Anyone else with a spouse that won't dive?

[Chocoholic]

I was in the keys a long time ago (15 yrs) and had a great time diving in the Pennekamp reef park. I don't remember going to very many shallow sites, that a snorkeler would like. We were diving out of Key Largo and dove the wrecks and a couple reef sites.
For as long as I have been diving my hubby has never gone on the dive boat with me and snorkeled, I think that is a great idea.

 

[krbailey]

No problem. just find a dive buddy with a non-diving spouse, and you and your buddy can go diving, and the wives can go shopping.

I will warn you that if you do this on any of the populated Caribbean islands, the jewellery stores charge way more than the dive boats.

Terry

I found that out the hard way in Riviera Maya, Mexico.

To her credit, she did let me get my OW certification while on our honeymoon and my Christmas gift this year is 4 days of diving in the Keys in January with a college buddy while she stays home.

What a wonderful gal!

 

[seaducer]

We use it for away time; much needed in my opion. Plus, it is only one boat fee, one set of equipement. She is fine with it. "Do what makes you happy". Not a guilt trip, but honest fellings. I love that woman.

That is sort of how my fiancee and I are looking at things,(I think) but to be honest, I do feel guilty. Last year we both went to Bonaire, with the idea that she was doing her refferal dives there and we would dive as a couple for the rest of the vaca, while the other buddy team did their own thing.
She had an ear problem, never got certified and I could tell she wasn't really happy sitting on the beach even if she lied and said she was. Now I think she may never dive. Im not going to call everything off because she doesn't dive, but it does put a strain on things and I can perhaps see an issue down the line. Hopefully I am wrong...

 

[boulderjohn]

I just got my SSI OW and my wife does not know how to swim. I will be teaching her how to swim this summer, and then I will get her to try snorkle so she gets used to the idea of breathing under water. She told me that if she is able to feel comfortable in the water that she will try to do "the scuba thing" I am pretty sure that I will have a permanent dive budy for next year. Also the wife of my current budy is gonna do the course next summer so that helps me a lot. Lets see how that goes

Your wife may find this story interesting.

In one class I was teaching I saw during the swimming test that one of the female students was a particularly beautiful swimmer. She did a very nice crawl for the entire distance, showing no sign of discomfort or fatigue. When it came to the diving skills, she was equally comfortable, and she completed the class with flying colors.

The reason I mention it is that she said she had nearly drowned in a Resort Dive experience in Australia less than a year before. She had decided to do the Resort Dive despite the fact that she was essentially a non-swimmer. After that disaster, as she sobbed during the entire boat trip back to shore, she decided that she was not going to let it end that way. When she returned to the U.S., she enrolled in a swimming class, and not many months later was a confident, certified open water diver.

 

[boulderjohn]

Over her life, my wife has had several ruptured eardrums from bad colds, and she is afraid to learn to dive. She probably could do it, especially given one of those special masks with the ear equalizing devices, but I learned decades ago not to push things like this. Fortunately, she loves to snorkel, and she loves being on boats. When we go on trips, she looks for the best options for herself.

Here are some examples.

Often its the "I'll dive in the morning; we'll do something together in the afternoon" plan. During the dive portion of the day, she willl often do something that she will enjoy more than I would, thus sparing me from an ordeal that usually includes shopping. (I would rather have my eyeballs pierced.) Often she will arrange a snorkeling expedition of some sort. When we were in Belize earlier this year and in St. Maarten the year before, for example, she even took full day sailing/snorkeling trips that she really enjoyed.

Other times the boat trips I take will include reasonable snorkeling. When we were in San Carlos, she and the non-diving friends who accompanied us snorkeled with the sea lions while I was diving not that far below. She will snorkel from the boat pretty much any time she is told the snorkeling is mediocre or above. She even went to Bonaire with me and did almost all of the boat dives and even some of the shore dives.

When we were in Australia, she signed us up (she handles the travel arrangements) for a four day liveaboard trip on the outer edge of the Great Barrier Reef. She intended it as a very nice gift to me, but it turned out to be the highlight of the trip for her. The GBR actually breaks the surface in places 60 miles off shore, and it was the greatest snorkeling she has ever had. I think she was in the water more than I was. On the last dive of the trip, my buddy and I were milking it for all we were worth, and we ended up using most of the last breaths in our tanks near the very top of the reef. My wife was snorkeling roughly 5 feet away from us when a minke whale passed by, almost within touching distance. That was a pretty nice shared experience.

