BlueTuna
Registered
Hey everyone,
Recently I finally decided to take up scuba diving as it's something I've always wanted to do since I took a "discover Scuba" course in the Philippines several years ago.
I recently signed up for certification, followed by a trip to Bonaire happening at the end of this month (Nov 30th-Dec 6th) with my local outfitter, Columbus Scuba.
I've got lots of questions that I'm sure I'll be asking in the coming weeks but I wanted to start off with something that I'm a little concerned about after taking my 1st class yesterday.
1. Ear pain after trying to clear mask.
After our instructor taught us how to clear our mask, our class submerged and he started going around the circle, asking each student to demonstrate what he taught us.
I had a little water in my mask already, so I tried on my own (placing my fingers on the top of my mask, looked slightly upward and blew through my nose).When I did so, I must have blown to hard and I felt some slight discomfort and a weird sensation in my ear. I re-emerged to alleviate the discomfort and then submerged again. The instructor eventually came around and verified I could clear my mask (despite still have a little water in the nose area)
As I was swimming around it still felt slightly painful and it felt a little different. I also felt like I was getting more water in that ear. When I got home, and sat at my PC, it began to feel worse like I had an earache/infection.
I asked a friend and wondered if I had ruptured my ear drum. He said I would be likely bleeding if I had. I hadn't noticed any bleeding and the pain has gone away, but it sure hurt last night. If I didn't rupture, I am wondering why it was painful.
2. Fitness Level?
I'm not the fittest guy in the world, but I try to walk or go the gym a decent amount. I used to work out a lot, but I've been slacking lately. Still, I felt like I was in fit enough condition to do Scuba diving. The class we attended took place at an Olympic swimming pool (164 ft/50m long) and the instructor asked us to swim the length of the pool 6 times (984 ft!!). I made it about 4 times and I was pretty winded. I may have been able to another 2x but I was still trying to catch my breath and they moved on the next segment, which is to float or tread water for 10 min. We made it about 3 min in and I was struggling to try and float on my back while pedaling with feet/arms (something I've never been good at).
I'm feeling like I may not be quite as fit or proficient at swimming as I thought I was and may need to get a lot of cardio/swimming practice in before my big trip.
What are your thoughts?
Recently I finally decided to take up scuba diving as it's something I've always wanted to do since I took a "discover Scuba" course in the Philippines several years ago.
I recently signed up for certification, followed by a trip to Bonaire happening at the end of this month (Nov 30th-Dec 6th) with my local outfitter, Columbus Scuba.
I've got lots of questions that I'm sure I'll be asking in the coming weeks but I wanted to start off with something that I'm a little concerned about after taking my 1st class yesterday.
1. Ear pain after trying to clear mask.
After our instructor taught us how to clear our mask, our class submerged and he started going around the circle, asking each student to demonstrate what he taught us.
I had a little water in my mask already, so I tried on my own (placing my fingers on the top of my mask, looked slightly upward and blew through my nose).When I did so, I must have blown to hard and I felt some slight discomfort and a weird sensation in my ear. I re-emerged to alleviate the discomfort and then submerged again. The instructor eventually came around and verified I could clear my mask (despite still have a little water in the nose area)
As I was swimming around it still felt slightly painful and it felt a little different. I also felt like I was getting more water in that ear. When I got home, and sat at my PC, it began to feel worse like I had an earache/infection.
I asked a friend and wondered if I had ruptured my ear drum. He said I would be likely bleeding if I had. I hadn't noticed any bleeding and the pain has gone away, but it sure hurt last night. If I didn't rupture, I am wondering why it was painful.
2. Fitness Level?
I'm not the fittest guy in the world, but I try to walk or go the gym a decent amount. I used to work out a lot, but I've been slacking lately. Still, I felt like I was in fit enough condition to do Scuba diving. The class we attended took place at an Olympic swimming pool (164 ft/50m long) and the instructor asked us to swim the length of the pool 6 times (984 ft!!). I made it about 4 times and I was pretty winded. I may have been able to another 2x but I was still trying to catch my breath and they moved on the next segment, which is to float or tread water for 10 min. We made it about 3 min in and I was struggling to try and float on my back while pedaling with feet/arms (something I've never been good at).
I'm feeling like I may not be quite as fit or proficient at swimming as I thought I was and may need to get a lot of cardio/swimming practice in before my big trip.
What are your thoughts?