Diving Dutch
Registered
The plan was to dive the length of a dock, entering at one end, descending to the bottom (45), and swimming along the pilings to the other end of the dock. This was a cold water dive (39F water, 41F outside), with four divers, including myself diving dry. I was the least experienced of the group, with 30 drysuit dives.
The entry and descent was smooth. With about 30 visibility, I descended near one of the pilings. All seemed to be going as usual on the descent. The group stayed together and I was clearing my ears as normal. At about 37, all hell for me broke loose. I heard a roar in my left ear, and remembered thinking that this cant be good.
I started to look around, and a second later, the whole world seemed to teeter to one side. Trying not to lose a grip on reality, I grabbed the one thing I knew that should be stable the piling. The piling kept moving horizontal, then back to vertical. My partner moved next to me, and I gave him the crazy in the ears and need to surface signal. He stayed by me close while I hung on to the piling with all fours and rode the vertigo-coaster. Im assuming this is whats called vertigo, although Ive never experienced this before. Its not like the type of dizziness that comes from, say, rolling down a hill, then trying to stand up. Whatever it was, it was not fun.
I slowly ascended, for what seemed like an eternity, to 15 and stopped for 3. At that point, my dizzy spell was over, but I still felt like crap. After surfacing, I felt nauseous and my ear hurt. At about 30 minutes after the dive, BP, pulse, resp. all a little high, and 02 sats low. Probably just anxiety. Good news, no ear drainage.
Checkup at the clinic revealed no perforated eardrum.
I am posting my experience for two reasons:
1) What went wrong? I thought I was descending at a safe rate. I thought I was equalizing effectively and often enough. I do remember experiencing a little pressure in my left ear prior to the last attempt to equalize. Maybe whats a usual descent for me is not safe? Also, in all fairness to the readers, I usually dive from shore, and follow the contour of the bottom down, stopping when needed. What can I do different to prevent this from happening again?
2) I want to give a big High-Five to this Board. I came across this one posting a while back about someone experiencing vertigo underwater. Im not sure what brought it on, but he described the same signs and symptoms as me. Armed with that knowledge, I could recognize what was going on, try to stay focus, and act on the problem not react. This was whole incident was very disconcerting, but understanding the case and effect of something, and knowing that it can happen, helped me to keep my wits and make a safe water exit.
The entry and descent was smooth. With about 30 visibility, I descended near one of the pilings. All seemed to be going as usual on the descent. The group stayed together and I was clearing my ears as normal. At about 37, all hell for me broke loose. I heard a roar in my left ear, and remembered thinking that this cant be good.
I started to look around, and a second later, the whole world seemed to teeter to one side. Trying not to lose a grip on reality, I grabbed the one thing I knew that should be stable the piling. The piling kept moving horizontal, then back to vertical. My partner moved next to me, and I gave him the crazy in the ears and need to surface signal. He stayed by me close while I hung on to the piling with all fours and rode the vertigo-coaster. Im assuming this is whats called vertigo, although Ive never experienced this before. Its not like the type of dizziness that comes from, say, rolling down a hill, then trying to stand up. Whatever it was, it was not fun.
I slowly ascended, for what seemed like an eternity, to 15 and stopped for 3. At that point, my dizzy spell was over, but I still felt like crap. After surfacing, I felt nauseous and my ear hurt. At about 30 minutes after the dive, BP, pulse, resp. all a little high, and 02 sats low. Probably just anxiety. Good news, no ear drainage.
Checkup at the clinic revealed no perforated eardrum.
I am posting my experience for two reasons:
1) What went wrong? I thought I was descending at a safe rate. I thought I was equalizing effectively and often enough. I do remember experiencing a little pressure in my left ear prior to the last attempt to equalize. Maybe whats a usual descent for me is not safe? Also, in all fairness to the readers, I usually dive from shore, and follow the contour of the bottom down, stopping when needed. What can I do different to prevent this from happening again?
2) I want to give a big High-Five to this Board. I came across this one posting a while back about someone experiencing vertigo underwater. Im not sure what brought it on, but he described the same signs and symptoms as me. Armed with that knowledge, I could recognize what was going on, try to stay focus, and act on the problem not react. This was whole incident was very disconcerting, but understanding the case and effect of something, and knowing that it can happen, helped me to keep my wits and make a safe water exit.
