LG Diver
It will be interesting to hear how she reacts to the living room regulator experience. For whatever reason I find the breathing easier once under water.
You say that she had some difficulty with skin-diving. Ideally you get her past this before letting her near a regulator. My suggestion is to head over to a pool (Y, public or many hotels will let you in for a very modest fee) and get her re acclimated with breathing orally while her face is immersed. She can swim very lightly, heck that's what diving is all about.
As for the gear burden, get a smaller cylinder like a 63. She has no need for an AL80 for a discover pool dive. You might even consider having her don it in the water.
My wife did her DD after a summer of about 50 cold water skin-dives and it went smoothly. She had already decided to join me in OW class that winter but I wanted her to go into the class knowing that she could do it. Our LDS was doing the DDs in a local pond in shallow water. Surprisingly she did hit a few roadblocks in the class setting but she got back on track and did fine. I had done mine a few months earlier and that's what set the hook for me.
My wife is a lot like you describe your's She has no interest in independent study but she will take material that is presented. Especially then I would read the dive magazines and flag articles with post-it notes. She would read the feature, date the post-it and leave them on the inside cover.
Plan on being her gear steward to some extent and it can work out just fine. Have her make her own decisions on her gear but there is nothing wrong with you organizing pros, cons and alternatives. We load and clean-up together and at the dive site she rigs her own gear. Like most things in life we seem to compliment each others weaknesses and strengths nicely.
As for your "years of pestering, begging, pleading, and bribe offers" you need to start singing a different tune. She needs to want to do this for herself, to share the underwater world that she sees means so much to you. Be kind and supportive, you are her best mentor. You have the experience to talk her through visualizations and answer her many questions. She must know that you love her whether she follows through with this or not.
If she has a hard time remind her that this is an adaptation. As humans we have no business breathing underwater and for some that takes a little reprogramming. Patience, patience, patience.
Good Luck,
Pete
It will be interesting to hear how she reacts to the living room regulator experience. For whatever reason I find the breathing easier once under water.
You say that she had some difficulty with skin-diving. Ideally you get her past this before letting her near a regulator. My suggestion is to head over to a pool (Y, public or many hotels will let you in for a very modest fee) and get her re acclimated with breathing orally while her face is immersed. She can swim very lightly, heck that's what diving is all about.
As for the gear burden, get a smaller cylinder like a 63. She has no need for an AL80 for a discover pool dive. You might even consider having her don it in the water.
My wife did her DD after a summer of about 50 cold water skin-dives and it went smoothly. She had already decided to join me in OW class that winter but I wanted her to go into the class knowing that she could do it. Our LDS was doing the DDs in a local pond in shallow water. Surprisingly she did hit a few roadblocks in the class setting but she got back on track and did fine. I had done mine a few months earlier and that's what set the hook for me.
My wife is a lot like you describe your's She has no interest in independent study but she will take material that is presented. Especially then I would read the dive magazines and flag articles with post-it notes. She would read the feature, date the post-it and leave them on the inside cover.
Plan on being her gear steward to some extent and it can work out just fine. Have her make her own decisions on her gear but there is nothing wrong with you organizing pros, cons and alternatives. We load and clean-up together and at the dive site she rigs her own gear. Like most things in life we seem to compliment each others weaknesses and strengths nicely.
As for your "years of pestering, begging, pleading, and bribe offers" you need to start singing a different tune. She needs to want to do this for herself, to share the underwater world that she sees means so much to you. Be kind and supportive, you are her best mentor. You have the experience to talk her through visualizations and answer her many questions. She must know that you love her whether she follows through with this or not.
If she has a hard time remind her that this is an adaptation. As humans we have no business breathing underwater and for some that takes a little reprogramming. Patience, patience, patience.
Good Luck,
Pete
(Our shop does three a year...March, July, and October) Congrats on the success for both of you and tell her to have fun with the sealions..
