Hi! I recently spent 3 weeks on the Sardine Run in South Africa and made this 'short' film. A bit of fun and some insane sightings. Check it out if you are interested! (Skip to 43:50 for the most insane part:) )

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5xZgq95FeVo

Hi,

So I’m about to get my Wave 1 certification in Nusa Penida just recovering from a mild barotrauma (got it checked by a doc) for a few days. I passed all requirements except open water I was short on 2 meters because I pushed my ears the day before.

I’ve looked at what to do after that and most schools only offer training packages for wave 2+, while expecting you to be comfortable with 18-20+ depths by the time you join wave 2 course.

So those with a Wave 1 are in no man’s land.

My question is how would anyone get to that level without actual training in the water. Without a package you’re paying for coaching per session and depending on how many sessions one needs the expenses pile up.

How can I realistically close the gap assuming I get my W1 requirement next week. 12 to 18 or 20 is no easy feat. I’m looking for some advice in that regard

Worth noting that in my group of 4 only one girl barely passed with a 12m depth everyone else got a lap1. Our instructor was clearly a capable diver but I think he had his eye on one of the students and neglected the rest of us 🥴. I told the owner who helped a little but by that time there was only one day left and I’d already messed up my left ear…

Any advice on how to progress after wave 1 is highly appreciated.

This is the monthly thread to ask any questions or discuss ideas you may have about freediving. The aim is to introduce others to new ways of thinking, approaching training or bringing up old basic techniques that still work the best and more.

Check out our FAQ, you might find your answer there or can ask better questions!

Need gear advice?

Many people starting out with freediving come for recommendations on what equipment to purchase.

As we are starting out to introduce regular monthly community threads again, we might add a designated one for purchasing questions and advice. Until then, feel free to comment here(Remember, when asking for purchase advice, please be specific about your needs i.e. water temperature you want to dive in, so that people can help you quicker)

Monthly Community Threads:

1st of the Month Official Discussion Thread

Your feedback on current events in the sub:

We hosted our first ever AMA! Was it advertised enough for you? Did you find it helpful? Would you change anything? Videoconference which will be recorded & posted elsewhere?

Stuff we are planning:

• updating the community banner for r/freediving - we are planning to host a submission-based challenge for members of the sub to represent the sport (details to be announced)
• writing better wiki's for common info on freediving - YOU can contribute!
• new topics for similar events like the AMA we just hosted - please contact the mods for your suggestions

Please consider that events and their organisation require time and effort to make them happen!

~ Freediving Mods (and ModBot)

Whoever has been there, especially instructors. How does it work? Do you get enough time? Is it realistic to teach the depth part of a course? What are the best days/times to go? TIA

Hello!

I will be in Orlando for a work trip at the end of October and would love to get out to Blue Springs State Park on my off day. Would anyone be interested in meeting up to freedive/snorkel on Tuesday Oct 27?

Dear fellow breathless people,

I‘m searching for buddies (and your very best recommendations!) for some fun dives in November, just where ever u might be in Taiwan:)

I‘m cert‘ed ofc and normally freedive cold water with bad visibilities with my buddy and our buoy down to 25 m - so Taiwan will be a pleasant change of things, i‘m sure!

What would you recommend to visit underwater, where to dive at and how/where to find buddies?

Love &lots of CO2 tolerances, see you there!

The only thing that works for me in terms of equalization (or at least, that I know how to do) is opening my jaw like I'm about to yawn and holding it like that all the time while I'm below the surface.

I've tried nose pinching and blowing as well as a few other techniques but I just couldn't get them to work. It just doesn't pop.

Anyway, it works up to a certain depth for me and also it's not consistent. Sometimes it works better and sometimes it hardly does.

What can I do to improve equalization and go past my limit (of about 5 meters, I don't know).

Any tutorial I've watched is very simplistic in nature, saying stuff like "pinch your nose and blow", implying it's not supposed to be that hard that I have to research it.

Any advice for me?

Im new to freediving I finished my first freediving course and been going on dives on the weekends. Diving to 15-20 meters no problem. Last time I went down to 22 meters, my equalization was smooth and felt everything was going well until I reached the surface and did my recovery breaths, I was coughing blood for like 10 minutes. What could have possibly happened?

Hi, I’m 27M looking to get my OW and AOW in tulamben bali in Nov! I’m looking to dive solo but keep hearing its smarter and safer to dive with a buddy! The trip would approximately be 5 days and the remaining 1-2 days would be in city! A bit about me: comfortable in the water (decent swimming background) but zero diving experience so far. Mostly just excited to see the marine life up close and checking out the USAT Liberty wreck. Feel free if you’re interested! I’m down to coordinate.

This cave is on Pescador Island, a tiny Islet located a couple of Miles offshore from Moalboal.

We went there with the operator Preediving Planet.

Th Skull Cave is vertical and has 3 exits: top at -18m, two eyes at -22m and the "mouth" at -27m

It's best to go there in the afternoon, because on the morning it's overcrowded with scuba divers doin their morning "deep dive"

Going to Japan soon for a month and was wondering if anyone here has recommendations for training centers or instructors in those areas. Got SSI level 1 and around 25 sessions in Egypt and Europe.

