Diving with a Spouse

[nimoh]

To close the loop on my post.....I have now signed up for a PADI open water class in September. The timing for the August class wasn't good with school starting back the same week as the class.My wife will be taking the class in October. The school we're using only has one class per month and it would be tough for us to take the class at the same time due to the number of hoursWe should be able to get in a few dives together in early November locally and then we go to Tobago for Thanksgiving week for a few days so we'll do some diving together there.I was worried about the water treading test, but I just so happened to learn to back float just two ago after trying to figure it out for a couple weeks. Something just clicked and I was to float. Someone did mention I could have done drown proofing, but the instructors I will have prefers that we have our face out of the water and he said most of his students just float on their back. My wife can already actually tread water for 10 mins.....she tried on this past weekend to see if she could make it.Thanks for all the great advice and it nice to hear about so many other couples diving together. I have not shared any of these with my wife as I didn't want to put any kind of pressure on her or try to "convince" her to do it. She eventually decided on her own that it be great to do scuba diving together.DerekSent from my iPad using Tapatalk

For many divers, they are better off getting certified separately from their spouse. It is common for spouses to try to do things for each other, and it gets in the way of the learning process. In our classes, we commonly split up spouses as dive buddies because of this. I don't know if this applies to you, but getting certified in separate classes may be a benefit to you both.As for the water tread/floating/drownproofing, the instructor's preference is really not all that important. PADI instructors are not allowed to change the standards for certification. There is nothing wrong with them trying to coax you into keeping your head out of the water, but if you can't do it and fall back on drownproofing, they will be obligated to allow it.

 

[Freewillow]

Seems that quite a few things have changed in the OW and AOW. CAn one of you provide me with a link? Thank you

 

[nimoh]

Seems that quite a few things have changed in the OW and AOW. CAn one of you provide me with a link? Thank you

A link to what?

 

[Freewillow]

A link to what needs to be covered in order to get a PADI OW or AOW

 

[nimoh]

A link to what needs to be covered in order to get a PADI OW or AOW

The PADI standards and course guidelines can be downloaded from the PADI Pro site. They are not freely distributed, and so there is no link.

 

[spectrum]

1) I was asking my wife if she would also get certified so that we can dive together and be each other's buddy. She is open to it, but she did raise a concern about us doing this together while having 2 kids (14 and 10). I know it's a bit morbid but she's concerned about something happening to both of us at the same time.

2) I know I've seen posts where spouses both dive, but I was wondering....do you all dive as each other's buddy or is it better to buddy dive with someone else even if you are diving at the same time in the same location?

I guess I'm trying to understand what the "best practice" is for spouses that dive

#1 is a personal call. I agree that by all metrics diving is very safe and a dual fatality even for a couple diving beyond recreational is sub remote. However at the end of the day those times diving may be riskier that laying on the beach and the best I can say there is "may". It will mean missing some time with your children but you deserve an adult life too. It will have you seasoned when the come of age so you can safely mentor and oversee them if you dive as a family. the point counter point can go on.

#2 First off don't wast your time and money unless she is committed and clearly landing in her comfort zone. If her adventure threshold turns out to be different, respect that. With no disrespect to your wife or the many accomplished woman divers you are better off with a tropical dive buddy than one that has chucked it because you tried to convince her one time too many how cool that murky quarry is.

Almost exclusively we would dive together when we were both diving, heck it's great to have the common experience. She would be along for about 1/3 of my dives so I was accustomed to adapting to others though many became familiar buddies. On the occasions that she dove with another diver it was a big confidence booster and gave her a chance to contrast different buddy behaviors. Even when diving together be sure to make her assumes the leadership roll regularly. If she needs help with gear and so forth chivalry is a wonderful thing. In the water she should accustomed to taking charge. This is important in the event of an incident, separation or the unforeseen situation where she's with a goober insta buddy, like you get sick on vacation or want to make a dive with somebody else for whatever reason.

So by all means dive as a couple, share the responsibility and try to buddy with others occasionally.

It can be the best of times and .........

Pete

 

[dleewo]

I finished my open water class yesterday and my wife did hers two weeks ago so we are now both certified.

She's actually going to continue on and do the Peak Performance Buoyancy class next week and I'll be doing the Advanced Open Water next weekend too. She's going to probably do the AOW at the end of October.

We are both looking forward to diving in Tobago together and with these extra classes, we should have a few more dives under our belt before we finally dive together in November

Derek

 

[Lionfish51]

My wife and I have been buddies over thirty years!

 

[lunula]

I bought certification classes & gear for my husband as an anniversary gift a couple years back and we've both agreed that we'll never go down with anyone else other than each other...unless one of us "goes" before the other. That's allowed.

There is no one on this planet I trust more than him, he'd move Heaven & Earth to keep me safe, and I'd do the same. I'm an overly cautious diver (if there is such a thing) - just more "worried" about things than he is - but he appreciates, or at least respects, this and it makes him more aware and careful. He also knows I have ear issues and I have to descend really slowly. He tends to suck air and go too quickly, so I help him relax and enjoy things. It's a great balance. I can't imagine diving with anyone else. Our last dive vacation brought us closer, and we end up discussing and reliving those moments a lot more than our "land vacations."

I understand your concerns - we were not able to have kids - so it's just the two us, but I imagine I'd have the same thoughts in your situation. As others have said, it's a statistically safe sport - and I made sure to find a certification program that took things slowly, with a lot of time in the pool and a lot of time practicing skills and learning the basics. I think just knowing you have those kids waiting for you at home will make that much more cautious - and who knows? Maybe they'll want to get certified, too!