A Dive Buddy Romance and Notes on How Men and Women are Traveling Differently

My partner and I met on a local boat tour and he convinced me to become a diver. First as his camera 'sherpa', I tagged along on his dive trips often struggling against strong currents or kicking wildly to keep up. Now I've been diving around the world and over the past five years have completed over 120 dives. Taking some decent pictures of my own finally too.

1. We travel differently - He throws clothing into an overly large bag at the last minute. I start planning what I'm going to take weeks before. Gave him a smaller carry on for his clothes for Christmas and it's forcing a change in his packing stye.

2. I never would've imagined spending my dive afternoons in our room processing pictures and writing but following his lead have started doing that. The goal is to rest up for night dives or an afternoon dive but more importantly get home with pictures sorted, deleting poor ones and starring the best for more processing and posting. It makes a huge difference in the re-entry to-do list. Before I'd just stash the pictures and ended up with hard drives full of poor quality images that I couldn't remember taking.

3. Part of my pre-trip planning is getting extra exercise leading up to the trip. Dive trips can be exhausting - in great ways - but I want to arrive ready to play and get home in good shape. I do lots of Flytime Yoga on the way. If we're driving - like a free-dive trip to Fort Bragg, CA for Abalone hunting - I do Drivetime Yoga. (I authored, recorded both) I also stretch regularly at home as part of my exercise routine. My partner does none of this and it worries me. He spent years as a professional sea urchin diver but now running his own company keeps him behind a desk or in meetings. Exercise for him is working in the garden and diving off Point Loma several times a month, year round. So far so good. Different strokes - body types, attitudes... 

We each have to find our own travel style and hope it complements our dive buddies' ways. Exercise and stretching is so important too. Weekend warriors can get injured easily and I've found consistent, daily cardio and yoga works best for me. We'll see how that works out over the years ahead.

I hope those few items will help others.

Written by Elaine J. Masters