What? I can't hear you...

This past weekend B and I learned how to scuba dive. It's something I've always wanted to do but never had a good opportunity to do it. A friend was looking for a partner to learn with her because she was going to Bonaire in May with her boyfriend who scuba dives. WHY NOT? I then found a place to go diving in Ireland and talked B into learning with us.

The place we went to crams in a few weeks of training into one weekend. Friday 6-11, Sat 11-7, Sun 9-12. Overall it was fun. My ears however, didn't have much fun. I have problems "equalizing" my ears (actually it's just the right ear that has a problem). That means that when I go down to anything below 5 feet, my ear feels like it's going to explode. In my case, it's probably due to allergies (snot blocking the air passages). I can eventually get equalized but it takes me 10 times longer than everyone else. By the time I got to the bottom of the pool, the exercise we were doing was over and we needed to go to the surface.

We had some extra time after lessons for practising and my instructor said I might want to practise equalizing. I ask you, HOW is practise going to remove the snot from my ears??? I'll tell you - IT DOESN'T! Drugs do. The scuba training says you shouldn't use anti-histamines/decongestants because if they wear off, you could do some damage. SCREW THAT! By Sunday I was fed up. The only non-drowsy medicine I could find in the house was for Severe Cold. I decided that should work just fine and downed it. What a difference! I still couldn't decend as fast as the others but I was only a minute or so behind them.

My instructor were giving me kudos for my improved equalizing. I eventually confessed that I had taken some drugs. He then mentioned that many scuba divers do. WHAT??? They make sure they take drugs that won't wear off while they dive. Well DUH! Why didn't they tell me this on FRIDAY? My poor ear. I'm definitely taking drugs before diving in Ireland. Any recommendations would be most welcome.