# Suba/snorkelling/swimming



## DaddyT1 (Oct 3, 2022)

Taking the 11 year old on an island holiday and he loves swimming in the sea. This year, he’s big enough to try beginner diving I think, but how does that affect the G6 and sugar levels? 

Apologies if this isn’t strictly ‘exercise’, thought it counted though.


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## Proud to be erratic (Oct 4, 2022)

Swimming, snorkeling and Scuba are all exercise and probably snorkeling is less demanding than swimming or Scuba - unless the snorkeller spends a lot of time duck-diving to slightly deeper waters, when extended breath holding places extra demands on one's body.

I am a lapsed  British Sub-Aqua Club Scuba Dive Instructor and after my surgery I was told that I could no longer dive, not least because no-one would accept the responsibility for the risk I posed; ie uninsurable. There is a real risk that the combination of the increased activity from diving (it is a deceptively tiring sport) along with increased pressure while underwater could trigger a hypo and my dive buddy might need to be rescuing me.

It can be a very stressful experience for newcomers, which also doesn't help - but could mitigate the hypo possibility, but I wouldn't want to depend on that! New divers get into little panics from simple occurrences because of being underwater, only able to communicate by hand signals and being dependent on a tank of air on their back. It's normal, managed by their being taught well about emergency procedures, as well as their everyday skills. 

My experience of going diving at holiday resorts is that only PADI provide supervised diving for experienced divers and some places run dive courses for beginners. PADI is the US Professional Association of Dive Instructors, but known by many as Pay Another Dollar In - with good reason. Dive schools (away from the US) take anybody they can, take lots of your money for the privilege and more often than I could accept take too little heed of their customers! As an amateur but well quilified diver I've rescued someone and twice had to help new divers, while diving with PADI. So, if you can find a school that will take your son, and at 11 he might be too young anyway, be very cautious about proceeding. It's exciting, but risky unless started in a swimming pool and the Diabetes doesn't help reduce any risk.


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