dry throat

Hi guys i did a discover scuba diving course a few weeks ago and am booked in to do my open water course in a few weeks.
During the dive in the pool my throat went very dry was this due to the air and is there any way to prevent this happening again?
thanks in advance

Welcome to UKD!

I've seen inline Air Humidifiers used on the low-pressure second-stage hoses... once, but I've never felt the need to try them out myself.

It's something we've all experienced and I'm fairly confident that, once you get more accustomed to breathing underwater, learning to slow and adapt your breathing rate, you'll find that this 'dry throat' of yours becomes less of an issue.

Dehydration and/or breathing dry compressed air. Not unusual, especially in a pool where you may overheat a bit.

Once you are more comfy and relaxed with your breating it will be much less harsh. Although you may well still notice it at the end of a dive. You could get a rebreather, that would sort it!

I find a cold beer does wonders for releaving a dry throat, especially post dive.

C

Indeed - we call those 'decompression-beers'!

Had a dm that was over enthusiastic with the molecular sieve on the compressor filter.

The air was so dry you could feel your throat and nasal passages dry out with each breath.

I found that taking the reg out and flooding it helped. In effect reg clearing drill. When the mouthpiece dries out do it again.

Harry

Cos you really want damp air in your cylinders

I had no problem what so ever with that DM's fetish for air quality.

Just had to learn some way to cope with the side effect.

Harry

I remeber those days very well ....

It's normal i've not met a begginger yet who doesnt have this problem, it goes away quite quickly once you've done a few open water diver and start to relax in the water.

In the meantime just make sure yu have a drink ready for when you get out!

thanks for the advice guys

No Problem

Enjoy you OW course!

I also had that problem and my guess is that the air used is filtered and dry. In places like Malta an 80% relative humidity is very normal so breathing dry air makes your throat dry up. Sometimes I even experienced this abroad where the relative humidity is much less.

However as already mentioned this gradually goes away / get used to. Drinking water before diving and staying well hydrated worked for me.

Good luck with your OW and enjoy it