Diving with Spouse/SO – Benefits/Issues?

[spectrum]

My wife makes about 1/3 of my dives with me so I have a wide variety of buddies. She on the other hand has only made 1 dive without me. I think she's up to it she just hasn't had reason to go without me.

I usually load the tanks but she has been known to chase air fills and sling the cylinders.

She packs, checks and sets her own gear up. We share the clean-up when we get home.

She's more than graceful about doing shore duty while I make subsequent dives with others that would care to do so.

With any luck her schedule will allow for more bottom time in 2008. She's looking forward to it.


I'll add that the purse strings to enable diving work a lot better when we're pulling them together!

Pete

 

[drbill]

Dave, I'll let you know when I finally find that elusive spouse/SO. However, I do know I'm much more attentive to the point of distraction when I'm diving with one of my nieces or nephews. When I'm with a regular buddy, they are generally very experienced (DM, instructor or above) and I hardly worry about them. I imagine I'd be quite concerned if I were diving with my spouse and she bolted... straight down to join that cute DM she saw on the boat.

 

[NancyLynn]

I imagine I'd be quite concerned if I were diving with my spouse and she bolted... straight down to join that cute DM she saw on the boat.

Mine bolted on the first dive - for the surface

I'd love to dive with my spouse - I'd probably get to do a lot more diving, since I would no longer be forced to choose between diving and family in my limited free time. Guess that's what happens when a fish marries a bird.

 

[Richesb]

I feel my S/O is as or more qualified to buddy with any body than almost anyone i've met (26yrs. diving around the caribean/teaching) and past few years spearfishing.
I do most of my diving with her when not working. Always know exactly what to expect in a situation. We always discuss our plan before rolling over, have set rules that we pass on to anybody diving with us. Our rule is that everyone sets up their own equiptment!!!!!! You, personally are ultimately responsible for your own safety.

 

[MikeFerrara]

I mostly dive with my wife and my son (when he's in town). I've dived with lots of people but I'd rather dive with her.

I conducted some of her recreational training but we went through quite a bit of our technical training together. She was also my favorite and most reliable DM when I was teaching.

 

[northen diver]

I do the mule chores for my wife, but she assembles her own gear. Now, when I go with my three teenaged sons, the are the mules, and I set up my gear and they set up thier gear.

 

[khblair]

I can unload/load with the best of them, but my Dive Slave is handy. I do set up my own gear (I trust THAT to no one) and check each others before every dive. I recently dove St Thomas without my buddy (kinda tagged along at the back of the group). It was nice but a bit lonely. Its good to have a reliable buddy that you dive with regularly. Besides, have you ever seen an underwater argument between husband and wife....it can be quite amusing! not that i know from experience or anything

 

[ClayJar]

I don't dive exclusively with any particular person, but when I'm diving with a buddy, more often than not, it's with J.'s older sister. She, in turn, does most of her diving with me (since I seem to always be diving). Although we have no problems at all diving as a team (people actually come up to us on the boat and comment on our communications and such, which always seems a bit odd), we're both quite independent. If we see a problem on the other's gear, we have no problems mentioning it (usually something like, "Don't you want your fins?"), but we set up our gear as if we were the only diver in the water. (With me, that's the case almost as often as not.)

J., on the other hand, has only been diving once since she was certified. We went on a springs and jetty weekend about a month after we were certified, which was about a month before she flew over to Japan for her English-teaching job. A year and a half after having logged only eight or nine dives is too much time and not enough experience for me to expect proficiency, so when we get to dive again, it'll be me as the seasoned veteran diver with her as the all-but-student. I wouldn't have confidence with her diving with anyone else at this point (although if her older sister were diving with her and told me she'd watch her, I could handle that).

 

[Whit]

I dive mostly with my middle daughter. We set up our own gear and then do our predive safety check. Yes it is the same each time, but we still do it together. She hauls her own gear, usually drives (she has the larger vehicle), and we split the costs for long trips. Works out great for both of us, she knows how I dive and I know how she dives. Do I pay more attention to her than some other buddies I dive with, of course! Does that cause any problems during a dive, no. We sometimes dive with other buddies when one of us cannot make a trip for whatever reason.

 

[Rick Murchison]

I dive mostly with my middle daughter. ... and we split the costs for long trips. ...

Reckon your daughter could have a little chat with my oldest? (Warning! If mine's more convincing it could cost you big time! )
Rick