A Day Trip to avoid in Cebu

decompression chamber cebu philippines

Most of you considering visiting Malapascua will put a lot of planning in to when to come, where to stay and what you want to do when here.  Most of you will never plan for something that is very, very unlikely to happen but it is always worth sparing a moment to consider.

Decompression Sickness is something we divers need to consider.  While very rare it can happen.  If you are the unlucky victim of a dose of DCS on Malapascua what can you do?

Well its really quite simple, anyone with symptoms indicating DCS must go the Cebu as quickly as possible and head to the Recompression Chamber in Mandaue.

A Recompression chamber is a a pressurised capsule that takes you back diving, except this time on dry land.  The chamber technician will close you in with a nurse and pressurise the chamber to 2.8 ATA while administering pure O2.  Then over the course of about 5 hours they will gradually bring you back to 1 ATA.  The hope is that pesky (aka life threatening) nitrogen bubbles are forced to shrink back down in size by the pressure and as you ‘ascend’ they do not gown back to their original problem-causing size.

While the technology is great, and the fact that it is 4 hours away is pretty good there is one other factor worth considering – costs.  Each session here in Cebu is a relatively cheap P38,000 plus costs of O2.  A diver with DCS might need one, two, three . . seven . . . who knows how many treatments.  So it can add up.  Factor in the boat and car needed to get there in a hurry and it can be painful in the joints and painful on the wallet.

The most important thing you can do when planning your Malapascua trip is make sure you are insured.  Insurance will cover the costs of the treatment as long as you are diving within your certification level and acceptable dive norms.  Evolution has partnered with DiveAssure to simplify this for all our customers.  So whether visiting for one day or one month their is an insurance package ready for you and with offices here in the Philippines they are on hand to deal with the Recompression Chamber for you.

To get insured simply click here and for more information contact info@evolution.com.ph.

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