Newly Single - Diving Locations

[Diving Dubai]

@maat1976

Well done for finding a club. As stated earlier not all clubs are equal so you sometimes need to shop about to see what works for you. When I arrived in Dubai, I knew no-one, I stumbled onto my club after about 6 months. I was fairly nervous with them at first. There was I with a huge 20 dives to my name and pretty much everyone else had dive counts in the hundreds if not thousands. But a more welcoming no judgemental bunch would have been hard to find even though I was PADI trained and they were a BSAC club.

My wife when she was single and living in the UK used to take herself off diving to the Maldives or Indonesia on live aboards and used to enjoy it.

 

[Oldbear]

As a father of a single diving daughter, based on her travels she had good experiences at:

Cozumel...She dived with Dive Paradise, but for a more personal experience I suggest Blue XT Sea Diving. Owned and ran by a charming young Lady Christi.... Blue XT~Sea Diving - Cozumel Scuba Diving - Blue Xt Sea Diving
LOB Thailand...www.thejunk.com
Antony's Key Resort or CocoView Resort in Roatan Honduras.

Also with your local BSAC...

 

[Gareth J]

If you have the opportunity, then I would endorse doing the Rescue Diver Course. Knowledge is power, and when it comes to rescue, and that includes self rescue. It is extremely beneficial to have done the course. The PADI Rescue Course is well thought off by those who have completed it.
I personally have not done the PADI rescue course, although I started with PADI, moved to BSAC, which includes rescue skills at all levels of diving qualification, getting more complex as you progress. I have moved between Agencies over the years, I hope this means I have picked up the best from all. Although it should be remembered the instructor is more important than the agency, a bad instructor will ruin even the best of courses and support material, a good instructor will breath life into any course regardless of the quality of the material.

I am conscious that you have received most of your answers from Men, although this is in the Women's Perspectives' area.
Hopefully you will get more female input as the thread progresses.
It has been my experience that women often make better divers, and better decisions, they don't have the ego issues that men have (a generalisation I know - sorry).
I believe that diving as a sport is reasonably gender neutral and very supportive of all involved, although being male my perspective may way off base from your personal experience.
I have always found travelling and joining other groups of divers hugely rewarding and great fun, there does seem to be a comradery aspect to diving, and a genuine interest in helping new divers progress.

Gareth

Correction - the curse of autospell!

 

[maat1976]

Hi Gareth. Thanks for your thoughtful reply.

I've been meaning to do the Rescue Dive course for the last year but seem to find 1001 reasons to put it off. I do live in the UK and would prefer to do the course in a wet or semidry suit rather than a dry suit, so I don't overload myself. The Rescue Diver course never appeals while I'm away on holiday because I'd rather be playing with the fish. So really I need to commit and get on with it this summer. Hopefully one of these clubs will wind up being the right one, and I can do with them.

I have about 180 dives but I feel like I'm still only 40 dives in. I have been far too reliant on my husband, when I should have been improving my skills. For example, on the last trip we did, we went to the Maldives. I wasn't able to easily deploy an SMB. I could do it, but it was always a major stressor. I am also always paranoid about my air consumption, which is of course a self perpetuating problem. If I just relax, slow down, and dive, it will be fine. But I'm always worried about ruining other people's dives. It just hasn't improved over time.

Anyway, diving with others will probably be good for me - I'll hit 200 by the end of this year and start the new year afresh, new dive buddies, new adventures, and all that. :/

 

[Freewillow]

Maat,

I would recommend you to really take the rescue course. I went to Divemaster and IANTD adv Nitrox and I can tell you that the most valuable were Rescue and advanced Nitrox. The first one because it gives you a pretty clear idea about what problem can occur and how to solve it. The second course is about how to plan and run DECO dives.

When it comes to DSMB, do not worry. I love to do it but the majority of the divers that I know are pretty bad/nervous/clumpsy about deploying one.

It is also a matter of material. I use a closed system with oral/Medium pressure house infaltion.

 

[tamas970]

Not being a lady but enjoyed two trips to the south, staying in a diving village (Wadi Lahami), I would definitely encourage you to go not only on boats but resorts with good reputation on the shore. I don't have the big picture, because I haven't visited other places in Egypt, but I have absolutely positive experience with these guys. You most likely wouldn't be the only female, both times I visited there were entire families there. You wouldn't be the first single European lady they see either.

Egypt is surely a nice AND economical diving destination. After what I've seen, I would feel absolutely no worry about a female family member going "down there" alone.

Hi Ladies.

Sadly, I am newly single. I became a diver as a result of meeting my husband, and I've fallen in love with it, so I don't want to give diving up.

However, I'd like to hear from ladies who travel on their own where they've found it easiest to go diving with least amount of hassle, particularly in Asia. I'm into photography, and ideally like to avoid drifts if possible. Egypt is cheap, but I don't know how comfortable I'd been back in Egypt on my own, diving with mainly men.

Clearly it's become a more expensive venture, so I might be able to do it less often.

Do you know any forums / locations to find women to buddy up with on trips? I'm open to live aboard and resort based.

Thanks.

 

[Freewillow]

Went to Wadi Lahami too. It was some 10 years ago. Almost exclusivelly german divers. No problem with them except I do not speak german nor were they inclined to speak english .

 

[tamas970]

In the last 2 years it was a better mix with scandinavians (all kind), dutch and swiss. I am thinking going back next year but I also want to try something new, so probably 2017 will be Tofo for me (still cheaper than the Maldives...)

Went to Wadi Lahami too. It was some 10 years ago. Almost exclusivelly german divers. No problem with them except I do not speak german nor were they inclined to speak english .

 

[Freewillow]

Tofo ?

 

[crbonet]

I've booked a couple of trips through Dive Adventures in Australia. On their website you can look to join a group for an organized trip. Most of those are to dive resorts with organized dives. I plan on 2 trips with them next year, one to the Philippines and the other to the Solomon Islands.