I found a place that offers an AIDA 2 course, but in the course description it says it consists of 2 theory sessions and 4 pool sessions, without any open water sessions.

This is great news to me because I don't like being in saltwater (there are no fresh water bodies near me), but virtually every other course I looked at includes at least an open water session. So I'm worried that this is a some sort of scam.

Does AIDA officially require an open water session? Or it just needs a body of water deep enough? This facility does have a 30m deep pool.

How do you get back into freediving after a move? I just got to San Luis Obispo california and ive been posting looking for buddies so I can get back in the water but all people ever do is like the post. Noone every actually reaches out. Im kinda at the point of saying f it and grabbing a kayak to go on my own.

Hey all, I’ve got what I guess is an abnormal face and am looking for the right mask for me for both freediving and spearfishing. I’ve visited every dive shop in my area (Austin, TX) but as they’re all scuba focused, low volume masks are few and far between and none of them have properly sealed for me.

Masks I’ve owned and don’t fit: Holis M4, Mako El Bajo, Mako Catalina. I should have logged everything that doesn’t fit when in store but didn’t think about it

The scuba mask that’s perfectly fit me is the Atomic Venom mask but obviously it’s the opposite of low profile.

Anyways, I’m looking for a place to travel to that has the combination of a huge low volume selection and good staff that’s well trained for fitting. Don’t care about price to get the perfect fit.

Any advice about either shops or masks is greatly appreciated! Thanks.

Recently we (beginners) were diving in a lake up to 10m deep. My dive computer (cressi Donatello) shows 23C as min temperature. Surface water temp was about 26C. I somewhat doubt that in about 8m depth, the water was still so warm, it felt quite cold and that's why I didn't want to dive deeper.

I wasn't spending any time down there. How long would my dive computer typically take, to get a somewhat good reading of the water temperature?

Bonus question, how reliable is the Max depth, if you just dive down and turn around immediately? It feels reliable to me.

So my max breath hold is a bit over 4:00, I could definitely do more but I was a bit scared to black out. But the thing is that during a breath hold, my mind just won’t stop thinking about random thoughts over and over again, like I never have a moment of silence. Is it the same for you during a breath hold and is there a way to make it better? Thanks!

I just came back from a "class". I put quotes because it is only 90 minutes and not really for any certifications at all. It's just an instructor and me in a 5m deep pool, basically giving me a feel of what freediving is like. I don't want to sink a lot of money into this just yet.

What I discovered was that I can't use a mask properly.

First, I found the mask to become very foggy after a few minutes. The instructor said this was because I keep exhaling through my nose, which I think I was indeed doing. Is there anything I could practice to improve this? Do you just breathe with my mouth all day long, even on land?

Second, I found water going into the nose pocket of the mask whenever I pinch my nose to equalise (I cannot do frenzel yet so I was doing valsalva, but that is a totally different matter). The instructor said I was also lifting the mask up when I pinch my nose, causing it to leak. I tried to change how I pinch my nose, by pushing it downwards instead, but I end up not sealing the nose completely. Do you have tricks regarding how to do this? Note: the mask isn't leaky by itself - it only leaks when I equalise.

Though I expected equalisation to be a major blocker, I never would have thought I would have these problems with the mask, lol.

I think I have reached the end on my Amazfit TREX3s ability. It has been a great all around smartwatch for the money but I noticed that it has been missing some of my deeper line dives data points and today the buttons just stopped working, even after a factory reset.

I have seen some of the promo videos for the "Mission 3" showing it as a serious depth freedive computer but wanted to see if anyone has used it day in day out line diving.

We live in the Caribbean now so cant just go to the local dive shop and pick one up like in the States. Wife is headed back on a work trip so I will have her pick up something, bet need to have that "something" figured out this week.

9月份去印尼潜水

Hi I'm going to spend the week next week in Lake Tahoe area. And have never free dove the lake. Would love to join somebody or have somebody join me.

Mornings up until late afternoon are available to me Tuesday through Saturday. Thanks! DM me

I'm wanting more of a 1:1 or 1:2 coaching session for aida3/wave2. not sure how to find a teacher that's not in-house... does anyone have any tips?

Hello! I'm 26 yo, and just started to interest in static apnea (not in the water, just laying on my bed and breathholding)

on August 1st i tried max without any training and did 1.50 . then as I also attached the photo 3 trainings and 1 week later managed to reach 2.40.

then I read about trying max regulary is harmful to body or harms the training process and it is suggested to try max in every 2 weeks. Idk is it the case also for beginners?

Anyways I did 6 trainings ( 3 normal 3 hard co2 tables) and tried max and got 3.05 which disappointed me a bit. I was expecting more. Is it totally normal or is there sth that i should fix in my technique?

When I try max, I wake up, go to pee, drink some water and do prep breathing like 4 sec inhale 8 sec exhale for 4-5 mins, then I do final breath fillig my diaphragm up and my belly. I think there is sth wrong about my tongue's position, I cant position it in a relaxed way, I always position it on my upper teeth. Is it a good place?

And my last question, will my progress be slower in each max try, like in how many weeks should I aim to reach 4min ?