Ever taken your non-diving spouse on a liveaboard?

[SeaHound]

I am just curious because I have a non-diving wife who gets sea sick. I was thinking of doing an Aggressor trip sometime and dont know what to do with my wife. She wants to come because she thinks that even if one is not diving, just being out in a small boat drifting out in the open sea is surreal and romantic. I told her it would be a small boat, most likely over crowded with people and dive gear and no land trips. She still thinks it could be fun to lay on the deck and enjoy the ocean, snap pictures etc etc

who is right? Anyone ever taken their SO on a liveaboard?

 

[Skydiver1]

I think that bringing her could be a recipe for disaster.

 

[Jax]

OMG -- Good for her! This is from a person who suffers acute sea-sickness: If she has found a med that she can take, that she is willing to take for the week, I applaud her trying it.

However, if she doesn't enjoy it, she will be terribly miserable and bored, and that will affect both of your vacations.

May I recommend a three-day livaboard? That would give you both the 'feel' and whether she could stand the aloneness while you dived 4-5 times a day.

Sure hope she snorkels . . .

 

[merxlin]

I just returned from a week in the Galapagos with my wife, who is a non-diver and gets sea sick. This was a tough decision as it it a very expensive trip and you get no breaks for non-divers. But this is a once in a lifetime trip to a spot few ever get to go, divers or not. So we decided she should go.

It would help to know what liveaboard you are on. We were on the Aggressor which is like a floating hotel. She worked very hard to get over her seasickness and in the end did fine- a bigger boat did help. As far as surreal and romantic, well I guess it could be. But when you are either diving or taking land tours every day, bed time comes early, especially when you start each day at 6:30 am (you are on a very tight schedule in the Galapagos), so there was not much nightlife. During the day, especially 4 dive days, we saw each other for breakfast and lunch, quickly during the SI's, and then really at dinner. She really had to amuse herself, but did so since the crew was great and friendly, and we did have a few divers sit out dives here and there that she could visit with.

Was it worth it? Yes in that she got to go somewhere very unique and exciting (we spent some extra days in Ecuador too). But the time on the boat was a lot of time watching the rest of us dive, or talk about diving, or looking at pictures of the dives, or messing with dive gear and cameras. If it wasn't to the Galapagos, I doubt she would have had a great time.

 

[tkdgodess]

Nope. He stays home. Travel Rules. LOL Joking mostly I'd rather dive-eat-sleep without worring if he's enjoy all the scuba chat.

 

[Shasta_man]

Depends on whether you want her to go. If you do, then you could make a nice trip out of it and get some credits for the future. Go someplace like Indonesia where you get great diving but also the land is very interesting too so you make it an experience rather than just a dive trip. If her only good time is shopping, then forget it. However from the sound of it, she sounds interested in the outdoors and nature. Sight see afterwards, so that's the last thing she remembers and there's no stress making the boat.

While not cruise liners, these boats aren't really small so that you're tripping over stuff and people. Especially if you are talking Aggressor, they're pretty nice.

Actually I think a trip to a tropical place would be much better because she could get to do something, snorkel if she would (you could, god forbid, skip a dive to go with her once), maybe visit an island. Some boats, like Aggressor will cater more to their customers and could help with that.
The best place to go is someplace with lots of islands because you stay in those islands and only have a few transits in open water. The Bilikiki in the Solomons was a perfect trip for that. They stayed amongst islands and small channels except for a transit to Mary Island. I'd say 85% of the trip you were in flat water and the views were beautiful and she could swim. You visit with local natives in their dugout canoes everyday so you got that experience. We flew out pretty easily from LA to Honiara through Fiji. As for seasickness, I use Bonine and stay focused on doing what I'm doing as I think part of it is psychological.

 

[scubafanatic]

I am just curious because I have a non-diving wife who gets sea sick. I was thinking of doing an Aggressor trip sometime and dont know what to do with my wife. She wants to come because she thinks that even if one is not diving, just being out in a small boat drifting out in the open sea is surreal and romantic. I told her it would be a small boat, most likely over crowded with people and dive gear and no land trips. She still thinks it could be fun to lay on the deck and enjoy the ocean, snap pictures etc etc

who is right? Anyone ever taken their SO on a liveaboard?

...just wondering, have YOU ever been on a liveaboard yourself ? I'd suggest you do at least one liveaboard yourself to better understand what it's REALLY like, versus imagining what it would be like. Somehow I'm NOT seeing the non-diving wife really enjoying this type of trip, and remember, there's no getting off the boat early, you're ALL there for the duration. One thing I really like about liveaboards is that they tend to attract the most hardcore divers who are there to dive (versus shop/eat out/screw around town/tour/etc). Also, if things don't work out, she gets unhappy/bored, that attitude could poison the atmosphere for the rest of the divers. I'm worried she will quickly feel left out...an 'outsider', not really bonding with the rest of the group....she will be someone who 'just doesn't get it' (sticking a complete non-diver with a bunch of avid divers). Just being honest about my concerns....

 

[beautybelow]

It is not all that uncommon for a non diving spouse to be on a charter. If you are flexible you may even contact Aggressor's reservations and see if you could end up on a charter with another non diver already signed up. The sea sickness thing is a whole other issue though. That would depend a lot on the destination and time of year.

 

[vladimir]

Yes, I brought my fiancee along with me on a 10-day cruise on the Kararu Safari to Komodo Island. What the hell was I thinking? She was miserable, although she did a pretty good job of pretending otherwise. She is susceptible to sea sickness and, despite the relatively flat seas, spent most of the time on dramamine nursing a faint nausea. She did enjoy the snorkeling when the opportunity arose--the snorkeling there is as good as it gets--but we both would have been happier if I dropped the $4K on something from Tiffany's and traveled by myself.

 

[Thalassamania]

My wife went out with me on a liveaboard some years ago. I was running an ITC aboard. The cook was pretty inexperienced, so my wife took over, we had great meals and she had a ball.