Question Resort diving when you are by yourself

[went_postal]

This may seem like a dumb/obvious question... Has anyone gone to a dive resort type location with a significant other where only one of you wants to dive?

I want to be in the water all the time... My wife and kid... less so. So I would love to go somewhere like South Florida or the Bahamas but I am afraid I wouldn't be bringing a buddy with me.

So... if you show up as a single diver to a resort is it typically difficult to be paired up with a buddy? At some of the resorts would someone that is not a diver be bored out of their mind or are there enough things to keep them engaged?

I am trying to find more ways to get into the water but not just jet off without the wife or family.

 

[gamon]

Get the solo certification. When I go on dive trips without the wife I stay in cheap hotels or hostels or an airbnb and do my own thing underwater unless the dive charter says no to solo diving at which point they can deal with assigning me a buddy or I dive with the DM (but I try to avoid that by checking ahead of time as to their policies).

I steer clear of the resort as I don't want to spend the money to sit by the pool and drink when I'm not diving.

 

[also_anon_dc]

I only travel solo to dive. There's always other solo divers to buddy up with. Just ask the op what you should do- find a buddy or if they want to assign you one. Even if there aren't other solo divers you can join a buddy group as a third.

 

[went_postal]

Get the solo certification. When I go on dive trips without the wife I stay in cheap hotels or hostels or an airbnb and do my own thing underwater unless the dive charter says no to solo diving at which point they can deal with assigning me a buddy or I dive with the DM (but I try to avoid that by checking ahead of time as to their policies).

I steer clear of the resort as I don't want to spend the money to sit by the pool and drink when I'm not diving.

I've looked into that... you have to have at least 100 logged dives under SDI.

The Resort thing is also to see if there are other activities for the wife if we travel together but she doesn't want to dive.

She is certified... she just doesn't like it as much as I do.

 

[boulderjohn]

I have done many, many times over nearly 30 years. I will be doing it again next month.

My wife is a non-diver, and she has been with me enjoying herself on all but a few trips--liveaboards at locations too deep for her to enjoy snorkeling. She snorkels regularly, or she finds other things to do while I'm diving. In return, I don't devote my time solely to diving. I make sure we have adequate time together on non-diving activities. We have another couple who go with us on far-flung dive trips each year. They are divers, and we always plan our trips so that my wife will have a good time snorkeling or doing something else when we are diving.

As for getting buddies, it has rarely been in issue for me except in recent years in South Florida. If the boat crew sees you are a single diver, they will usually try to hook you up with someone or some group at your ability level. It becomes a problem as your skills grow and the crew either does not make an effort to find suitable companions, or those companions are not to be found. That can be handled a couple of ways.

• I used to do a lot of diving, from my very earliest days, in Cozumel. I started using the dive operator at the place I stayed, and they were just fine until my skills grew enough. Their boats frequently had beginner divers, and it limited both the sites we went to and the buddies available to me. I learned to seek out the dive operators that could guarantee me dives and divers at my level.
• In South Florida where I spend months in the winter, the operators have so often assigned me to the most rank beginners on the boat that I have registered with them as a certified solo diver. I tell the crew at the beginning of the trip that I will solo dive unless it works out that they can put me with a suitable companion.

 

[rick00001967]

it is not usually a problem to be the only diver in your group / family at a resort. it is very common to get paired with another guest who also is solo. or perhaps you might get paired with the guide.

as far as the others having things to do......just be sure to choose a location / resort that has things they like to do. a nice pool, beach, lots of food and drink options, excursions, or even playgrounds and/or daycares if you have small children

 

[Landau]

Done this many times, never an issue. Mostly OK buddies, once or twice exceptional buddies.

Highly recommend Club Med resorts as they have Lots to do for the wife. Far more than other all inclusives I’ve been too

 

[went_postal]

Done this many times, never an issue. Mostly OK buddies, once or twice exceptional buddies.

Highly recommend Club Med resorts as they have Lots to do for the wife. Far more than other all inclusives I’ve been too

Club Med is still a thing? Wow... I feel super old now. LOL

I appreciate everyone's responses... makes me feel a little better about the whole thing.

I was hoping this was going to be a hobby both my wife and I could do (and our youngest daughter). My daughter may go on... but she has that Gen Z 'I am not instantly gratified by doing X' thing going on and she is tired of diving in the quarry. She doesn't have all her skills down... but she wants to jump right in the ocean and chase turtles and fish.

I am not a helicopter parent (or husband) by any stretch of the imagination... but I do believe that training, training, and more training is a good thing. Not saying you can't have fun while learning... but I can't haul them out to the Caribbean to get in the water all the time.

 

[gamon]

Kids learn fast. If she can dive in a cold low visibility quarry she can dive in brightly lit tropical waters on shallow reefs even if large periods of time pass between dives. If she's certified, then she's trained. That doesn't have to keep happening. Don't confuse training with experience.

Scuba diving isn't difficult, it's actually easier than swimming or snorkeling if you think about it.

 

[went_postal]

Kids learn fast. If she can dive in a cold low visibility quarry she can dive in brightly lit tropical waters on shallow reefs even if large periods of time pass between dives. If she's certified, then she's trained. That doesn't have to keep happening. Don't confuse training with experience.

Scuba diving isn't difficult, it's actually easier than swimming or snorkeling if you think about it.

She still tends to have issues with controlling her buoyancy. Something I would be concerned about in a larger group dive in the ocean.

And I get that she is certified and "trained."

I was trained as a firefighter and I've gone into more than one burning building. Doesn't mean we stopped training once we got the cert or we went into a "real" fire.

I am sure she will be fine. And she is good at it. But that doesn't mean that if we have an opportunity to go to the quarry say 6 or more times a year and the Caribbean once a year that she should skip the quarry. Know what I mean?