How To Best Travel With Your Non-Diving Partner

In a couple, if one person dives and the other doesn’t, vacations can be an interesting experience, to say the least. On the one hand, all one person may want is to dive, dive, and dive! While the other person has no interest in going near a set of scuba gear. Fortunately, if you are a diver, there are many ways you can solve this dilemma and travel happily with your non-diving partner. With some planning and awareness, you can relax and pack your dive mask, holiday reading materials, and underwater iPhone case before jetting off on a stress-free vacation!

Find Out Why Your Partner Doesn’t Dive!

The first thing to address is why one of the partners does not dive. Their reasons generally broadly fall into three different reasons.

Firstly, they may simply not be interested in diving and the aquatic world. You may want to gently try and get them interested in diving by showing them books and amazing series like Blue Planet. If, after some gentle efforts, they are still not interested, that is okay. Not every activity, diving included, is for everyone. All you need to do is take steps like the ones mentioned in this article to ensure any vacations involving diving are fun for everyone.

Secondly, your partner may have a fear of diving or the water. You can try and address this by reassuring them. However, you are probably better off encouraging them to get professional help to get over their fears. Offering to help with the cost of therapy or treatment can be a great way to help your partner move forward from their fear. Whether your partner ever becomes a diver or not, addressing a psychological fear will always be a good thing for them in the long run.

Finally, and this is the worst-case scenario, is that your partner wants to dive or was a diver but can now not dive due to medical reasons. If this is the case, you really should not be diving on vacation with your partner. Every time you take them to a dive destination, you are rubbing their nose in their lack of ability to dive. Taking someone like this to a dive destination is not a recipe for a great time.

The Land is Your Friend

If your partner does not dive, land-based dive holidays are your friend. The idea of a liveaboard should not be on your agenda. Take a minute or two to put yourself in your partner’s shoes. Imagine a hobby you have no interest in, from coin collecting to arts and crafts. Now imagine yourself on a small boat surrounded by around 30 other people. They disappear for an hour or two to practice their hobby and come back to chat enthusiastically about it for hours on end! Being on a boat, there is no escape; you have to endure the chat regardless. This does not sound like a vacation and is far more like a hostage situation.

Being land based is ideal; you can still dive some great spots, while your non-diving partner can do other things. More importantly, having fun on vacation is not just about doing something but also about meeting people. Being land based gives your partners a chance to meet other holidaymakers who are interested in things other than diving. So if you have a non-diving partner, the land is your friend!

Ideally shore diving

Not all land-based dive destinations are the same. Some are predominantly shore diving, while others are all about day boat diving. Remember, your partner does not want to be stuck on a day boat all day, nor do they want to wave you off every morning at 7:30 a.m. and wait for you to return to the hotel around 5:00 p.m. That sounds almost like a normal working day and no fun at all!

You are on vacation together and expect to have demands on each other’s time. Choosing a predominantly shore diving destination, where you can do one dive and then return to your partner, spend time, have lunch, and such before heading off for the second dive, is the ideal balance.

Choosing the Right Destination is Key

While choosing a land-based destination is important, sadly, not all land-based destinations were created equally! Some land-based destinations have plenty to offer, from great diving, history, restaurants, sightseeing, and much more. On the other hand, other destinations have very little to offer outside of world-class diving and a beach if that. Some remote volcanic destinations don't even have a sandy beach, just rocks!)

Imagine heading over to Cozumel and Cancun as a non-diver or even the Southeast coast of Florida. There are lots of things to do, from restaurants and excursions to theme parks in some cases. A non-diver can have a great time there while their partner is off exploring the underwater world.

Contrast that with some of the world's best and most remote diving locations, like Micronesia or French Polynesia. True, the diving is world-class, but unless your partner is happy to sit on the beach reading a book all day, they will be very bored and probably unhappy after a few days of doing little else. Remember always to choose a destination that blends diving and other activities!

Equal Effort and Budget

Ensuring fairness on vacation is key to a happy holiday. Diving can be expensive, especially if you are going to be doing a few days of it over a week. If most of the vacation budget is spent on one person's hobbies, that is a surefire way to build up resentment. It is always worthwhile that both partners are getting their "money's worth" from the vacation.

Try and ensure that for every dollar spent on diving, a dollar is spent on something the non-diving partner wants to do. The worst possible thing a diver can ever say is:

"Sorry, we can't afford that. We spent all the money on diving."

Doing so is a recipe for an unhappy holiday. As a team, try and ensure fairness when it comes to budgeting money and time on vacation. Ensure things are fair and split equally. Since this is two people's holiday, not just a diving vacation.

Take an interest and Join in

The key to keeping your partner happy on vacation is when you are doing something they like, take an interest and join in. Nobody likes doing something accompanied by an unwilling participant. If your whole vibe and body language scream, I would rather be somewhere else, your partner will pick up on it.

Doing something on vacation with your partner should be a fun activity. The only way to make that happen as a diver is to take a genuine interest and commit to the activity. Turning up to make up the numbers and be present in body but not mind will not lead to a happy holiday.

Finally, when you are having fun with your partner doing a non-diving activity, the last thing your non-diving partner wants to hear about is diving! There is no need to keep talking about nudibranchs or whale sharks while you are off exploring some ancient ruins somewhere. It clearly states that you are not present!

Socialize with a Diverse Group

When on vacation, meeting new people and socializing with like-minded individuals is common. However, you may want to purposefully select a group of people with diverse interests to hang out with and socialize with after diving.

For instance, if you take 6 people who have various jobs and interests but share a passion for scuba, it is almost guaranteed that the conversation will almost always be about scuba since that is one of their main shared interests. If you are hanging around with like-minded divers, it will invariably mean that your non-diving partner will be subjected to much more diving talk than they prefer or want.

To avoid the above, always try a mix with a varied group of people who are not all divers. This way, the conversation should not always gravitate back to scuba, and the non-diving partner will also have a range of people to chat and socialize with.

Travel Separately

Sometimes no matter what, it is not possible to make things work, especially if two people have a very diverse set of interests. If things are still not running smoothly after two or three attempts, it may be best to travel separately. A couple could share one vacation that does not involve diving. At the same time, dedicated divers can then go by themselves on a dedicated diving vacation. This option opens up the opportunities to go on a liveaboard or spend more time diving.

Final Thoughts

If you are a passionate diver, but your partner isn’t, it doesn’t need to be the end of the world. There are many couples where one person is a diver and the other is not, however, they manage to go on vacation and have a great time without any significant problems. Although planning your next mixed diving non-diving break takes a little more time, care, and attention, it will be worth it!