Wife Is nervous diving

[scubafanatic]

Well I want to thank everyone for alot of Great idea's. Me and my wife have been reading through them and I believe we have alot of things to try to hopefully help her out.

...so, if the wife is reading along side with you, just wonderin' why she's not made any comments here ?

 

[wausman]

I was the one that originally made the post. And I guess she just didnt have the urge to write anything. But she is really reading this is to help her and to help us be safe and have a better dive exsperience.

 

[CamG]

Greetings wausman from a Hoosier and welcome to SB. I have sent you a PM to ivite you to meet sometime for a coffee or dive. Please by all means do not feel pressure or anything else. I am not a dive shop or an instructor still just a DMC. But I do have a great network of local divers who love to dive and help other divers as well. Your situation is a common one and how ever your wife decides to proceed is the key to your next step. I am willing to help in any way I can, with her best interests at heart.
Regardless she needs to be comfortable and enjoy it or it will be miserable for her.
Trust me on this I have lived it, and witnessed it before. There is no shame in admitting you do not like cold water and prefer to be warm water divers. Diving is many different things to many people but it has to be enjoyable or it is nothing.
I have been one who thought vacation diving would be all I was interested in. When I discovered the local scene and fell in love with diving I grew determined to experience the local waters. For me personally I was amazed and could not get enough. This is just my experience though and if I had not had the instructor I had it could have been a different story. I am sincerely offering my assistance because of the time and care that he and others took to help me learn to dive the local waters.
Diving has become a passion and seeing others enjoy diving is really awesome.
Good luck and just let me know how to proceed.
CamG Keep diving....keep training....keep learning!

 

[Web Monkey]

Well I want to thank everyone for alot of Great idea's. Me and my wife have been reading through them and I believe we have alot of things to try to hopefully help her out.

FWIW, we travel with three or four other couples. All the guys dive and none of the wives do, even though one is certified and two tried it and didn't really like it. The guys go diving, the wives go snorkeling or shopping or hang out on the beach, and everybody is happy. It just means that we need to pick locations that have non-diving things to do.

There's no reason she needs to dive unless she really enjoys it. Doing it because you do it won't make either of you happy in the end.

Terry

 

[lmorin]

.................
She says she wants to do it and she likes it. Does anyone have any ideas on how to get her to relax a little?

Focus on what TS&M has to say.

My wife had similar issues, but was determined to learn and enjoy. We learned together as an empty nest hobby. However, I have always done heavy duty sports; my wife never did. We started slowly and kept it warm. While I am willing to dive locally on Long Island, my wife emphatically is not. She really enjoys the warm vacations and warm water biology, so we do Caribbean diving. And, interestingly, she now enjoys simply being underwater more than I do, although neither of us particularly likes biologically uninteresting environments.

 

[hammerhead45]

I recommend a good NAUI class !

 

[bubblesbelow2008]

Wausman, this may or may not help, but as my bouyancy got better, I became more comfortable and quit holding hands. Maybe she needs more practice with that to build confidence?

 

[gaila]

Have her take a buoyancy class with a good instructor. It will boost her skills and she will not feel so out of control. It just might do the trick!

 

[Jim Lapenta]

I'll second the Muncie Indiana instructor and if you are too far away for that Pm me. I have the contacts for LOTS of good instructors in Indiana!

 

[cloudswinger]

How comfortable in the water is she? Does she go swimming just for fun? Do you two ever go to a pool and just dive to the bottom for fun? Throw stuff in and retrieve them? It seems to me that a lot of people get into watersports who aren't really all that comfortable with the water. I suggest doing something fun in the water, and not necessarily diving specific.

I took up diving before I met my husband, but I learned to surf from him. It was not a fun process, and I generally find it more fun to surf without him than with him. There's more pressure, he likes bigger waves, we just aren't at the same level with surfing. Even with diving, he's faster, and I like to poke along looking at fishes. Cold definitely affects me more too. I don't think I'll ever dive anything colder than 65.

We have a fun factor ratio for our water sports - the colder it is, the more fun it had better be. My bar is probably set higher than his.