 

[editmojo]

My wife enjoys everything involving water except being under it. Our compromise: A yearly trip to the Caribbean that includes much beach time for her and much wet time for me. As long as she has a good book and the occasional cocktail, she's as happy as a clam, but not an underwater clam.

 

[lmorin]

The OP asked specifically about things to do in the Keys. Well, it's a bit limited, Key West being the exception. We have found an inexpensive place to stay in Key Largo that is shaded and has a pool, small beach, Tiki hut. We typically dive in the AM and lounge around reading in the PM. Or, on off days we have visited Everglades Park, driven down the Keys to Key West or visited several of the state parks in the Keys. There are a few stores of interest, and a few museums in the upper Keys. There is also fishing and birding throughout the Keys, if your wife has interests those directions. I go off birding by myself at times.

I will say, also, never say never to diving. I wanted to dive most of my life, but circumstances interfered and I had lots of other sports at which I was good. But, when our kids were finally out of the house, diving emerged as one good therapy for the empty nest syndrome. My wife (who is an excellent swimmer, snorkler and someone always at ease around water) embraced it as tightly as I did. It has been a great source of gratification to both of us. I would hope that your wife does not de facto exclude diving as a possibility for the future because travelling and diving with your honest-to-goodness buddy can have a great deal of merit for you as a couple.

 

[SkydiverChick]

I scuba dive, skydive, and ski and my husband doesn't do any of those things. Fishing is his thing. He tried a ski lesson last season and quit half way through the 2nd lesson. I really appreciated the fact that he atleast tried it. It meant a lot. He says he wants to learn scuba but hasn't made the effort. I don't expect him to try skydiving because he hates that I do it and has no interest in it. It's definately a source of tension in our marriage. He thinks that I would rather be with a guy that does scuba, ski, and skydive. That's silly and not true at all. I would love it if he got certified to dive though. Mostly because he seems like he really wants too and it would be really nice to have my husband as my dive partner. I wasn't crazy about fishing at first but knew it was important to him so I made an effort to learn about it and try it. Turns out it's not so bad. I feel really selfish and guilty when I leave him behind to go do these things. I know I shouldn't becausethere is nothing wrong with me having interests that my husband doesn't.

 

[Chocoholic]

I scuba dive, skydive, and ski and my husband doesn't do any of those things. Fishing is his thing. He tried a ski lesson last season and quit half way through the 2nd lesson. I really appreciated the fact that he atleast tried it. It meant a lot. He says he wants to learn scuba but hasn't made the effort. I don't expect him to try skydiving because he hates that I do it and has no interest in it. It's definately a source of tension in our marriage. He thinks that I would rather be with a guy that does scuba, ski, and skydive. That's silly and not true at all. I would love it if he got certified to dive though. Mostly because he seems like he really wants too and it would be really nice to have my husband as my dive partner. I wasn't crazy about fishing at first but knew it was important to him so I made an effort to learn about it and try it. Turns out it's not so bad. I feel really selfish and guilty when I leave him behind to go do these things. I know I shouldn't becausethere is nothing wrong with me having interests that my husband doesn't.

Ditto on the scuba and skiing but not the skydiving. I feel a bit selfish too when I am off diving and he is not, but then he can do whatever he wants with his time too. I try to make sure we have lots of together time on holiday but I want to dive too. He holds up his learning to dive like a carrot when he is trying to dare me into doing something, but he still hasn't learned how to dive. I learned how to golf to spend time with him, although I suck at it, I have fun. After 18 years I am still holding out hope that he will take up diving, but I am not going to push him.

 

[cgvmer]

My wife doesn't dive...I will attempt to change her mind now that my 11yo daughter is certified (along with my 2 sons 15 & 20). She was happy very excited about doing snuba, thought it was great but on the way home the winds kicked up and got her seasick. This time I'll show her beach diving from Ft Lauderdale beach.