Are women better divers? I think so!

[drbill]

when I met her one of my all time favorite female buddies dove deep and dangerously due to instruction she had received. Fortunately lragsac and I mentored her and now she is a lookey-loo and great to dive with.

May she had slightly more testosterone in her than most (oh she'd kill me on that one) and that's what drove (dove?) to her to the dark side. Now she's a pretty good buddy although she does have a tendency to roam occasionally (no, not THAT way).

Dr. Bill

 

[diverbrian]

I, myself, have never had the opportunity to dive with a female buddy. They are all taken by their significant others,so I get left with everybody else who showed up for the dive. The one case where this wasn't true was a female DiveCon and her husband wasn't as avid a diver. She had to take the least experienced diver due to her role when that happened.

Most of our instructors will tell you that, for the most part, the women (their wives included) have tended more skittish in classes when initially learning. They tended to require a bit more hand holding and sometimes extra pool sessions until they were confident with their skills.

But, once they "got it" (confidence wise), they have turned out to be better actual divers than the men. They trim out under the water better and generally have better air consumption. They tend to be more cautious and aware of limitations. And the generally, the more difficult their actual training was for them, the better and more avid divers they have turned out to be.

I know that most of my "fun" dives have had a buddy team with a woman. My more technical dives have had no women there, but I know that there are many women cave divers who push boundaries that I would never dream of (I am talkative and have spoken to several female instructors at Gilboa). So, my experience is limited in this regard.

And Medic (and the other drooling men).... , all I ever see experienced divers in where I am from is drysuits and they don't flatter anybody's form.;-0

 

[ScubaTexan]

I have had nothing but fantastic experiences with the female divers I've buddied with. They have all been excellent divers, and if they aren't better than men, they are certainly just as good.

 

[Mo2vation]

It is still babe, isn't it?

OK OK...

All of the Opra (Orca?)-esque woo woo you-go-girl nonsense aside, this is an interesting thread. I want to take a side road, though, and talk about women buddies.

I was just speaking with my wife about this after my last dive trip.

I boarded a So Cal dive boat as a solo diver. We were doing a Sea Lion dive to SB island. Never been, thought it's be cool, wifie couldn't make it, so I'm batchin' it.

We were scheduled to leave Friday night at about 2:00 AM, so we all boarded at about 9:00 PM. Dive briefing first AM. I settle in for some sleep.

Awake for the briefing, and I ask the DM at the end "what about solo divers..." So he asks. There's one - a woman/chick/babe. This DM knows me (he assisted in my DIR/F) so he said "Ken, meet Peg (not her name) - she's a photographer (a couple of old school Nikonos rigs). Ken's a looky-loo, you two should get along fine..." She's tall and lean. Me, short and stocky. What a pair.

Hmmmm.....

If you're read my posts, you've seen that I've not had the best experience with sudden buddies on boats this year. So we sit down over breakfast and the interviewing commences. She has about 300+ dives (3 times what I have), she's in a dry suit (the only other person on this trip in a dry suit) she's a casual photographer (not too intense). I take her out to the deck, show her my wacky DIR rig, we walk through safety, hand signals, etc. I'm feeling OK about this one.

Dive one - very mellow. Shallow (40) and just kicking it. She's a good buddy. I have the light, and there's lots of stuff in the water, so even at shallow depth she sees my light. Very different eco system than Catalina...tons of stars of all types, different rocks, very cool.

Dive 2 - more mellow. A little deeper, but more time as our average depth was only about 44'. We play, see lots of cool stuff, a sea lion, and come up. Where are the doggies?

Dive three - The rookery. Zillions of Sea lions...many climbed up the hill...way up the hill. You can hear them barking. We get into the water, we start to ascend, she signals my SPG is leaking. It is LEAKING. We surface from the 10' feet we were at, we go to the swimstep, I signal for a wrench, fix it, and we hit it again.

We're going towards the shore, no sea lions yet. Its getting shallower and shallower, with the surge really throwing us around. We're at about 12 feet, can't see anything, terrible surge... I thumb the dive. We surface. I tell her this stinks, and If I'm gonna get tossed in the surf, I want lobster. There's too much backscatter for her to get a shot, there are no sea lions in the water, I say lets head back. She agrees.

