers, schedules, courses, and pricing head to our homepage HERE!

To make a reservation head to our online reservation page HERE!

Your First Beer is Your Last Dive

Scuba Diving

All these gorgeous flavours are available at the Roatan Wine Room , which we will be plugging relentlessly as this article was partially inspired by the owner!

Diving to drink…

Drinking and diving is a pretty serious no no, for obvious reasons. This blog post is not going to cover that today. What we’re doing today is more along the lines of diving for the sake of drinking. For those of you who have spent time around Coconut Tree you may know of a time-honoured tec tradition of leaving behind a bottle of wine on your final deep dive. The idea came from a couple of guests that had come down to us from Spain that had said where they dive, it was common for staff to deposit bottles of wine underwater on the ocean floor, the purpose being, to improve the taste. Now the honest truth, we did absolutely no research into these claims initially, but the idea sounded cool so we decided to make it our thing too.

This is the Josie J of Roatan. It unfortunately didn’t have any champagne aboard, but it’s still pretty cool

Inspiration

The reason we followed the suggestions of these divers has some obvious inspirations. Discovering shipwrecked champagne and pirate rum are the things of adult day dreams. A bottle of Heidsieck 1907 sold for 275 000 USD at auction, and was one amongst over 2000 varieties discovered on a single shipwreck in the Gulf of Finland. Apparently some of them even tasted pretty good. A British ship sunk in the 1760’s is thought to be filled with bronze canons and gold coins, but it’s the thousands of litres of possibly undrinkable rum that has a lot of collectors vying for it’s recovery.

We know our bottles aren’t going to hold the same sort of history as that of a sunken ship, but the idea of it spending time stored in a place where few in the world are qualified to travel has its own set of mysteries. It’s cool of course but, was it actually as the Spanish divers said? Does it improve the taste?

A promotional photo of Vina Maris, not sure how they got that fireworm there…

Underwater Wine Storage

One of the OG winemakers to experiment with this process was also from Spain, Raúl Pérez. He started by sinking bottles for up to 60 days in the bay near his vineyards which now sell for up to 138 USD a bottle. His company however, has reduced the amount of product put in the ocean after a huge amount of them spoiled in the sea (something we have certainly had happen to us, but more on that later).

Viña Maris another winery in Spain has dedicated themselves entirely to underwater wine storage claiming the the “salinity has mineral nuances”. You can even book wine tours that begin with SCUBA excursions to see the underwater cellars. A Napa Valley wine company, Mira has bottles selling for 500 USD a bottle, the same bottle aged on land; 50 USD. The reason? It is said to mature the wine, turning “a 2009 into a 2007”.

So what is the science behind the oceanic benefits?

Wine is ideally stored at 12.8C (55F), as it allows the wine to ‘mature’ at the correct rate, anything warmer can cause it to ferment too quickly and spoil it. The ocean tends to be cold and relatively temperature controlled depending on the locations and depths. Light is another big bad that can increase the rate of aging making the darkness of the ocean a bonus for wine storage.

The final effect is oxygen, too much or too little can cause the wine to taste different levels of bad, 6ppm ( that’s parts per million for us non science folks) being the ideal amount. This appropriate oxygenation during the aging process is controlled by the cork (synthetic or natural), allowing only tiny amounts to pass through. The ocean has relatively low levels of oxygen so less should be diffusing into the liquid.

It’s good to know that we weren’t crazy to follow this initial advice. We have experimented with varying degrees of success usually leaning towards the failing side. Most recently, on Valentine’s Day of last year Monty and Alex dropped a bottle at their favourite spot upon Alex’s completion of her Tec course. This romantic story contributes to the idea that in the end it isn’t just about aging a perfect wine, but about what it can mean to us and our relationship with the ocean.

It did get slightly less romantic when we brought it up and the wine tasted like ass.

Why were we failing?

Originally we assumed it was the sea water leeching into the bottles so we tried a mixture of duct tape and candle wax and the result; still the flavour of ass.

This is when we decided to embark on this research, if duct tape can’t fix it, what can?

We did have a suspicion that our water temperature might be a little warm for wine storage so we looked for examples closer to home. A Shipwreck from 1864 off the coast of Bermuda, the Mary-Celestial was the closest we could find. The bottles recovered apparently looked super cool but the taste was not so nice.

Master Sommelier, Paul Roberts was quoted saying;

“When we decanted it, the cork pretty much crumbled and you immediately knew the vast majority was now ocean water.”

The tasting notes apparently included words like ‘crabwater’ and ‘gasoline’. In fancy sommelier language, this was exactly what our wine was tasting like! Turns out, the water here, just as in Bermuda is too warm.

