Pressure equalization

[Guillotine]

Hello Fellow Divers ‎

Two day ago I went diving for around 13-14m after a year with no diving at all. I had a ‎hard time equalizing pressure as usual but it was somehow harder a bit. I'm an open water ‎and I got like 5 dives in my log so far

Is it true that equalizing will become easier as you dive more frequently?‎

And yea, how do you know that you buoyancy is good? Like if you wanna know am I ‎doing well?‎

Last question please, I have an Advanced buddy...can we go shore diving (day and night) ‎or we can't based on our certification?‎

 

[dougaldiver]

Equalising does get easier. You learn which methods work best for you and it becomes second nature. Also your descents are more in control and so you tend to descend the best way to help you equalise instead of rushing to equalise as you descend.

If your bouyancy is right you should be able to hover in place. Just stop finning, keep your arms and legs still, and see if you start to sink or rise. If you stay in one place then your bouyancy is correct. You might find that you start to go head up or feet up in the water in which case you may need to look at moving some weight around or changing the height of your tank to get better trim.

I believe your certification says that you can dive with someone of the same or higher experience in conditions similar to those in which you learnt. Having said that I would advise caution. It depends on what the conditions are really like and how experienced your advanced buddy really is (considering and advanced diver may have only 9 dives) and how well they know the dive site. As for diving at night, only with an instructor until you have done the course is I believe the rule.

 

[markfm]

There's no night diving police. No guarantee that an AOW course will even include a night dive. So, nobody will drag you to shore and tear up your OW C card.

I do, however, believe in basics:
Am I comfortable with my basic diving skills -- no issues with buoyancy/trim?
Am I able to hold a given depth cleanly? If I seesaw in the day, it will likely only get worse at night, with fewer visual cues.
Is it a site I'm personally familiar with, have done daytime checkout dives? In Utila we did a dusk shore dive to get familiar with an area, learn the "gotchas" of that location, before trying a night shore dive on a spot.
Is it a no entanglement area? If it has a lot of fishing lines or other oddities, things that may be harder to see at night, life gets tougher.
Multiple lights? Generally really good to have a primary plus secondary for each buddy -- things do fail underwater (been there, done that).
Buddy markers? Firefly battery-powered or cyalume chemical stick. (cylumes aren't allowed in some places).

Things can just plain be different at night -- fun at times, but if it's silty and your light fails it can be disorienting. 5 logged dives, a year since cert, seems kind of light, but that's me.

 

[DandyDon]

Is it true that equalizing will become easier as you dive more frequently?‎
‎

Yep! You need to dive more often...!

 

[asaara]

Buddy markers? Firefly battery-powered or cyalume chemical stick. (cylumes aren't allowed in some places).

Whoa...that's the first I heard about glowsticks not being allowed anywhere, why is that? The anti-raver police? I've only ever seen one leak, and that was a really bendy little one that I was seriously abusing to *try* and make it leak. And where, exactly?

I like my glowsticks. I always keep a pack of them in my BCD pocket, I don't want anyone trying to confiscate them...

 

[asaara]

Things can just plain be different at night -- fun at times, but if it's silty and your light fails it can be disorienting. 5 logged dives, a year since cert, seems kind of light, but that's me.

If it's real silty, your light may not make a lot of difference, don't expect to be able to see much even with it aside from your compass...hey, does so much silt you can't see a buddy if you're not touching them count as a solo dive? ;-)

My first night dive, we started with our lights off after making our gauges glow...but of course, it was nice and clear and a decent amount of moon - pretty incredible with the lights off, we really only turned them on to see certain creatures. Glowing plankton are cool - why does nothing in my aquarium glow in the dark?

 

[DandyDon]

Whoa...that's the first I heard about glowsticks not being allowed anywhere, why is that? The anti-raver police? I've only ever seen one leak, and that was a really bendy little one that I was seriously abusing to *try* and make it leak. And where, exactly?

I like my glowsticks. I always keep a pack of them in my BCD pocket, I don't want anyone trying to confiscate them...

Many tropical places don't allow them. I don't remember which, as I use battery powered blinkers.

 

[bobco]

Just a couple of questions, are you diving in the Gulf? And how long and how many dives has your Buddy done?
At your level of training/qualification, you are still a novice, and rule one for novices is take it slowly and only dive with people with loads of experience, as they are looking after you, not the other way around.
Equalizing is down to clear tubes, yours, and lots of practice in the number of ways to equalize.
Bouncy is all about practice, it’s the diving equivalent of the Holy Grail, and everyone is looking for the perfect example. Well try our best to perfect it, and it does not happen over night and will take you time to get it licked.
Night diving is not for everyone, you need the benefit of a good experienced guide/buddy, see above.
My question about where you are diving relates to task loading, at least in the gulf you will have warm, reasonably clear water to do your diving and training in

Have fun with your diving, but take it slowly, walk before you run.

Bobco

 

[lai_rallos]

oh i had the same problem few days ago...well, coz it was my first fun dive since january...my friend and i had to descend at 30ft, i had problems equalizing, and somehow i was not relaxed...i was also nervous at the same time...yeah, i almost panicked, had to ascend to be back on track...good thing, my friend just had his rescue diver course that weekend, so he applied what he learned...

since diving is skill-based, i think we have to do lots of dives to practice our skill...im sure we'll get the hang of equalizing and maintaining our bouyancy...

good luck!

-lai-

 

[Humuhumunukunukuapua'a]

Whoa...that's the first I heard about glowsticks not being allowed anywhere, why is that?

Uhhh...because they generate tons of horrible, chemical-ful garbage in heavy diving locations that is entirely unnecessary, and some islands don't want you leaving behind more trash than you already do.

I use a tank beacon and rechargeables. I have no idea why someone would actually buy and carry cyalume sticks...what a waste of money if nothing else. My LED tank beacon will last many many dives, and then I just recharge the batteries.

I've only used glow sticks when a boat requires a certain color.