I'm BUMMED. We head back down, and I'm kicking back to the boat. I'm seething. After about 5 or 7 minutes, she puts her hand gently on my side. I turn (probably quickly) and she motions that I'm diving all over the place, and then looks into my eyes, gets my attention and gives me a palm up...as in relax, its OK.

'squze me... I'm welling up now thinking about this again...

I'm not saying guys don't get it. We're intense, we're focused, we're strong, we're safe, etc, etc. I've had good guy dive buddies. But Peg PERCIEVED that I was hating life by the way I was breathing and the way I was sort of aimlessly heading back to the boat. She saw my posture, read the cadience of my kick...

She came beside me, gave me an assuring touch (not a fin tug, like I doubtless would have given) and slowly and gently emoted with just a look that she knew I was hating life, and its OK. Be mellow, have fun, and lets finish the dive with a better attitude. It wasn't correction, more than respectful concern. It was an unbelievable moment.

I wasn't being unsafe, but I wasn't having fun. And she knew this by the way I was diving and breathing. It blew me away.

We got back under the boat, and in 20' of clear, calm water, over perfect, empty, vacant sand, with nothing else around. As we're preparing to surface with half cylinders, two sea lions joined us out of nowhere - diving and looping. We played and played with them until she got to about 400, then we came up. We milked that dive for a full 60 minutes. We got at least 30 - 35 minutes with the doggies. By ourselves. It was play time.

We were the last ones back on the boat - much to the consternation of everyone else - I think. I couldn't tell, as they were finished with lunch, most of the gear was packed and everyone was in street clothes. I felt kinda weird for about 5 seconds - But hey, that's what we came for - to dive with sea lions.

I will never, and I mean NEVER forget her gentle touch and her reassuring glance. It moves me weeks later as I write this. She totally turned that dive around for me. What a thoughtful and aware buddy.

After the dive, as we were taking down - I felt compelled to go over and say something to her. I didn't know what to say, as it would be easy to take anything I would likely say (about being so moved by her touch and look) as being flirty and inappropriate, you know? And it was nothing like that. I just looked at her for the longest time and said thanks. She knew what I meant, and smiled.

Today, after being out of town for a week, I came home to an envelope on my desk. It was from her, and it had about 20 pictures of me playing with the sea lions, sea lions playing with each other, etc. I almost lost it.

My wife is my fav regular buddy, as we're in tune, you know? I love diving with Jaye. Its probably like Pug and Shane - you dive together so much that there's this confidence, and you communicate and read each other with just a glance, or sometimes without. Peg is the best instabuddy I've ever had. No guy would likely ever "see" what she saw, and no guy could ever do what she did.

Chick buddies rule. Thanks Peg.

K

 

[PhotoTJ]

OK, that was the nicest post I've read to date.

I fancy myself a tough guy, and I was moved.

 

[debcov]

I have taught many U.S. Navy men how to dive, as they frequently visit Saipan. I have noticed that the women were far more attentive in class and asked more questions - not only about what they will see, but also about safety issues. Recreational diving is not meant to be a competative sport. Safety is important. I am sure the guys who were too "macho" to ask questions learned from what was discussed. As far as diving, in general, I find that women are able to have a longer dive in part because they do not dart around to see everything in sight. Diving is supposed to be a relaxing sport...not one where each measures how deep they go, or how fast they swim. I have towed in many men, them on my reg and me on my Air2, back to the safety stop area as they seem find the need to go fast and deep. Never have I had to tow in a woman.

With all that said, some of my best dive friends are men...they are instructors also, so we know our limits, have the same dive times, etc. Unfortunately, my best dive buddy, David, moved back to the states, so I am no longer able to dive with him. We both are photographers, and appreciate the underwater world.

In sum, while this post may seem slanted towards women, who are good divers BTW, in general, it depends on skill level, frequency of dives and interests. I would much rather dive with a safe diver who dives every weekend as opposed to one who dives once a year....regardless of sex.

 

[SwimJim]

It's not male or female or race , creed or color that makes a good diver. Or anything else for that matter. It's attitude plain and simple.

Jim