My wife and I did scuba for the first time on vacation earlier this summer. Did not get certified or anything. My history with the subject is that I read most of the lower level padi books and was going to get certified. Bought gear and from the swimming pool where my buddy taught me the basics, I went to the Chas 60 and jumped in while current and viz were bad and there was no anchor to follow. I freaked out and had to get back in the bote. Before I could try again I got a pretty bad sinus infection that left my ears a little messed up. On vacation when my wife and I decided to try an easy dive in clear water it took me quite a while to clear, but I did make it down eventually to 45ft. Seemed like half the dive was spent on the anchor line figuring out what worked for clearing my ears and what would not. Once I realized some things I had to do differently than others it got much easier. I’d like to work thru this and get certified. We both really enjoyed diving and would like to do it more often.
Suffice it to say, I have a lot of spots I’d like to dive offshore in order to video/photograph what’s out there and do stuff I can’t do with rod and reel or when it’s not calm (surveying bottom is much more difficult when not calm). Are there any folks out there that’d be willing to certify us in exchange for a couple trips offshore or anything like that or am I better off just trying to figure out when we can get time off to join a class? Our problem is that our schedules are pretty difficult…
Phin contact the guys a www.Lowcountrydiving.com The fellas there may be willing to work something out with you financial wise, also they do certifications for as few as just 1 person and will work around your schedule I believe… The owner is currently deployed as an EOD Reserve diver, and his partners are very helpful as well. They also have a Facebook page, another good way to get in contact with them when he’s deployed.
“The Wet Dream”
20’ Pioneer 197
150hp Suzuki 4-Stroke
Also on another note with the clearing of the sinuses… The more you dive the easier it becomes I was the same way when I began (10 yrs ago), and my wife just started diving 2 years ago. When she was first beginning to dive I found myself making her decend first otherwise I’d be at the bottom waiting on her… Also the viz at the 60 is very dependent on tidal flows, and how much rain we have had recently… The pictures below were taken on different dates on the same piece of structure with the same camera at the 60…
“The Wet Dream”
20’ Pioneer 197
150hp Suzuki 4-Stroke
Having had sinus trouble most of my life as a child I used to take a sudafed before each day of diving, helped me greatly. If you have any sinus infection or even a cold going on it is better to postpone any diving untill better. As said, it does get easier over time to clear your ears once a person starts diving. One thing you don;t want is a ruptured eardrum at 100ft, trust me on this one I speak from experience. Have ruptured my eardrums multiple times diving and it’s no fun at all. Doc finally told me no more diving a few years back.
Russ B. Formerly known here as “Top2Bottom1” www.joinrfa.org
God is great, Beer is good, People are crazy
Terry is down in the keys right now, but should be back after the end of August. His shop and the guys that help him out are AWESOME. Go to his website and drop him an email.
quote:Originally posted by scmedic84
Phin contact the guys a www.Lowcountrydiving.com The fellas there may be willing to work something out with you financial wise, also they do certifications for as few as just 1 person and will work around your schedule I believe… The owner is currently deployed as an EOD Reserve diver, and his partners are very helpful as well. They also have a Facebook page, another good way to get in contact with them when he’s deployed.
“The Wet Dream”
20’ Pioneer 197
150hp Suzuki 4-Stroke
Clearing your ears get’s easier and easier. When I started, I had some trouble, but now, I do it without even thinking about it and don’t even remember that I did it most of the time. There are a couple of tricks that you can use:
Clear BEFORE you need to… The rule of thumb for new divers is to clear your ears every 3 feet. If you are feeling “ear pinch”, then you already waited too long to clear. Once you get the technique down, you won’t likely need to be as proactive and you can clear after you feel the pinch.
Try to clear your ears one at a time… How? Air floats, so tilt one ear toward the surface and gradually clear. When that one is clear, tilt the other ear toward the surface and clear.
Diving with stuff nose is going to make it harder. Sure, you can take a sudafed as Russ suggests, but PADI recommends against doing this because if it wears off when you are on the bottom, you could get reverse block. Even with that, I have heard of several divers that do exactly as Russ suggests though.
Diving is all about confidence. If you start out getting certified in clear water, it will help calm the nerves. If you start out in low viz, it typically adds stress to new divers.