Local wine expert and technical diver Lauren Schneidewind said;

“The wine would have cooked at 83F (28C), wine really does need to be stored at a much cooler 55F (12.8C). Rum however, is made at hotter temperatures and has roots from hotter climates and can withstand heat better than wine”

Rum?

Now, there was a thought. Flor De Cana is aged at the base of a volcano in Nicaragua so we imagine she was right about the heat. Lauren said she didn’t think that the rum would necessarily improve, but at least it wouldn’t spoil.

Camper English creator of the website Alcademics summarized a seminar held at the Tales of Cocktail event about how liquor and spirits age over time. He confirmed what Lauren had said that the rum would not begin to be effected negatively by temperature until about 37.8C (100F) but is ideally stored at 4.44C (40F). That, and the darkness at depth make our Roatan waters not necessarily the best, but definitely not the worst. For rum oxygenation in the bottle can cause an undesirable vinegar like aroma, so as long as we insured the bottle retained the manufacturer seal, all points to the bottle at the very least, remaining the same.

It may not be as exciting knowing that our unique storage method hasn’t created some sort of liquor revolution but that won’t take away from our tradition.

It’s good to know now how these bottles will not just hold a little bit of our own history, but an enjoyable and drinkable beverage. It’s also not a bad excuse to buy a fancy bottle of rum in the name of diving. If our calm warm water is not perfect for wine storage for diving at least, it’s unbeatable.

This little photo bomber got Lauren on her way down to place her Zacapa bottle, maybe he was mad she didn’t share. Alexandra HG Photography

To learn more about courses or discovery experiences check out our website. For more updates, photos, and videos from the gang you can follow us on our Facebook and Instagram.

Bonus Story

At the time of our initial experiments wine options were few and far between on Roatan, instead we decided to try Tree’s homemade mango ‘wine’. We took the clear moonshine-like Mango beverage and gave it a shot. The bottle had a plastic cork, it was stored at 18m (60ft) and was left there for 6 months. This would have been a lot easier back then as it was less likely to be discovered by other divers, that being the main reason that it’s our tec divers who have upheld it since then. Monty recalls the liquid going from clear to almost lemonade type turbidity. It also, significantly improved the taste.

We aren’t sure why it worked, mostly because we aren’t really sure what the chemical make up of Tree’s concoction was, but it did certainly inspire us to keep up with the tradition.

All sources used are linked in the section that is applicable. Thanks Again to Lauren of Roatan Wine Room for answering all my questions and the crew at the shop for arguing all the science with me. Alexandra HG, a big thanks for providing me with photo and fodder for these posts. As always thanks to those who I abuse for editing, I have an over use of comma problems. If you have any questions or ideas for posts you would like to see, don’t hesitate to contact us through our Facebook!

We would love to have you come dive with us!

For more info on Coconut Tree Divers, schedules, courses, and pricing head to our homepage HERE!

To make a reservation head to our online reservation page HERE!

“Went diving yesterday. Like an idiot, he surfaced too quickly. Like a bigger idiot, he boarded a flight which is pressurized to 8,000 feet above sea level. Low pressure is killing him. Tell the pilot to dive until we can club baby seals out of the window.” -House M.D.

If you aren’t familiar with the popular TV series House M.D. that ran from 2004-2012 you must not have owned a television. It was made famous by the incredible, loveable, and detestable character Dr. Gregory House, and brought to life by actor Hugh Laurie—Total Babe. The average viewer loved the drama and darkly sarcastic comments but, to the medical world, the show left something to be desired.

Dr. Scott Morrison, a physician in the U.S., has been quoted by F orbes as saying:

“An average House episode may rate a C,” he says, “but that is still miles above any other show out there.”

Morrison rates the validity of each episode and storyline on an A-F basis, and if anyone would know, it would be this guy. His blog, Polite Dissent, has a medical review for—no lie—every single episode. Its unclear to us how Dr. Morrison finds the time for that sort of thing, but we’re grateful when stumbling upon it when embarking on this post.

Several ‘airplane experts’ in the comment section of Dr. Morrison’s blog are angry because the seating is totally unrealistic. So that part gets a D for stupid chair arrangement.

The reason we are writing about a medical drama on a diving blog is because—you guessed it—there is an episode with a diving related injury.

We don’t know about you guys, but whenever we stumble upon any reference, scene, or anything SCUBA related in a movie or on TV we get obsessed. Partially judging it’s objective accuracy, and partially just being excited to see SCUBA represented.

However, when searching this particular episode we found Morrison’s quote wholly disappointing; “I felt the medicine was decent this time, particularly the airplane scenes.”, and that was it.

Come on man, we want to know more!

