Ryan Neely
Contributor
I live in northern Minnesota where the water temperatures typically hover around 56° at the first thermocline. I'm just over a year into my life as a diver and have just over 70 dives logged (30 of those in local waters), all of them in a 5mm wetsuit and a 7/4mm hood.
I've never liked my dive hood. It keeps my head warm, but from the beginning it suctioned to my ears in such a way that it made equalizing difficult and hearing anything more than my own bubbles impossible. To alleviate these problems, I did what many here have done and suggested: I made a tiny hole in the hood about where my ears would be.
This helped with equalizing and being better able to hear things around me, and for a while I had no complaints.
On my a couple of my most recent dives, however, I have noticed cold water rushing into my ears whenever I turn my head to look behind me or to look up. The temperature difference replicates a little stabbing feeling in my ear which goes away quickly (as soon as the water warms up) but is uncomfortable.
We hope to transition into drysuit diving next year, so I'm conducting research on equipment to make sure I buy exactly what will work for me. (Buy cheap, buy twice and all that.)
Has anyone else experienced these issues with their dive hood? Do you have suggestions for eliminating them? Specific techniques or products that help?
Thanks in advance!
I've never liked my dive hood. It keeps my head warm, but from the beginning it suctioned to my ears in such a way that it made equalizing difficult and hearing anything more than my own bubbles impossible. To alleviate these problems, I did what many here have done and suggested: I made a tiny hole in the hood about where my ears would be.
This helped with equalizing and being better able to hear things around me, and for a while I had no complaints.
On my a couple of my most recent dives, however, I have noticed cold water rushing into my ears whenever I turn my head to look behind me or to look up. The temperature difference replicates a little stabbing feeling in my ear which goes away quickly (as soon as the water warms up) but is uncomfortable.
We hope to transition into drysuit diving next year, so I'm conducting research on equipment to make sure I buy exactly what will work for me. (Buy cheap, buy twice and all that.)
Has anyone else experienced these issues with their dive hood? Do you have suggestions for eliminating them? Specific techniques or products that help?
Thanks in advance!