Tell me about your freediving experiences!

[sportyluis]

I recently got back from Curacao where I loved the diving and also the snorkeling when I wasn't diving. I love getting close to the fish (into underwater photography) so on the days I didn't dive I'd go down 5-8 feet and photograph fish on the reef. I really enjoyed it and now I'm considering learning to free dive.

The reason I want to learn to free dive is to safely get down to about 20 - 30 feet and maybe hold my breath a little longer. I'm not looking to break any records or go too deep. I really want to be safe when doing this. If I need to go deeper or spend more time than 90 seconds I'd prefer to just dive the site. I'm not a fantastic swimmer although I'm comfortable in water (knowing I'm not fantastic in water is super helpful in being careful and watching my limits!)

I'm curious to hear some stories of what got you into freediving, what do you enjoy most about it and if it's replaced your scuba diving or just something you do in addition to scuba?

Thanks in advance!

 

[BoltSnap]

I'm curious to hear some stories of what got you into freediving, what do you enjoy most about it and if it's replaced your scuba diving or just something you do in addition to scuba?

I started freediving in late 60's/early 70's but did it extensively for Spearfishing to survive during the war. We ran out of gas for cars and electricity to run compressors so we had to go freediving to spearfish to survive in 2011. Still do it on occasions when we can't fill tanks because of electricity issues and to get fish to sell for cash.

 

[Nick Steele]

I grew up freediving in the 15-40ft range (no intention to go deeper) way before I started scuba diving. I still enjoy freediving as it is much easier to get close to the wildlife and slightly cheaper alternative and gives more time to explore (opinion here). I have laid on bottom within two feet of some animals that won’t even stay near while on scuba. I can hold my breath for about 2 min without exerting myself too much. I usually go out by myself and will limit my time to 45-60 seconds. I have swam with a manta ray for 10 minutes or so and have also watch a eel and grouper hunting side by side.

I one day might get into spearishing but at least for now rod and reel fishing supply’s me with all the fish I need freediving is limited to lobsters for now.

 

[aquacat8]

I love freediving but my breath hold times are not long at all, maybe due to smoking as a teen? Eventually I would like to take a class in it. I learned with the abalone divers in Northern California, but they were way better at it than I was. Free diving in very shallow water with good visibility and fish would probably be my favorite kind of diving, even over scuba diving. I just love the freedom.

 

[Fibonacci]

I started free diving in the early 1970's when I was about 14, spearfishing the pristine reefs near my parent's holiday house on the far south coast of NSW. Loved the freedom, seeing the underwater world with such simplicity and lack of cost... with a bonus of some good fish and occasional crayfish.
A friend gave me a SCUBA tryout dive in a shallow cove (galvanised steel 72, pull rod J valve, Kawasaki unbalanced reg, no gauges, no BC) and I was hooked!
Dived all over the world since, but I still enjoy freediving for the same reasons that first appealed to me...

 

[Graeme Fraser]

I enjoy 'informal' freediving and occasionally toyed with the idea of getting some proper training, but at 52 I'm starting to think maybe that ship has sailed.

You'd be surprised how long you can breath hold with just a bit of practice. I've managed an armchair static apnoea of 4 minutes with just a little practice. I think I could have gone longer but my wife came into the room and thought I was having a stroke!

However, as with diving, there are significant risks, including shallow water blackout, so proper training and support for anything more than fun skin diving is definitely advisable.

Our local training quary has a freediving club and I'm always jealous of the guys getting on the van with just fins, mask and belt when I'm lugging a mountain of gear.

 

[aquacat8]

Yeah but they ain’t getting no 45 min dive!

 

[Sam Miller III]

I began as a "goggler" (for lack of a better name) several years later acquired a Sea Net mask from California, a pair of Churchills from Abacombre & Fitch (Fitch?) in NYC and made my snorkel . I became a some thing with no name, no books, no magazines, no organizations and no self appointed experts to tell me I was doing it all wrong

Discovered the art and science of spear fishing and determined to eliminate every fish that swam in the water. Made my own custom guns from a variety of modified items, settled on The Bottom Scratcher until 40 years ago I began producing my own shooten Irons.

For all you tree hugging late model tub sucking bubble blowers don't be alarmed, this all occurred prior to the bubble machine and certainly prior to your birth , and probably before your parents birth and maybe before your grand parents were born.