I got all my dive certifications through the Criminal Justice Academy back in the 80’s when they had the four phase dive training program for law enforcement. The DNR dive team put it together with a dive school in Columbia. At the end of Phase II, we had gotten basic, advanced, deep water, night, search and rescue, and confined space certifications through PADI. I thought I was going to drown before it was over. I never, ever, have been on a recreational dive. Every dive I ever went on was either for training or on a call out. I quit after we had to help Pickens County look for a drowning victim at the Keowee dam.
As I began to be affected by my brain tumor, my eustastaion tubes were blocked by boney growth and as that occurred clearing my ears became agony. I have tubes in both ears now so diving, and sometimes even swimming is impossible.
I will respectfully disagree with Russ regarding the use of Sudafed. The U.S. Navy Dive Manual stated it was forbidden as the side effects of such drugs are amplified by increase in pressure and nitrogen absorption. There are various valsalva techniques to clear your ears, and as SkinneeJ said, clear before you need to. We were taught to start clearing the minute we vented the BCD. It is also important to remember if you get to a depth where you are having trouble, shallow up while attempting to clear and very soon you will equalize and be in position to begin to decend again.
The more we just complain…the more things stay the same.
Phin,
My schedule was like yours, it is hectic to say the least. I followed the same path as you, I bought gear, learned the basics in a pool from a advanced diver, made several supervised dives, read the entire SSI book and took the online exam but couldn’t fit the classes into my schedule, not to mention the travel of 45 miles one-way to the class site for 3 nights and then 2 weekends of check-out dives and practicals in a pool.
Low Country Scuba helped me with all of this. With them I have taken all the classes on-line and now all I have to do is show up for a quick review and then do my practicals and open water stuff and I will be certified. One Saturday and Sunday, that’s all it is to it.
BTW, I’ll be finishing my certification Labor Day weekend and my GOPRO arrived in the mail yesterday just in case you wanted to take me along sometime
Good luck, I hope you get the sinus thing worked out.
Yeah, I heard that also from my dive instructor about sudafed being forbidden by the Navy. He was a ex Navy dive master and said they used to call sudafed “pops” and half the incoming SEAL trainees would be taking them so they could clear at a faster rate of descent. He said he would rather have em taking sudafed then dealing with ruptured eardrums!
I would have never been able to start diving if it wasn’t for sudafed. Never had any problems with unwanted side effects from it over thousands of dives.
Russ B. Formerly known here as “Top2Bottom1” www.joinrfa.org
God is great, Beer is good, People are crazy
I got my PADI card in 1985, in St.Thomas V.I.,piece of cake.coolest part of open water test was removing all gear + mask,and then putting it all back on.no ear issues at all.
Got my PADI card in 2000 right after I had Lasik… SO glad to have had that procedure, especially when I had to remove my mask, put it back on and clear it! And, then I had to remove my BC, hand it to the person next to me and put it back on… I remember the 1 hour treading water when my class decided to name the capitals of the states to pass the time. Yep, it took the entire hour, too!
Diving… It’s the most fun thing I’ve ever done (ok, 2nd most). Anything having to do with diving is pretty cool. The people, the boats, the equipment, the stories, the beers (way after the dive), the new friends… and of course all the posts on CharlestonDiving showing all your booty! I would recommend that you do as some others here have… go somewhere for a week and git-r-done: Caymans, USVI, Keys or even the FL Springs. Or do your pool stuff and then do the OW stuff elsewhere. Do it nice and comfy, see how it shakes out, get more ear clearing skills worked out… bingo! You’ll be glad you did, especially with your wife. I would not recommend a bad day offshore in murky water right off the bat for OW certification. Go when you KNOW you’ll be in a nice easy fun place to get Open Water and Adv Open Water. Next stop: NITROX.
Phin,
Not positive but i think Lowcountry scuba has one option for getting certified where you do all your classwork online. Then come in for the pool exercises.
equalize your ears on the surface and all the way down to 20’ or so. Once the squeeze happens its harder to overcome the pressure to equalize. A lot of people think they cant dive because of their “bad ears”. I’ve had 2 sinus surgeries, bad allergies, etc. I clear fine by Clearing before the squeeze.
I knew you would eventually come over to the dark Side.
Rob Harding
Charleston diving http://www.charlestondiving.com (Fish not Biting? Try a fast presentation of spring steel)</font id=“green”>
