Plus Size Women Learning to Dive

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Originally posted by ladycute1
There has been so much interest in this trip with requests for a later date, that I am tentatively planning Big Adventure #2 for late June of this year. Liz

Looking forward to hearing about the February trip, and very interested in hearing about plans for the trip in June.
 
Well! I?m pleased to announce that the first BIG ADVENTURE SCUBA TRIP was a great success!!!!

Five women ventured off to Maui for a week of SCUBA indulgence! Four of the women were plus sized, and one was a slender ally. Two of the women had never dived before; but in just a few short (well... okay... loooong) days they were certified open water divers! The other three women were certified divers with a variety of experience while the two ?newbies? were learning their skills, the certified divers explored a number of different shore dives ? checking out green sea turtles, reef sharks, all kinds of butterfly fish, wrasses, nudibranchs, sea stars, eels, lots of coral, and some small caves. We also did some night diving, and saw some awesome slipper lobsters, Spanish Dancers, and two pleurobranchs and played with some great squid. We were regularly serenaded by the song of the humpback whales.

Once the ?newbies? were certified, we took a group trip by boat to Molokini ? a marine and bird preserve. On one of their first dives after certification, the new divers ventured down to 80 feet and saw a colony of garden eels. At the next dive off the boat, we did a drift dive ? we saw turtles (of course!), a gold lace nudibranch, Spanish Dancer eggs, and a Titan Scorpion fish. Everyone had the practice of being followed and picked up by the boat ? much better than swimming against the current!

The following day we took another boat trip to the island of Lanai. Unfortunately, Mother Nature was not cooperating and visibility was poor. We did get to explore a couple of caves and saw some unusual fish... a viper eel, a banded angel fish, a scrambled egg nudibranch. We also swam through a number of different coral arches. The boat trip was long and a bit grueling, but the high point of the day was stopping the boat for lunch, and watching whales breech and splash all around us. The group returned tired, and a bit sun-burned ? but in time for a dinner of Pizza before venturing out for another night dive. The following day, we split up ? one of the new divers went on a guided naturalist dive, one of the experienced divers went on some guided photo dives, two divers did a shore dives together, and the fifth person couldn?t dive because she would be flying later in the day, so she went off for a massage and a bit of shopping.

As the week wound down, five satisfied, and a bit tired women, were making plans to return home. Two women had been introduced to SCUBA diving, and were now thinking about how they might do more of it. Two women who had been certified, added a significant number of dives to their log book, as well as accomplishing a number of ?firsts? ? first night dive, first tropical dives, first boat dive (for one). All had improved their navigational skills and had dramatically increased their confidence in their own skill levels. I was pleased to log my one hundred and twelfth dive on this trip.

There was discussion about another trip ? and the tentative dates for BIG ADVENTURE SCUBA TRIP #2 are the last week of June 2002 ? firm dates should be published in another week or so.
 
I am going to start diving classes in two weeks and I am a plus size woman. This thread has made me feel better about it because I was afraid that I would be made fun of. Diving is something that I have always wanted to do but never had the nerve to do it. Thank you ladies!!!!!!!:)
 
Hey icemyst7,

Congratulation on taking up diving. I am a "big" woman who just took up diving this past year. I got my Basic Cert. in July and my Advanced in Aug. I took both cert. dives with my husband in FL. Our son took his Basic cert. with us in Aug. I guess what I wanted to say is don't let anyone keep you from doing what you want. I am also "age-challenged" as well as "big", since I started my dive adventure over the age of 50. I wish I had found this chat site before I started diving I might have been less nervous about my size and age. I had a really great instructor who never made me feel uncomfortable about either. Anyway don't feel alone I have realized there are plenty of us out there. By the way, I don't think the rest of my family would have ever tried diving if I hadn't taken the classes first. I also always wanted to dive, but was afraid I couldn't, not because of my size but because of my sinuses.
 
I am very happy (most of the time) with who I am and that my figure is curvy to seductive rubanesque proportions , but I thought I would probably be the only non sports illustrated figure in the water. I am exstatic beyond words to know that so many of us are out there and share the same concerns, frustrations, and bias from our society which wants us to look like cookie cutter size 0 playboy barbies and not the unique voluptuous goddesses we are as healthy full figured women. It is so encouraging to know I now can fullfill my oceanic dreams and not be alone in my life experiences and that I have a forum to share and learn from. Thank you one and all. :sun: See you in the water!
 
I think that every one has to find something to do that suits their phisycal condition and personal prefferences.

As long as you do something and enjoy it, you're OK.

thumbs up for the initiative.

Ari :)
 
Hello everyone!

I've just gotten certified, and as a full figured gal myself (or whatever it is we're calling ourselves these days) I did some research to make sure I could do this safely. I was told that I had a greater risk for DCS, so I address that by being very conservative in my diving....I was also told that due to the fact that my cardio vascular system probably wasn't as fine tuned...that I would suck air, and that since I'm 5'11 not even a smaller lung size would help me out.


Well, it turns out that I do great with my air....in fact both my Divemasters (did I mention I just certified <grin>) mentioned how well I did with my air. I know you're not supposed to compare, but after both days of diving...folks in my group were really low on air (less then 500) and I was just over 1000!

I guess all those years of playing the trumpet and learning breathe control paid off <big grin>

Anyway, I'm looking to get under the water as much as I can now...I live in a somewhat unique situation, so my goal is to dive at least once a week until my contract is up :D

I'll keep an eye out for your next big adventure as well, glad you guys had such a great time....it sounds like it would be a blast to join you next time!



:tree: :singfish:
 
I have really enjoyed reading these postings. While I'm not severely overweight, I am overweight by most standards. I'm trying hard to be able to get back in to my custom wetsuit. I would love to hear about any dive trips you are planning. I'm hoping to do a trips to Curacao and to Belize this year.

Best regards! Diane
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/teric/

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