How far down can YOU go before you need to equalize?
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MeraSonnet
Registered
The ear discomfort first appears right away within 5 feet of the surface. So as I let air out of my BCD and get under the surface, I start swallowing right away, and do that the whole way down non-stop, along with gentle pinched nose blows here and there. Can make a steady and timely descent down to 80' comfortably like that.
If I start to feel discomfort I know I screwed up. Trying to see how far I can go down without equalizing is one of the most unsafe things I think I could do. I start equalizing as soon as my head goes under. Scuba or snorkeling. Not worth it to do otherwise.
CT-Rich
Contributor
I start equalizing on the drive over... no sense in finding out that my ears are all stuffed up after I get to the dive site. When I was taking an assistant instructor cours in college I was in the pool several days a week with classes and I could equalize even when I was sick. I wouldn't recommend it though.
al248005
Contributor
I start equalizing before I even get in the water. This helps me equalize once I enter the water, and when I do enter the water; I equalize every 2 or 3 ft. Its not smart at all to see how far you can go down without equalizing.
OP
Oh no, I must have appeared like a tit to some of you but rest assured that at 40 years and with DJing as one of my professions, I wasn't trying to ruin my ears. As mentioned earlier, I was just surprised that I didn't feel the usual squeezes at certain depths since I knew the pool fairly well.
For what it's worth, will pinching your nostrils and blowing BEFORE going down cause this strange phenomenon because I did do that every now and then but it was more out of habit whenever I went swimming rather than a conscious effort at pre-entry equalization?
Tigerman
Contributor
Sometimes I barely need to equalize "the hard way" all, other times I have to equalize every couple of meters down to 10 or 15 meters..
My worst dive I couldnt get below 5 meters at all and had to just abort completely.
So the answer is really "it depends" and you really shouldnt go as far as you can without equalizing anyways as its unsafe, just like you shouldnt see how deep you can go on a single al80 because it can get you killed..
My worst dive I couldnt get below 5 meters at all and had to just abort completely.
So the answer is really "it depends" and you really shouldnt go as far as you can without equalizing anyways as its unsafe, just like you shouldnt see how deep you can go on a single al80 because it can get you killed..
CT-Rich
Contributor
Along with not seeing how far I can go down without equalizing I have never tried to see how far into my ear I could slide a pencil, some questions don't need to be answered...
dumpsterDiver
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Back when I taught diving, during the first classroom session, I would tell my students to close both their eyes and then press in on their eyeballs with their fingers for 4 seconds and then stop.... I would then say to them, did anyone damage their eyes or injure themselves? This always resulted in puzzled looks and an answer of "nooooooo".
I would then explain that I didn't expect them to injure their eyes, because they all know that they are sensitive and would feel pain or even cause damage if they pushed too hard....and the looks I would get.. would be like... do you think we are retarded??? What the hell was THAT for?
I would use this stupid little exercise as an introduction to ear equalization and tell them that THEY were responsible for THEIR OWN ears.. That they are delicate and easily injured, (just like your eyeballs) and there is no way that I will ever be able to tell how much pressure they are putting on their ears (or their eyes). I would explain that equalization should not hurt at all and that ear injuries are probably the most frequent injury that divers experience.
The whole exercise is useful to get across the idea that you do not play games with seeing how far you can go without equalizing, any more than you see how hard you can press your eyeballs back into your skull.
I would then explain that I didn't expect them to injure their eyes, because they all know that they are sensitive and would feel pain or even cause damage if they pushed too hard....and the looks I would get.. would be like... do you think we are retarded??? What the hell was THAT for?
I would use this stupid little exercise as an introduction to ear equalization and tell them that THEY were responsible for THEIR OWN ears.. That they are delicate and easily injured, (just like your eyeballs) and there is no way that I will ever be able to tell how much pressure they are putting on their ears (or their eyes). I would explain that equalization should not hurt at all and that ear injuries are probably the most frequent injury that divers experience.
The whole exercise is useful to get across the idea that you do not play games with seeing how far you can go without equalizing, any more than you see how hard you can press your eyeballs back into your skull.
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