It was a simpler time with probably simpler people in the diving world

I now still free dive and shoot fish at 60 feet - I lay in 50 foot of water with my 5 foot spear, point it down and pull the trigger - hoping I will impale some thing on the way down..

Spear fishing --true spear fishing -- with out the bubble machine is a wonderful activity- I miss it but relive adventures via the great free divers who regularly post .

Cheers from California - where it all began

Sam Miller, III

 

[dcvf2]

Hi everyone first of all,

Sorry for poor english, my mother language is French from Belgium (Wallonia the south part of Belgium)…

Belgium you know, it’s the small country "stuck" between : France, Germany, Netherlands and in front of the United Kingdom... ;-)



@ « sportyluis »

So I'll tell you !

I began « non formal freediving », in 1965 near « Genova Italia » after having carefully read a good book about the « Plongée sous-marine ».

The Mediterranean sea is our first destination, to be able to see something under the water. There is nothing to see in the north sea… near the beach.

I spend nearly 35 period of holidays of in Mediterranean sea ( Italia (Liguria, , Sardegna) Spain (Costa Brava, Balleares (Mallorca, Ibiza, Menorca), Canarias), Turkey.)…and I discover the red sea in 2002…were I went 20 times… afterward 6 times in the Maldives and 2 times in Indonesia ( Raja Ampat).

I got a "Scuba diving Level 1" in November 1979. I had 2 accidents , but not because of the non-respect of the rules or by recklessness.

At the "professional diving center" in Falmouth Corwall UK, without having discovered the reason for my second accident, the doctor of the center toll me : "the scuba diving is over for you" .

I had spent 45 hours 30 minutes in the decompression chamber of this center
Four years later, I discovered the reason for my two diving accidents ... It was because of a too high absorption of drugs containing "ephedrine".
Then I stopped my formation for scuba level 2.

Concerning the freediving.
I started apnea in club in 2003…at the Lifras (Belgian league)…I got the « S3 apnea level » in 2004.
I started at "Apnea Academy" (the Pelizzari 's Academy) and got the "Level 1* " in 2011.
I got the "SSI Freediving Level 2* " in 2014, to get permission to dive into the pit of "Nemo 33", the deepest in this time before the creation of "Y40" in Italy.
Since 2013, I have been with AIDA , ... where I got the "Level 3* " in 2015.
But nowadays at 76,5 year « young » , the « AIDA 4 *» will be to difficult for me…the imposed minimum depth is 32 m…( It was 24m for the level 3* ).
In pure apnea my « small performance » are (were) : Static 4 min 15 s, Dynamic 80 m, Depth 24 m.
I’m still following the AIDA training (in swim pool no any more in quarry)…to try to stay in good security for filming the underwater wildlife.
I'm not at all interested by the competition.
In October 2018, near El Quseir in the Red Sea, I went to 21 m (with my camera fixed on a wing)… just to see.

For my physical condition with my « race bike » I « climbed » the « Mont Ventoux…1909 m in septembre 2018 ;-) => Mont Ventoux - Wikipedia


Concerning underwater photo and video
I began to take pictures with a « Rico marine » +/- in the years ’70 ...and after with a « Calipso Nikor » till 2007, and I switched to the video with a Sony mini DV, films edited with MovieMaker from Window Vista.
In 2010 I began to edit with « iMovie » on « MacBook Pro » and since 2015 I filme with a Sony HDR-AS50.

I had the chance to approach and photograph and / or film:
- Sharks : white tip reef S., black tip S., leopard (or zebra) S., nurse S., whale S.
- Rays : manta R., sported aigle R., common eagle R.,cowtail stingray, bluespotted ribbontail R., porcupine R., honeycomb stingray, Halavi's guitarfish, panther torpedo R.,
- dugongs, sailfish, turtles ( green T., and hawksbill T., barracudas (several species), moray eels (several species), banded snake eel, spotted snake eel, dolphins ( 2 species), spiny lobster, and the wide variety of the « reefs fauna ».

I’ve a lot of videos on Vimeo (not in HD with my first Sony) and Youtube in (HD since 2015)

If you want to see « Raja Ampat », the richest place in fauna and corals…in free diving of course, please follow this link (
Don’t forget to select the resolution 1080p
(Sorry my comments are in French)
=> Video in free diving

And the last video episode from october 2018, in the red sea near El Quseir ( in the Marsa Alam area)

Episode 5 (Zerib Kebir) =>
If you have any questions don't hesitate, I’ will answer with pleasure.
Cheers from Wallonia ...Belgium
dcvf2