Yesterday whilst diving ‘The Canyon’ site at Bicheno, I had my first experience struggling to equalise. Strangely, equalising has never been a major issue in any of the 300 or so dives that I have undertaken previously even with the temperate waters that exist here in Tasmanian and the unpredictability of the currents and swells that have the potential to ravage each swim.

In perfect weather with only mild swell, we began descending just off ‘Everest’ to 32m as planned. On approaching 20m equalising starting becoming increasingly difficult, something which I am sure many of us have experienced in one form or another while diving. I was still descending a little more rapidly than I should have and my left eardrum began to squeeze. I kicked up a few metres and gave it another blow… still nothing. The others had almost made it to depth and I kicked up a little more but it must not have been enough as the next blow I gave equalised the ear with too much force. A slight sting and a dull thob made their mark in my head but I thought nothing of it, thinking it was just the difference in pressure. I continued down to the boys at 32m, being able to equalise the rest of the way albeit with a slight throb.

After an eventful dive for reasons other than my equalising, we surfaced and hitched a ride back to the jetty. Upon ripping off my suit one of the guys noticed blood on my wetsuit and after investigating I had blood coming out of my left ear. A small amount but noticeable all the same.

I still had full hearing and no pain, no headache, or tingling, and my balance was still spot on. The end result of phoning the local Dive Chamber and running through every possible scenario was that a may have perforated around my eardrum… I head in tomorrow morning to suss it out but it looks like diving is on hold for the short term.