Major "seconds" about advice for avoiding contact with corals for both personal and ecological reasons. Even if you're lucky enough to avoid all the fire coral, just standing or slipping on elkhorn or staghorn corals (think glass-edged sculptures) can result in serious cuts and abrasions which, without proper care, can quickly develop major infections. Even some of the relatively benign sea grasses can have edges sharp enough to cut exposed skin. One item that I keep in my scuba first aid kit and that you may want to consider for warm water paddling: an auto-injecting syringe for anaphaleptic (sp?) shock. It requires a doctor's prescription, but it's fairly inexpensive and relatively common for people who have severe allergies to various stinging insects. I read an account of a scuba diver with no previously known allergies who was swimming back to the boat, on the surface, following a dive. He was stung on his throat and shoulder (unknown origin) and as he was getting on the boat found his airway rapidly swelling shut. Only prompt recognition of the problem and injection of the antihistamine saved his life. (Off post: While it's probably already been considered, proper sun protection is critical for not only skin but eyes. A bad sunburn on even a small part of your body can make things miserable for the remainder of a trip.) *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.gasp-seakayak.net/paddlewise/ ***************************************************************************Received on Tue Dec 01 1998 - 15:42:52 PST
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