Two Person Hammock

My personal two person hammock story starts on a wonderful Bahamas cruise ... balmy winds, gentle seas, wonderful sun, blue skies, fluffy cumulous clouds, and ... disaster.

My wife and I left St. Lauderdale on a lovely cruise ship (lots of food!), sailed down to Key West, and then over through the Bahamas. Our cruise line owned it's own island there, and we spent an afternoon frolicking on the beach ... followed by laying down in a 2-person hammock.

Now, both of us getting onto the hammock was a challenge in the first place. But, eventually, we managed to wiggle, scoot, and get ourselves positioned just right. Awe, peace.

Taking a relaxing breath, my wife was just commenting on how lovely it all was when ...

THUMP!

We were both flat on our backs on the hard ground, hammock and all, with the wind knocked out of both of us.

Seems our trusty two person hammock had been exposed to the sun a little too long, and the ropes tying it to the palm trees broke.

But it sure was nice before it broke. (The crowd of cruise ship guests walking by got a good laugh out of it though!)

So, the first lesson when looking at two person hammocks is to check weight limits. If the two intended "hammockers" are on the large size (my wife and I weren't, by the way), you want to pay particular attention to this.

There are some other things to watch out for as well:

• How will you use your two-person hammock? There are styles for camping, for the beach, for permanent mounting, for inside and outside, etc.
• What accessories are available? Do you mosquito netting? A sun screen? A rain guard?
• What material do you want? Fabric? Cotton? Meshed string? Nylon? Will your 2-person hammock get wet?
• How will you mount your 2 person hammock? Wherever you can? Between trees? In a hammock stand?
• As mentioned above, what is the maximum weight limit?
• If your kids are going to use it, are there any dangerous design issues (like, could a small child fall through the mess and choke?)

These are just some of the issues to think about when evaluating two-person hammocks.

It's not really known when the first double hammock evolved ... it is believed single hammocks were first created in the Caribbean, moving their way slowly throughout South America. Hammocks were a popular sailor's berth, taking up little room and offering cooler bedding than the traditional moldy, musty bedding used previously. Today, most South American homes have at least one hammock readily available. Somewhere in its evolution, a double or triple hammock was introduced ... hopefully not in the hold of some pirate ship.

Bottom line, a hammock is truly one of life's joys ... and life is even better when shared with a loved one in a two person hammock.