Thanks for your answer. I had not even thought about the weight issue. Though I had been in the full suit in the pool with the same amount of weight, and it seemed ok at that time. I wonder if then I was making up for the weight with extra air in the bc- and it really didn't matter in the pool, which was only 8' deep. But at 15' depth or so, it did make a big difference.
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steve1122: With all gear being the same, a diver will need
more lead weight when transitioning from a fresh water pool to the ocean.
Unless you conducted your confined water dives in a saltwater pool you should have adjusted the amount of ballast for the greater density of saltwater.
How much more weight should you need?
There's no substitute for a proper in-water weight check...but, for an "average"-sized person who was properly weighted in the pool, about an extra 6-8 lbs. sounds right for the ocean. It's roughly 2.5% of the total weight of you + all of your gear.
Although others have already concluded that you were over-weighted, I'm not 100% convinced that was the case. It's pretty difficult to diagnose the issue over the Internet without witnessing firsthand what occurred. The best approach would be to do a weight check -- then you'd know.
There are a few different ways to do a proper weight check. Consult your OW class materials and commit to memory how to do one. My instructor had us conduct weight checks at the beginning
and end of every class dive. Proper weighting is very important. It impacts both safety and comfort.
The thinking behind "proper" weighting is that you need to have enough weight to be able to hold a shallow safety stop at the end of the dive with no air inside your BCD and an empty/near empty tank. This means that,
at the beginning of the dive with a
full tank, empty BCD, and holding a normal breath, you should never be more negatively buoyant than the weight of your gas. For an AL80 tank, the weight of the gas is 5-6 lbs.
A properly weighted diver shouldn't have to struggle during the initial descent. It's good practice
not to dump all of the air out of your BCD. (FYI, if you are over-weighted and dump all of the air out, you will surely become a dirt dart!) Try dumping just enough air from the BCD so that the water is at eye-level. Make sure that you are not kicking or dog-paddling. Be calm. Breathe normally. Get comfortable. Then try exhaling a little more deeply. You should begin to descend
very gently. Stop at a depth of 2-3 feet by adding a tiny puff of air to your BCD. Establish neutral buoyancy. Keep stopping every 1 or 2 ft. during the initial descent. A truly controlled ascent means being able to arrest the descent at any depth in the water column. Equalize your ears early and often (continuously if possible) during the initial descent. Click on the link in my sig to check out Dr. Kay's website on diver "ear fear." He has a nice essay which describes several different ear equalization techniques. Try them all. The pinch-the-nose-and-blow method (Valsalva) doesn't work that well for me. Find out what technique works best for you.
Practice all of this in a pool. If you can't conduct a proper controlled descent in a pool, then you probably won't be able to do it in the ocean. Be assertive and tell your instructor that you need more time to practice before doing the OW class dives.
With regard to your ear injury, you really need to see a physician who can do a decent ear exam, determine if a problem exists, and propose a treatment. If you ruptured your eardrum, then you should not be diving until it's healed. A bad eardrum rupture could take several weeks or perhaps a few months to completely heal. Feel better soon...