teaching you girl to dive...

[Pekka]

Hi
This is a question to you all who have tried to teach their loved ones to dive what did you do and how did it all go wrong or did it work out?
I am writing about it and would greatly appreciate experiences by you guys.
I'll share my own experience...
well it was bit cold and rainy day, kind of rough sea here in England when I took my girlfriend for a dive... she seemed nervous, but I thought it was just the new experience of putting on wetsuit and all the gear... well soon enough we were on our way in to the water.
I jumped in as I always do, expecting her to follow and we would proceed to swim out to the reef for some diving.
what it all came to in the end was that she hung on to me if I was her only hope of survival, not only was she scared out of her wits because she couldnt see the bottom, but angry at herself as she couldnt get over the fear and just go diving with me..
We have since tried it again in clear clam waters, but it is bit cold and the Jaws seem to be out there still.. hoping that some day we might go for a swim together... after some more diving together....perhaps in a pool

Pekka

P.S. if you dont wish to share your experience in public you can always PM me with your story, I guarantee total Confidentiality.

thank you..

 

[mishu1984]

errr...mine hasnt been with my girl, but rather my little bro. we are lucky enough to have a big pool in our backyard so we used to swim on a daily basis, and gradually what started as a game (i would do laps underwater and he would hang on to me) progressed onto him doing laps with me underwater in the pool.
eventually we got around to out to one of the kuwaiti islands and while i would spearfish he would come down next to me, albeit scaring away a majority of the fish.

 

[Ben Gowland]

I've had similar experiences when teaching people to freedive. My wife is the opposite - she has more water confidence than I do and I end up following her around....that's on the odd occassion when she wants to get into the water in the UK since she finds it monotonous!

 

[island_sands]

Re: teaching your MAN to dive...

i taught my man how to scuba dive... actually that's now we met! i also did his advanced course.

i told him straight that i would treat him just like anyone else and even so be more strict on him... it went really well and the only "run-ins" we have had are as diving buddies.

 

[samdive]

Having taught one boyrfriend to scuba dive and three to freedive -this is not something I would do again. I blame it entirely for the failure of millions of relationships worldwide. I firmly believe that putting your relationship into a situation where one is dependent on the other for feelings of safety, hell even saving each others life if necessary (or at least the less experienced one sees it that way) warps the relationship in a way that is hard to fix.

Don't do it guys! Just let them have their own hobby, or meet someone that already dives. My current partner is a biker boy and can hardly swim - but he can drive a RIB

Sam

 

[giovapnea]

Well... I was thinking about dragging my girlfriend to freedive too, As far as I can see, that's not a great idea at all, she help me on the pool, with my tables and stuff, but I think that taking her to the beach will be different, more complicated, I guess that is better that way. Thanks friends.

 

[dallasdiver]

I had been scuba diving several years when I convinced my new wife at the time to try diving. She was not a strong swimmer and was scared of anything in the water that got remotely close to her while snorkling. She went ahead and got certified for me. Her first open water dive was a complete disastor. Since we were young poor newlyweds at the time, we scraped enough money together to go to St. Kitts, BVI to go diving. We also had to use the rental gear from the scuba shop we would dive with since we could not afford our own. We met with the dive shop owner who we would be diving with the previos night to tell him that this would be her first open water dive and she was very nervous and we were looking to do a shallow easy dive. He said no problem!!! The next day we boarded the dive boat and motored out to a cruise ship and picked up 5 other brand new divers. We then proceded to dive our first dive at 100'+ in high current :vangry When we reached the bottom and had been down less than a minute and my wife swims up to me and gives me the "out of air" signal :waterwork I grab her air gauge, and it shows 3000psi. She then grabs the regulator out of my since the rental did not have an octopus and was in total terror. We begin to do a safty accent slowly. She is so panicked she did not want to share the regulator!!! :waterwork At forty feet I could not blow bubbles anymore and I insisted on a quick breath. She kept the reg for the reminder of the accent. When we reached the surface the gauge still showed 3000 psi and the valve was wide open. I gave the gauge a thump and then the needle dropped to zero :vangry They had given her an tank with just enoungh air to reach the bottom. She was mad at dive operator and mad at me for making her go diving. I must have the power of persuasion, because I talked her into a shallow shore dive later that afternoon Get her back in the saddle as soon as possible. The dive was incredible and everything we had hoped for.