To get you all up to speed, I will try and summarize the diving storyline, for those of you interested in more, we are looking at ‘Airborne’ Season 3 Episode 18 – Currently on Netlfix –

House and his boss Cuddy are aboard a plane leaving Singapore when this guy Peng starts to look really rough. He appears dizzy, nauseous, and is in obvious distress. His skin is grey and sweaty.

He then begins to vomit all over his food tray.

At this point, there is some – according to the comment section of Dr. Morrisons blog – questionable Filipino from the air hostess who then determines the guy only speaks Korean.

Super Unlucky.

So, House and Cuddy start doing what they do and the diagnosis jumps from thing to thing. They also realize that inconveniently this plane is flying over the North Pole and has nowhere to land prior to their destination. We then see Peng being described as having a fever, severe abdominal pain, and, a rash on the lower back.

Cue Dramatic and incorrect diagnosis.

Sometime later House shouts at the man to stand up. Peng is shaking, staggering, and, proceeds to fall down. Dr. House adds ‘Extension Posturing’ to the list of signs and describes Peng as having focal limb paralysis.

This escalates to a scene where House and crew are holding Peng down in order to cut what they believe to be a cocaine filled condom from his abdomen. The kid applies pressure to Peng’s shoulder and he appears to experience relief. House notices and repeats the same action on Peng’s knee, again, exhibiting relief. House puts the scalpel down and asks to see Peng’s wallet. Inside he finds a PADI card (We are not able to see the certification level) and a receipt for dive rental equipment from the day before. They call for the pilot to descend below 1524m. (5 000ft). It ends with Peng leaving the plane alive but on a stretcher.

The first aspect of the episode I wanted to investigate was the airplane. How could a commercial flight that travels from South-East Asia/China to the United States not have emergency landing sites? It turns out that it does. Although, Nunavut might not be teeming with dive doctors and recompression chambers it would still have likely been a better option than maintaining the altitude. We also read that in order to keep fuel temperature from freezing these flights often descend around 3000m over the arctic presumably increasing cabin pressure. This could explain why Peng’s symptoms worsened as they approached the U.S.

Also, would these airlines really just leave you to the mercy of these two doctors? We asked our friend Laura who has worked in the industry and she said that if a medical emergency did occur (dive related or not), protocol required the crew to inquire if anyone with medical training was on board, if not, they had an emergency line to call that would determine the status of the patient and provide EFR as needed. If necessary, they would be instructed to land the plane. She also recalls being briefed on DCS and minimum no fly times, 12 hours for single dives, 18 hours for multiple which, corresponds with DAN (Divers Alert Network) rules. Cabin crew required a minimum 24 hour window.

This portion of our episode is pretty cheesy. However, if they were able to land the plane at anytime, it sure would have taken away from the drama. It’s pretty misleading but, we will give the writers this one.

According to a study done by DAN , they discovered the acceptable minimum no fly times were difficult to determine because the low acceptable risk to the test volunteers. Incidences of neurological DCS were too high to continue testing. Basically they were able to find that the current rules (at 1% risk rate) were acceptable, anything below was unsafe to determine.

Next up, Peng was described as having likely experienced symptoms before he got on a flight that was then ascending to an altitude that at it’s highest would maintain a pressure of .76 bar (the limit for any commercial flight). So why did Peng do it? As a certified diver he should have been able to recognize the symptoms.

The thing is, is that this is a lot more common than you think. One of the first indicators of a DCS hit can be denial.

According to DAN;

The most common manifestations of DCS are joint pain and numbness or tingling. Next most common are muscular weakness and inability to empty a full bladder. Severe DCS is easy to identify because the signs and symptoms are obvious. However, most DCS manifests subtly with a minor joint ache or a paresthesia (an abnormal sensation like burning, tingling or ticking) in an extremity.

Most of these symptoms then get blamed on something else. Tight suits, heavy lifting, or, other non-diving related activities. So it’s not actually that unbelievable that dear old Peng didn’t recognize his symptoms. He is also an entirely fictional character so we won’t let this aspect stress us too much.

This is extension posturing. Doctors are able to determine injury types depending on the type of posture- And I am a child so I found the face on this drawing hilarious

Drama aside, lets break this down to determine if DCS is a plausible explanation for these signs and symptoms.

1. Dizziness- A clear and common indicator.

2. Nausea- And delightfully, vomiting.

3. Pain/discomfort- The most common symptom of DCS.

4. Rash on lower back– DCS related skin rashes tend to stick to the fatty tissue so this seems pretty accurate.

5. Severe abdominal pain- This one is a hard call, it was determined through zero communication from the patient so it’s lack of correlation with DCS doesn’t really prove anything.

6. Fever- A fever is actually what commonly helps doctors to realize that DCS is not the cause and more likely one of many other commonly linked symptoms such as those of dengue fever.

