Inhaling and exhaling slowly and deeply, I concentrate hard on the instructions I’ve been given. Long, deep breath in, snorkel out, pinch nose, duck dive down.
My fins flap inelegantly above the surface for a moment. Almost at once the fins are forgotten, as a new worry takes over – the pressure on my ears. Pinch and blow. Nothing. Pinch and blow again. Swallow. Still nothing. The bottom in a long way away. My chest is getting tight. Pinch and blow. My ears hurt – and I need to breathe.
I surface, spluttering. Immediately, my instructor Toni, signals to me to start recovery breathing. Maximum depth achieved: 11 feet.
I’m on a freediving course – but I am clearly no Tanya Streeter. I am not about to give up, however. The images and films of freedivers gliding effortlessly through the deep blue have captivated me for years and I want a chance to experience the absolute serenity they seem to enjoy. With Divetech now offering SSI certification courses in freediving, I had to give it a go.
There is a purity to freediving that scuba diving does not share. There is no cumbersome, heavy gear to set up and strap on one’s back, no complex dive tables to abide by and none of the rasping Darth Vader sound effects of people breathing underwater. It is, quite simply, free of all that: it’s just you, one breath and the silence of the ocean. (Plus a mask and some fins, of course.)
There are few, if any, more graceful examples of human beings than professional freedivers in action. Their slow, deliberate movements seem to have an effect on the marine life too, and without the sounds of scuba, freedivers are able to enjoy some truly close encounters of the underwater kind.
Whereas scuba diving has used technology to overcome our physical limitations in the underwater world, freediving taps into our innate human abilities in order to enjoy the ocean depths in the most natural way.
Whether it’s an evolutionary throwback dating back millions of years to when we first made our way out of the sea and onto dry land is not clear, but humans, it seems, are on some level designed to freedive. The Mammalian Dive Reflex, Toni explains, although particularly pronounced in aquatic mammals, such as dolphins, whales and seals occurs in all mammals.
This reflex is triggered when the face comes into contact with cold water: the heart beat slows right down and blood stops circulating to the extremities, eventually becoming concentrated in the heart and brain, all of which has the effect of prolonging the time one can survive without breathing.
We test the theory out in the classroom, by strapping on a heart monitor and plunging our faces into bowls of cold water (the reflex is stronger in colder water). Within seconds the heart rate drops from around 80 to around 40 beats per minute. In the case of professional freedivers who stay under water for several minutes at a time, their heart rate can slow to an incredible 10 beats per minute.
But we are mere fledglings in this sport, so we start out with basic skills such as duck diving, swimming horizontally underwater and practicing “breathing up” in preparation for a breath hold.
It’s on day two of the course that we start making vertical descents. We have to reach a minimum of 33 feet and a maximum of 66 feet in order to pass. It sounds reasonable enough – until I try it. One problem is that I evidently have rather pathetic lungs that struggle to manage more than a minute without breathing. The other is that I can’t seem to equalise my ears when making a head first descent – hence an unremarkable 11 feet on my first attempt.
Some people have a natural ability for freediving and take to it quickly, others not so much, but Toni keeps encouraging us, and we keep practicing, increasing our depth a little with each dive.
The ability to equalise in a head down position does not improve, however. I try descending feet first, but with long bladed fins creating significant water resistance, it quickly becomes apparent that this is not the most hydrodynamic or energy efficient approach. In the end, the fins come off completely and I pull myself down the line feet first.
It’s somewhat unorthodox, but it gets the job done. One of the safety drills to be practiced at this depth involves removing one’s mask and swimming to the surface. And for a moment, there I am: 30-odd feet below the surface, no mask, no fins, no nothing. It’s just me and the sea. For a few seconds, it feels incredible: there is sense of complete peace, of being part of the watery world around me. And just as quickly, the desire to breathe gets the better of me and I am kicking my way back up to the surface.
Once we’ve completed our skills, we have some time to play around. When not struggling to reach a target depth the whole experience changes. I relax and enjoy just hanging in mid-water, at whatever depth feels comfortable. It is only then that I begin to appreciate how fluid and unrestricted one’s movements are when freediving and how, without even trying, you achieve perfect neutral buoyancy.
Now to work on the lung capacity.
“Practice and all is coming” a wise man once said. It’s a wisdom that could apply to any skill, and our instructor assures us that with practice we can improve on our breath hold time quickly.
When you live surrounded by clear, warm water it’s not exactly a hardship to dive in and practice.
For information on Free Diving courses call Divetech on 946-5658. A resident special course will run on 9 and 10 June at a reduced price of $210, instead of $240.
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