How many of you wish your spouse would dive with you?

[Doctorfish]

My wife dives with me when we go to the Caribbean.

After I had been diving about 5 years, she said she was sick of seeing me disappear at 7 AM and show up again in the afternoon. Leaving dive magazines all over the house may have helped as well. She eventually registered for and completed an advanced OW certification and has been diving with me ever since. Pretty good dive buddy. My now adult daughter dives with us once or twice a year as well.

There is only one consistent rule, and that is that everybody carries there own gear. ( That rule works well for skiing too. )

 

[BRT]

When I decided to get certified back in '85 we had been married about 7 years. Wife could see that if she didn't dive she would be left behind and joined me. She complains sometimes about drysuit diving but still participates most of the time, cause she doesn't want to miss anything. Good diver too!

 

[jodylynn007]

I'm still looking for my wife. She must be incredibly well camouflaged. In fact, I've never even dated a diver (although I've had a number of wonderful female dive buddies). If I met the right woman, I think I'd enjoy diving with her very much... especially if she has a trust fund large enough to finance regular dive trips to exotic destinations!

Dr. Bill, I am the gal you described... hehe too bad we live so far apart.

 

[freewillie]

I might try this - there is an article in one of the mags about the seals off the Farne Islands here which are very playful so it might tempt her. Add to that we are thinking about a vacation to the GBR in a few years so diving there might be enough to tempt her.

My wife said over the summer in Turks n Caicos she might possibly consider trying it again in warm water, but I doubt she would try again. My youngest son at 11 and middle daughter at 13 tried the PADI Seal Team while on vacation. For about 30 minutes it looked like those two would also join me prompting my wife to contemplate giving it another chance. But as fate would have it the middle daughter has no further interest in pursuing diving. Didn't like the mask leaking and found the dry air very uncomfortable when breathing. Like mother like daughter and she and her mother will likely keep each other company topside while my oldest daughter and I go diving. But my son has shown and interest and will likely join us as well but on his own time table. He has shown interest but does not wish to try it out in the ocean just yet. That's okay, I'm patient so I can wait. There's no rush.

 

[STATDIVER]

Granted, my wife and I are newly certified, but diving has always been something I wanted to do. When I brought it up to her, she was pretty hesitant about it, kind of anxious etc. Our local dive shop was doing a "discover" scuba course on a Friday night, $25 bucks, 2-3 hours in the pool etc...so all I asked of her was to give that a try. If she liked it, the cost would be applied towards the certification...if she didn't, only out 25 bucks. Class group was small, and a few basic skills such as mask clearing, removing reg underwater etc were covered, but after that we were just able to go into the deep end and swim around etc. She really enjoyed it, and that kind of sealed the deal on being willing to give it a try.

We went to Cozumel on our honeymoon and did some dives with ScubaTony, our first ocean dives ever, and she was a bit nervous(can't say I wasn't a little as well, but she was more than I was)...but I'm really happy we chose to dive with them, because they really helped her with her nerves and made her feel comfortable. Once we got under the water though, she was officially hooked, signaling how much she LOVED it. She's now really interested in it, and agrees me that our only regret from our trip was not booking more dives (but we booked conservatively not knowing whether or not she would like it). Anyway, I say all of that just to say that some early exposure to diving in a pool could be a cheap way to see if it appeals to someone's spouse at all, and if nothing else it makes for something pretty cheap and different to do on a friday night (or at least for us that was the night).

I'm probably more obsessed with diving than she is honestly, but she's already said that for our next vacation she wants to do something that focuses more on diving, so there's definitely some shared passion. We are considering the Keys.
All in all, I got to get in to doing something I've always wanted to do, and she has discovered a love for something she never thought she would ever do.

 

[dbnewton]

But I noticed there were a few who chimed and said that they wished that they could have there spouse join them.

I fear that ship has sailed.

