During your first year of diving, what were your biggest challenges?

[tonka97]

Thanks Leah for Idea for thread; this one is in general discussions.

My challenge was protection of ear drums and middle ears.

If there is ONE subject that should be over-learned in OW certification training, it is protection of your ear drums against the incredible forces encountered in diving.

 

[brutus_scuba]

Thanks Leah for Idea for thread; this one is in general discussions.

My challenge was protection of ear drums and middle ears.

If there is ONE subject that should be over-learned in OW certification training, it is protection of your ear drums against the incredible forces encountered in diving.

By protecting the ear do you mean like trying to make sure you equalize often enough and what not?

My biggest problem too was the ears, but not getting them to equalize. It was getting water out after I was done diving I had Swimmer's Ear like crazy. It took me a while to respect the value of the dri-ear drops.

 

[tonka97]

By protecting the ear do you mean like trying to make sure you equalize often enough and what not?

My biggest problem too was the ears, but not getting them to equalize. It was getting water out after I was done diving I had Swimmer's Ear like crazy. It took me a while to respect the value of the dri-ear drops.

Yes, protecting against baro-trauma.

3 out of the 8 members of my OW class experienced significant damage to ear drum in the 2 years following certification. 2 ruptured eardrums.

No problems with water in outer ear to my knowledge; ear drops and hair dryer seem to be da bomb.

 

[tstormdiver]

Mine was perfecting my buoyancy. Knock on wood, I have had no problems equalizing my ears to date.

 

[Ice9]

Yup! Ear equalization was a huge thing for me. I ended up with barotrauma on the last day of my OW class, and it had been a real challenge to equalize during the whole experience. That video "Under pressure - The Diver's Ear" solved my problems though. They really should show that, or at least the alternative methods of equalizing, to all OW classes.

 

[Diving Doc]

Mine was actually getting back in the water after my AOW. Looking back, i wasnt ready for it and dont think i got the greatest of training. Hence ended up terrified!

However, rediscovered my love of diving and look at me now!

 

[TSandM]

Buoyancy control.

Still is!

Edited to add: I forgot about situational awareness. Sadly, I often do

 

[UnderSeaBumbleBee]

I had and still have ear trouble. I strained my ears while learning to dive. I equalized early and often, but since I have sinus trouble it was very hard on my ears at first and I thought I had a double ear infection. The doc said no just upset ears from all the equalizing. I practice all the time now on the surface just to keep my ears conditioned.

 

[ClayJar]

Well, let's see... I have had the great pleasure of being one of those annoying-to-watch people that seem to be able to just pick things up without any effort. (Of course, that's probably somewhat related to having an appetite for knowledge somewhere near V'ger -- if you already know all the tricks to making life easy, you don't have to do all your learning the hard way.)

I suppose, then, the two biggest "challenges" for me, although I'd hesitate to call them such, have been a couple bouts of extreme fish-feeding and (hehe) paying for everything. (Yeah, not really that exciting a pair of challenges, eh?)

(It was a growing process to begin as a rank newbie that tended to believe what he was told and progress all the way to being a thinking diver who examines everything he's taught and is unafraid to speak up to flawed instructions. I don't know if that was a challenge, but when I started, I certainly wouldn't have told a divemaster he was just plain wrong. I've had occasion to do so since, as politely as possible, of course.)

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

My biggest challenge was finding dive buddies. Actually, I was able to find people to go diving with ... but they always got really busy after that first dive, and we never managed a second dive together ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)