Male Dive Buddies

[princessaprilia]

Hey Rick,

While I absolutely respect your decision, and I in no way am offended by it, I would just like to comment that you are punishing me for being female. You are denying me the ability to go diving with you, get information and learn from you, strictly based on the fact that I'm a woman.

Maybe in your area there are a lot of women buddies to choose from, but here in Regina, I can find 1. So if the other guys in my area think the same way as you - I don't get to dive unless Dianna wants to go. And she doesn't want to go very often.

In the event that I get to go on a boat dive where I'm going to get buddied up, my chances of my buddy being woman is slim (10% is my guess) - so if all the guys on the boat think as you do, I don't get to go?

I've read many posts of yours, and I think that you are probably a valuable resource, so I think it's a shame that you would only share that if I were a guy or brought another woman with me.

(Oh, I'm not even going to touch the "teams of three are fine" remark. Way too loaded.

 

[Sas]

I am ecstatically married 28 years, and my wife does not dive.

I am old fashioned. I do not dive alone with female divers, because I don't do anything alone with a female that is not my wife (teams of three are fine). It's just a respect thing for both my wife and the other female - it's what my dad raised me to do. Pragmatically, I have seen other men and women get into trouble with stuff like this, too.

Unfortunately, I have unintentionally offended a couple of females who do not understand this.

Obviously this is your choice and you can do what you want for your own reasons so I am not offended. However, I am REALLY glad so few men share your attitude as it would make things very tough for me as a female diver.

 

[Rick Inman]

Hey Rick,

While I absolutely respect your decision, and I in no way am offended by it, I would just like to comment that you are punishing me for being female. You are denying me the ability to go diving with you, get information and learn from you, strictly based on the fact that I'm a woman....

Obviously this is your choice and you can do what you want for your own reasons so I am not offended. However, I am REALLY glad so few men share your attitude as it would make things very tough for me as a female diver.

The good news is, I am not the rule, so most other guys will be ready and willing to buddy up with you.

Thanks for respecting by shortcomings.

 

[Lucy's Diver]

I wasn't going to post, but not diving with females because of being old fashioned is, no offense, a little weird. What if I get assigned a female partner at work? I can't say sorry I'm married. I have to travel a lot for work and work and live in sometimes austire conditions, and sometimes my co workers are female.

I've had to sit in a car for hours and hours late at night doing nothing but watching for a door to open with a female partner. My wife and her husband deal with it. Its work.

To answer the original question (now that I'm here) I really wasn't interested in diving when my wife first tried to get me certified. I said I already had one expensive hobby. Anyway, she won, and got into it so much I do it for a living now and you the taxpayer buy most of my gear and I dive way more than her, even outside work. When we did two weeks on a couple liveaboards last year it became clear that she was good for two or three dives a day and I wanted four or five, and she had no problem having me buddy with an attractive female diver who was on both boats with us and whose traveling companion/dive buddy was also only good for about two dives a day.

I think she might do some thinking if I told her I was going to Mexico to dive and sharing a room with a woman, but if she knew the person I really don't think it would be a problem.

 

[mjarens]

I am a married female diver, whose husband does not dive, is not much of a snorkeler, and he really doesn't like air travel much either. He was the one who encouraged me to get certified (it had been a lifelong dream of mine) and to go on dive trips, now that we are retired. I dive only tropical water destinations.

I always book liveaboard dive trips, as a solo female diver, with a guarantee of a female diver as a cabin mate. Out of eight liveaboard trips in the past 2 1/2 years, I've had a female cabin mate twice - that equals 1/4 of the time. Both cabin mates were great.

I wouldn't have a problem sharing a cabin with a male diver, as long as they don't snore, and we could each have the cabin to ourselves for showering and clothes changing. I doubt my husband would mind, as we have a very stable, non-jealous relationship. I used to work in a business that was 98% men, and I would travel with men all the time. My husband never had a problem with it. He trusts me, and with good reason...I've earned his trust.

As far as dive buddies, I have had several men that I've buddied up with onboard these boats. It usually takes a few dives to get in sinc with each others dive style. When one buddy doesn't work out (like, they totally ignore me and where I am at during the entire dive), I just find a new buddy or dive with the dive master who is leading the dive. Usually by the second day onboard, I've found myself matched up with one or two other divers whose spouse (usually the female) burns out after two dives a day, or another diver whose spouse has an ear issue, sea sickness, or a cold that benches them for a day or two. Rarely have I found myself buddyless.

I've met some wonderful divers, both male and female. And several divers who I would dive again with in an instant. There have been a few duds, but I just move on and don't let them ruin my day.

One diver I buddied with (he is from the UK) and I have been trying to book a trip together for the past year, but his work schedule is not as flexible as my retirement. His wife doesn't dive, so he dives as a single. Most of the divers in his dive club are women. He didn't have any problem diving with me because I am female. He was more concerned with my lack of experience (30 dives at the time). He was a wonderful dive buddy for me back then, and I learned alot from him. We had a great week of diving together.

What am I looking for in a dive buddy? A diver who takes the safety issues seriously, like pre-dive buddy checks, pre-dive planning, staying within three or four kick strokes of each other during the dive, checks their air consumption and my air consumption often, and someone who agrees to return to the boat with well over 500 lbs in their tank. I like a dive buddy that respects the enviorment we are in, and that means taking nothing to the surface except photos and any litter we might find. My ideal buddy can be male or female, gender isn't an issue.

mjarens

 

[El Orans]

If there are any men reading the forum, go ahead, chime in. Do you think twice before hitting the water with a female dive buddy?

Nope.

My wife dives too, though not as much as me. The only issue she has with my buddies is that they have to be safe divers.

 

[jupitermermaid]

I am a single female and have quite a few male buddies who are married or have SO's. None of them have a problem with the guys diving with me. There is one who is married and comes down to Florida for several weekends at a time without his wife. We even went to Bonaire with another guy and two other females. The other guy was in a relationship, but not married. He ended up being my roommate, and nothing inappropriate happened (I'm not interested in him at all except as a dive buddy). Another time I was a roommate with another male buddy on a live aboard, and, again, it was strictly platonic.

 

[Kim22]

My boyfriend does not dive - he cannot even swim. But he encouraged me to get certified and continue my training because he knows how much I love it. I generally dive with whoever is available that I know is a safe diver - male or female. There are a couple of people that I will never dive with again, because they are extremely unsafe and I don't feel comfortable - I also don't like babysitting if I'm not working with a class.
My boyfriend is an avid golfer, so when we travel, we look for locations that have both golf and diving so we can both have some fun. I have gone on dive trips without him, and he doesn't mind. He knows I'm just in it for the diving and that's it. And he loves to go out on the boats and hang with the captain and crew while the rest of us dive, which is great. He also makes sure that the boat doesn't leave without me!!!

 

[teddyg04]

I am a married female with a non-diving, non-travelling husband. He gave me nothing but encouragement when I decided to get certified along with our teenagers. Same when I decided to become a divemaster. Sometimes I dive with one of the kids; I go on trips with my dive shop; occasionally I'll go to Catalina alone. The fact that most of my dive buddies are male has never been a problem. We have a great relationship - he just doesn't like the water. Go figure........

 

[harland]

Im a male diver ( PADI Rescue) in Ft. Lauderdale. Wanna come down, amd gp diving? Harland R Hoffman, HRH Industries