While I was dating my wife I got her interested and certified. She dove with me for years in California (cold rough but lots to see). That was in early 80's. Then we moved to New Jersey, still cold, still rough, but nothing to see. She stopped, years passed, kids reached diving age, so I had them get certified. My wife thought she would love to dive at least in Carib., so took the course with the kids. Good idea, executed poorly. She had developed more fear over the years and the macho dive instructor instead of being understanding and patient was gruff and forcefull ending with her panicing in the pool, abandoning the class and swearing off diving forever.

 

[gypsyjim]

Colleen always liked warm vacation destinations, but it was always for sitting on the beach, while I disappeared under water.
Eventually she decided to try snorkeling, and really enjoyed it.
It was the realization that if she wanted to see me while we were on vacation, she might want to try diving, that finally got her into the pool. She was far from confident, and it took her several attempts to certify.
( we kid that it took her 5 years, in 6 countries, before she earned her OW!)

Never as hooked on the sport as I, never the less she has gradually become a comfortable, self confident diver, who has now gone on a couple dives trips of her own without me.

 

[DazedAndConfuzed]

The wife now dives with me - 36 years after we married. For 36 years she was happy to be my 'surface' buddy (followed me around in the dinghy). It wasn't until I joined a dive club and she met other woman divers that she got interested. I think the social aspect of the dives finally convinced her to get certified. Warning... she made me take the OW class with her so she wouldn't get buddied up with a stranger. The poor OW instructor didn't know what to say when told I had 43 years of diving experience.

LOL, me and my wife did our first dives at Superclubs in the carib where the ocean dives are free. I got hooked on it and certified right there and then, but she, not paying attention during the pool sessions, forgot about equalizing before the onset of ear pain, thus never got certified. Of course, being only I got the cert, I did infrequent dives locally in quarries and beaches that had no visibility. It wasn't until once we went to Cozumel with some of her friends, one being female, that they at the end somehow got convinced to do one or two discovery scuba dives, and somehow they convinced each other that they liked it.

Then for our next joint trip to Superclubs in Curacao, they convinced each other that they will do OW cert. I tried to persuade her to do the referral course but she wants to do it together with her friend, so they did, but the course was taught at the next resort, and it was not a 'read the book on your spare time while lying on the beach chair', but a full 5 days of classes, training and diving with long surface swims, open ocean swim tests, etc. I was going off on my own to the dives that's included with the resort stay, or just finding somebody and doing shore dives on our own.

They both got certified, and after a few more trips together with the friend, my wife got more into diving but the friend sort of drifted away from it and went on back to doing women's vacationing. Without the friend, we can take trips more focused on dives, onto liveaboards and even other trips that includes strenuous or off the beaten path/extensive side activities, which would never have been possible if the 3rd wheel tagged along.

 

[Peter69_56]

We went to Fiji for a wedding and while there tried diving. We both decided to get certified when back home. We completed our OW after some issues with poor instruction. She was determined to keep up with me as we are very close in everything we do, so AOW, and then after I completed my DM and stepped into Tech, she couldn't help but follow ever while saying she wasn't doing anymore courses. Completed her Deco, extended range, but that was the limit for her.

She doesn't like cold water diving so now only dives when we go on holidays in the tropics. Maybe 2 trips a year or to Queensland where its warmer diving.

Found she has a small PFO which caused skin bends a few times, which has slowed her down a little, however after finding a solution that allows her deep diving and minimises the risk has allowed her back to joining me on more dives again.

We don't go on holidays, we go on dive trips. Added bonus is that she fully understands (most times) when I have a need for some new gear. Special lady indeed.

 

[Land Fish]

I came to see what the general consensus would be

I have two friends who are avid divers and they've been married for years. They do quite a few dive trips within SEA every year, and they often blast out invites to all the diver friends. So I get to tag along without being the third wheel...Thank God!

From what I see, it's a pretty sweet deal they got there, and perhaps I should ask "do you dive?" next time when I meet a guy ... or would I be seen as show off??