Needs to build confidence w/dives in calm, warm water

[run262x10]

We have been OW certified for a year. Our only two experiences outside of class were in Key Largo. The seas were rough and it was a less than satisfactory experience for my husband. (Scuba was his idea in the first place) Now he's been spooked by it and needs a couple of easy dives. Our time frames allows for a week in January. Are there any recommendations for places and dive operators that time of year? Any other suggestions? -Thanks

Having spent some part of the year for almost every year for the past four decades on the Rainbow River - I would highly recommend it as a diving destination to cure the lingering spoils of the last bad experience. You just can't go wrong there. I finally found time to get diving certification just so I could dive there and I still haven't made it there yet. But, I have swam, tubed, kayaked, and boated the entire river - from the first spring at Rainbow Springs to the confluence with the Withlacoochee River in downtown Dunnellon.

This river is as close to paradise as you can get in my mind - at least in Central Florida. The water is clean and clear, the west bank is almost entirely undeveloped, except for a camp ground that is now run by the State Park, and a few homes downstream and the nice homes on the east bank make for a quiet river community. The river is closed to fishing in the last mile (=few boats) and closed to motorized boats in the State Park area. It is quite safe and while there are deep springs the majority of the river bed is 10 to 15 feet deep.

Not only that, Central Florida is a much more relaxed part of the state and there are dozens of golf courses, close beaches, a nice rail-trail and other amenities in the area. You can't miss if you go there. Good luck.

 

[FSUgly]

All the above, plus one more thing to check into is a prescription for the Transderm Scop patch. I got extremely sea sick early last summer (so bad that I dry heaved for 1 1/2 hrs, and for the next 2 weeks, when I took a deep breath, my chest felt bruised). As soon as I got back home, I called my ENT (Ear, nose, throat) Dr and got the prescription. I was a little leary, to say the least, about my next boat trip, but it went great! Now I don't go out without a patch. The one side effect for me is extreme dry mouth; but that is nothing compared to the sea sickness I suffered through.

 

[ChrisA]

We have been OW certified for a year. Our only two experiences outside of class were in Key Largo. The seas were rough and it was a less than satisfactory experience for my husband. (Scuba was his idea in the first place) Now he's been spooked by it and needs a couple of easy dives. Our time frames allows for a week in January. Are there any recommendations for places and dive operators that time of year? Any other suggestions? -Thanks

Find a place where you can dive near where you live. I'm sure there must be a lake or quary or something close enough to you that you can dive there in a car. Build your skills by diving frequently in a familiar site. Frankly I can't see how someone who dives only once a year while on vacation can ever become good at it. It takes about a dozen or so dives before it begins to feel natural. Maybe you could take the AOW class locally. that would get you started with five dives with an instructor. I'm lucky. I live by the ocean and can go diving after work or before breakfast on a saturday but there are few places on Earth where people live and there is no water.

You other problem (not really a "problem" just the situation) is that you are a couple learning together. That's nice but each of you has a very inexperianced dive buddy. Many of us single divers where lucky to do our first few dives with a much more experianced buddy who was helpfull and offered good suggestions. One more reason to dive locally, to meet others and learn by watching to talking to them and maybe diving with them. You can't really meet divers on vacation you'll all go home and not see them again. The parking lot at the local dive site is the place.