7. Staggering- Definitely a common sign. It should also be noted that anyone with suspected DCS should not sit or stand.

8. Extension posturing- Although this is not a commonly listed sign of DCS, it could occur in neurological varieties.

9. Focal joint paralysis- Again, this term specifically isn’t what is commonly used to describe the paralysis associated with DCS but it is understandably similar

10. Confusion/Strange Behaviour- Peng made very little attempt to communicate with the team trying to assess him, so we’ll go ahead and assume that this was another of the common signs of DCS.

Other than the glaring mistake of the fever, these symptoms seemed to be pretty accurate. Now, we have never seen anyone exhibiting signs of DCS to this severity but we would imagine that the actor embellished a little in his portrayal. The most concerning aspect of these symptoms are those suggesting neurological type forms of DCS, these would have required some pretty immediate action. So the signs and symptoms for the most part pass the test, the emergency first response does not.

The kicker though for us was the final scene where House finally figures the whole thing out. Pressure applied to a joint causing immediate relief? Sorry, but we called bull-@#$%. We are not a doctors but as a divers we have spent a fair amount of time studying and understanding Decompression Sickness. Some of us have even seen it. It was difficult to believe that a human body could exert the amount of pressure on a joint to simulate a change in atmospheric pressure.

A quick message off to DAN’s Medical Service Centre and we immediately received confirmation on our assumption,

Hello Rachael,

Your suspicions are correct, this is indeed misinformation. There is no evidence to suggest that mechanical pressure applied to a joint would result in any change in their condition. Please reconnect with us should you have any other questions or concerns. Regards,

Jonathan Gilliam

DAN Medical Services

It’s clear that some of this was complete garbage. The plane would have been able to land. They may have ended up somewhere near Santa’s house but, it could have worked. The flight staff also, would likely have enacted procedures for landing the plane at the initial symptoms. Especially had any of House and Cuddy’s terrifying diagnosis been correct. As Dr. Morrison would do, I give this section a C. It’s unrealistic, but delightfully dramatic.

Peng getting on the plane is far more believable. A lot of divers make the mistake of misdiagnosing their DCS symptoms and very often continue diving or get aboard flights. So this aspect gets an A. Although, House was maybe unfair for how many times he called him an idiot.

The symptoms get a B-. We struggled with this one, the symptoms are all bang on, except for the fever. A fever would be the indicator that proved this probably wasn’t DCS and therefore took the grade way down.

The final seen? An F. A big F, less than an F. It’s absolutely unrealistic. If you don’t believe us lets go ask Jonathan, or any other dive doctor for that matter.

All in all, though we liked this episode. It was funny, it got us talking, and it gave us fodder for this blog. If you guys have any other movies, shows, books, or whatever that you would like us to take a look at on the subject of diving let us know!

We’ll see you all next week.

Acknowledgements to Instructor Shane for informing me about the existence of this episode. Thanks to Laura for being my airplane expert. Obvious thanks to Jonathan and Divers Alert Network. Thanks to Forbes, Dr. Morrison, and all the guys on reddit who showed me how to read Morrison’s expired blog. Thank You to Conde Nast Traveler for having all the information about North Pole flight routes in one handy article. All of the articles that I referenced can be linked to in the section in which they are referred. Thanks Alexandra HG Photography for being my resource for epic dive photos.

We would love to have you come dive with us!

For more info on Coconut Tree Divers, schedules, courses, and pricing head to our homepage HERE!

To make a reservation head to our online reservation page HERE!

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Reef Safe Sunscreen or Bust!

What makes a sunscreen reef safe?

Unfortunately, the term’s “reef safe” or “reef friendly” are not regulated… meaning you may not always be able to trust a product advertising this label.

SO.. What can I do to help protect our coral reefs?

Use less sunscreen

Apply sunscreen 10-15 minutes before entering the water

Choose the correct reef safe sunscreen

Spread the word

What is not so awesome is that Roatan has too much macroalgae.

Diving to drink…

Inspiration

Underwater Wine Storage

So what is the science behind the oceanic benefits?

It did get slightly less romantic when we brought it up and the wine tasted like ass.

Why were we failing?

Rum?

Bonus Story

Dive Master Internship

Weary of giving a Dive Master Internship a go?

It’s not to say it isn’t hard work…

Barra O’Briain

Meilin Mansilla

Philip Zaki

Jina Gaechter

Our Dive Master Internship is for everyone!

Here is just a couple of photo’s of our trainees up to shenanigans…

“Went diving yesterday. Like an idiot, he surfaced too quickly. Like a bigger idiot, he boarded a flight which is pressurized to 8,000 feet above sea level. Low pressure is killing him. Tell the pilot to dive until we can club baby seals out of the window.” -House M.D.

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