Diving at freedive depth

[WeRtheOcean]

I watch a lot of YouTube videos about snorkeling and freediving, and I have noticed that in several of them, the snorkeler will dive down to a group of scuba divers. Trying to understand how that works, my best guess is that those scuba divers are not going for depth, but for duration -- that is, the snorkeler can only accompany them for a few moments before having to surface, whereas the scuba divers, although at a depth that a snorkeler can easily reach, can stay down.

Is this a common thing? Do you often do shallow dives like this? How often do you encounter snorkelers or freedivers while you are underwater.

 

[Bob DBF]

While freediving at a couple of sites, I have run into scuba divers at 40' as they were proceeding to deeper water. They were surprised, to say the least. Where I dive it doesn't happen very often. It depends on how long one can hold their breath, and where in the freedive, one runs into the scuba divers determines how long one can stay togather.

 

[svs]

I agree with Bob. Very occasionally. While there are shallow 20-40 feet sites, e.g. Florida keys which accommodate both divers and snorkelers, most snorkelers just flopping on a surface.

 

[TMHeimer]

You might see A snorkeler here in late August.... My dives are usually shore sites to 20-30+ feet. This is where I'm comfortable diving solo (glorified snorkeling I call it, where a CESA up is easy). It is also very inexpensive and I may find a decent shell.

 

[tursiops]

my best guess is that those scuba divers are not going for depth, but for duration

It's not uncommon for scuba divers to measure the cost of a dive in terms of $/hour, not $/ft. there is more light and often more life in the shallower waters...20-40 ft.

Is this a common thing? Do you often do shallow dives like this? How often do you encounter snorkelers or freedivers while you are underwater.

Free divers are not common where I tend to dive.
But I remember once on the Big island of Hawaii (Kona Aggressor) that I was finning along at depth, and the ship's cook swam by me, free-diving, and waved.

 

[boulderjohn]

There are many dives that are done at depths that can be reached by people with minimal freediving skills. There are freedivers with the ability to go past the deepest NDL divers.

My buddy and I were returning to the boat on a liveaboard, and we saw one of the divers from our boat looking at some coral. He nodded to us and then swam off to view some other coral It took a while for us to realize he was not on scuba.

 

[boulderjohn]

When divers are diving in shallow areas easily reached by snorkelers, many will descent to the divers and indicate that they want a breath off of a regulator. That request needs to be denied.

 

[Belzelbub]

Is this a common thing? Do you often do shallow dives like this? How often do you encounter snorkelers or freedivers while you are underwater.

It really depends. Some freedivers are able to go to some impressive depths. So just because you see Scuba divers and freedivers in the same video does not necessarily mean that it’s shallow.

That said, Scuba diving is not always about depth. It’s about spending time underwater. There are several places that are popular dive attractions that aren’t very deep. Blue Heron Bridge is one that comes to mind.

Also, several locations in the Keys are accessible by snorkelers, but also used by Scuba divers. Looe Key Reef is fairly shallow. I usually leave the tanks on the boat for Looe, but I do see Scuba divers out there as well.

 

[WeRtheOcean]

That request needs to be denied.

Is it because of decompression issues?

 

[Cthippo]

Is it because of decompression issues?

Because freedivers may not understand the need to constantly exhale as they ascend, and hence can get barotrauma from expanding gas as they ascend.