Nabucco Island (Indonesia)

Hi!

I read a few good and some pretty bad reviews about this destination. I'm a bit undecided now. I don't know if the good reviews are from the guys offering trips to Nabucco.

Are there any real world experiences regarding Nabucco Island Resort out there?

TIA, Helge ;-)=)

Hi Helge,

This is where I got my Heart Attack in October... Constricted artery problem.

This really is a beautiful resort, top quality accomodation and great food!

The resort is positioned at the top of a HUGE lagoon (Maratua Atoll) on its own neat island. The main attraction here are the sharks that frequent the channel just a few minutes from the resort. Also good for eaglerays and big schools of barracuda.

You can also day trip to Sangalaki for the manta and Kakaban for the Jellyfish lake.

Maratua has many wall sites too and you can spot THREE species of pygmy seahorse

Cybergoldfish, you had a heart attack? Very sorry to hear that, glad you're still with us, and hope that everthing is ok now.

This does raise a topic of some interest to advancing-age divers such as my wife and myself. If you're willing to talk about it, how would you rate the capabilities and response of the resort people in assisting you and arranging evacuation, etc.

Beyond carrying DAN cards, we take a fairly large first-aid-and-meds kit -including a good first-aid handbook - with us on every liveaboard trip or outing to any remote destination.

Beyond the bandages, antiseptics, it includes an assortment of antibiotics, the usual range of things for gastrointestinal problems. And of course anti-malarials where they are indicated. (Malarone for prophylaxis in high-risk areas, Larium to be used only for emergency initial treatment if one of us actually contracts malaria - no diving once Larium initiated, obviously.) Antihistimine cream and tablets for jellyfish etc. or allergic reactions.

It gets used on ever trip, though usually the patient is a fellow diver or someone working on the boat. I'm always very happy to restock the kit when things get used up on others, and a lot of the drugs have limited shelf lives anyway.

Robert Delfs

Hi Robert, I have no problems talking about it...

Initially, I and everyone else thought it was a nasty case of indigestion or food poisoning.

It happened just before I dropped into the water on turtle parade; 30 minutes west of the resort (outside Wall). I felt the pain arriving slowly during the descent, and expected it to go after a few minutes. Alas, it stayed and grew so I ascended to the boat. Then agony for 5 hours.

No doctors within 90 miles so I requested Aspirin and oxygen - Worse case treatments, and stopped my situation getting worse, (although we were all completely ambiguous regarding the real problem) it could have turned into a full blown blocked artery heart attack... This killed my Dad in 89.

Next morning I was feeling groggy but ok again, had breakfast and travelled back to Sangalaki to pick up the boat to Berau. The next day it was back to humping 70 kg's of camera stuff and my remaing dive kit via Balikpapan and Singapore to UK.

(After shopping for Todd's new shoes in Singapore).

Following Sunday at home, just bathed the two boys and it came back again with gusto... Ambulance was called, and A&E primarily diagnosed 'Angina'; constricted artery. An Angiogram confirmed this and later a stent was fitted (angioplasty) to open up the blocked artery. All this plus many pills and injections into the stomach area... My favourites every 12 hours - Not!

Thankfully the doctors have said it should not affect my diving.

So, my advice to anyone not in peak health physically or getting on in years is to get your blood pressure checked. This gives a clear indication of any problems with high blood pressure before it can progress into worse-case scenarios.

Aspirin is not a pain killer it thins the blood, reducing pressure. Pain killers have to be recommended by a doctor that are suitable for working with aspirin. The wrong ones could do serious damage.

Hope that helps?

Cheers,

Bob

Very glad to hear you're OK, and that the problem will not affect your diving. (I have a good friend who has had a stent, and who will be diving with us in Rajah Empat/Banda Sea in March. Another friend - he and his wife owns BIPD here in Bali, they are the people I do most of my diving with here in Bali, and who I plan to take some IANTD courses from - had a bypass operation a few years ago. It seems clear that heart conditions that have properly treated are not by any means an absolute bar to diving.

But it sounds like you were very lucky. I cringed when I read that you were humping your camera gear etc. on and off boats and planes after the first incident.

Like many people I know, I'm now taking a statin (Lipitor), a blood pressure med (Cozaar) and a small aspirin every day without fail, and everything gets checked several times a year. The criteria for what constitutes treatably high blood pressure are much more sensitive than they used to be.

Non-divers often ask me whether we worry about sharks etc., diving in remote locations. When I take the trouble to reply, I tell them that my real worries about remote diving are ranked as follows:

(1) traffic accident while riding in a car or SUV between airport/hotel/dock;

(2) being hit or chewed up by a boat propeller while surfacing in crowded diving area (answer: don't dive in crowded places, and/or always launch a delayed SMB before surfacing);

(3) heart attack, stroke or other major medical emergency;

.....(996 risk situations omitted)

(999) angr sharks

Stan Waterman's daughter suffered a very serious medical crisis while diving with her father and others on the Pelagian last year in the Rajah Empat area. The situation required emergency surgery in Sorong, under conditions which could charitably be described as less than ideal. I read an account of the incident written by a professional nurse (fortunately on the boat) who stayed with her in Sorong during the surgery and recuperation, which was harrowing.

Robert Delfs

Cod liver oil capsules prevent 'Sticky' blood forming too; although bad news for Cod!

Cod liver oil capsules prevent 'Sticky' blood forming too...

Now think about that. They take a dead fish, rip out its liver, squeeze the oil from it, and put it in a bottle. My mother made us take a tablespoon of that smelly stuff every day in the winter, and I can still taste/smell it fifty years later.

At least now it comes in capsules.

Nice eh?

BTW: that's Vince & his wife on the jetty.

The morning after the heart problem...

Please don't tell me you are wearing Speedo's! My God man what are you thinking.

Please don't tell me you are wearing Speedo's! My God man what are you thinking.

Preperation for "humping 70 kg's of camera stuff".

Bob can use a pointer or two on American slang. Hint: do a google search on "humping".

I just love you guys...

OH no Herb either meaning will apply just fine to the Brit.