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Here's my trick (it's a good one, get ready!):
Pre-pressurize your ears. It gives a new meaning to equalizing early....when I'm on my way to the dive site, I plug my nose and blow gently until I feel my ears pressurize. While I'm gearing up, I do it again. On my surface swim, I do it again. Just before I descend, I do it again....just after my head goes beneath the surface, I do it again. By that point, my eustacian tubes are ready to roll.
Before I started doing the pre-pressurization method, I'd spend 5+ minutes trying to get down to 30 feet, while everyone else just waited for me. Now that I've figured out my "trick", I haven't had any issues. I continue to equalize often on my descent, but it's not been an issue for me to get to depth in a reasonable amount of time in the last 50+ dives.