It paid off for me, because we have spent the next 18 years diving all over the world!!! It had some incredible experienses together doing something we both love and enjoy. I will be celebrating our 19th anniversary on Jan 5th!!!

 

[island_sands]

hey dallas diver! i am with you!

My partner and I have bought camera gear, different pieces of equipment together, he loves his diving and we dive really well together. in the beginning it was hard for me not to lead the dives all time, but now we just seem to fit in, each one taking pictures, waiting for each to finish...it's all good!

We love our dives together and plan all our holidays around diving... next year i am teaching him his rescue and we enjoy ourselves thoroughly...

different folks i guess!
:inlove

 

[Ntrik]

Hey Pekka,

Ive introduced some friends/girlfriends to freediving and snorkelling but that was in Greece where you just slip a mask and snorkel on and jump in for a couple hours. Phobias are definitely hard to overcome, especially one that involves "jaws" being in the area. However, having had the pleasure of meeting you and your girlfriend recently, I think we can be of mutual assistance in getting both our girlfriends in the water. You have PM.

 

[Pekka]

Oh.. well I guess we need to give it a shot.. but what I am actually after are the disaster stories.. I mean not to the extreme, but unsuccesful ones.. as I am writing a script for spearfishing video I need some ideas from real life.. how it didnt work at all.. as in my script it can not work out... she is not going to dive perhaps snorkeling, but definately no diving..

thank you though.. and happy christmas!

Pekka

 

[dallasdiver]

Hey Sands
As much as I love to dive with friends, I really enjoy sharing the experiences and memories with the one I love the most. I really like looking through my photo albums at the places we been and things we seen together.

It took a long time for her to get comfortable diving. I had to hold her hand for the first few years, and then dive always within arms reach for a few years after that. She has never regretted learning to dive and wishes everyone could see all the amazing things she has seen and experienced. She still won't do caves or caverns and doesn't like night diving to much, but I can always do that with someone else

 

[Huan]

My wife is not at all water confident , and I taught her to snorkel in the clear,warm and non threatening waters in Croatia.
The multitude of colourful fish and things to look at plus the water clarity made the experience better for her.
I have yet to get her to snorkel here in Ireland but I am sure that with patience and a good wetsuit she will have a good time.
The important thing is that she has a good time , not me.
I know what I like to do and it is a pleasure for me to see her enjoy herself.
Confidence is built over time , just be patient, and don't bother in a European Winter.

 

[island_sands]

Hey Sands
As much as I love to dive with friends, I really enjoy sharing the experiences and memories with the one I love the most. I really like looking through my photo albums at the places we been and things we seen together.

It took a long time for her to get comfortable diving. I had to hold her hand for the first few years, and then dive always within arms reach for a few years after that. She has never regretted learning to dive and wishes everyone could see all the amazing things she has seen and experienced. She still won't do caves or caverns and doesn't like night diving to much, but I can always do that with someone else

hi Dallas, couldn't agree more. I also believe that maturity level has got a lot to do with it. Diving with my partner is the best, I trust him, know him, and when i taught him we saw some wonderful sights together down in Huvadhoo Atoll. His first shark, his first ray, his first REAL drift dive.. all those experiences were exhiliarating for him.

Diving caverns...mmmm beautiful. I saw a documentary the other night about the caverns in Mexico.. looks so amazing. Night diving is the best.. the colours of the reef really come out and the nocturnal animals going about their business.

Pekka... this may be the start of a lifelong relationship... go on... get her back in the water but my advice would be to start somewhere warm and pretty... perhaps the North Sea is not an ideal location.