Apneista Freedive Class

"Relax.... Take a slow deep breath in... Fill your lungs with fresh air. Exhale slowwwwly. Cleanse your body of all that CO2.....One more slow big breath in , and hold it. Push your tongue forward and grab your snorkel out of your mouth. Pinch your nose, equalize, and hold snorkel out in front of you like superman. Make two kicks and use the momentum to duck dive below the surface. Tuck your head, kick down, and enjoy the dive"

Well thats how youre at least supposed to think about it in your head before you make a freedive. If it was only that easy. 

Greg and I had quite the time taking the 2 day freediving course here in Amed.  We took the class at a charming little freediving school and organic yoga cafe named Apneista, located right in the heart of this quaint little village. Its a perfect spot to learn the sport of freediving.

Greg has been freediving for a few years, and I have only been out snorkeling with Roy a couple of times so although we had different levels of skill, we both had a lot to learn from this class.

Day one began with freediving fundamentals and theory taught by our instructor, Matt from Ireland. We learned the mental and physiological components of apnea (holding your breath) and diving below the surface. 

We continued with yoga and a series of stretches that are specifically useful to freedivers and then broke for lunch. We enjoyed a wonderful organic green papaya salad and waited for our meal to digest before we entered the water. 

That afternoon we swam out over the coral reef and the instructors set up a buoy and a weighted line stretching down into the depths. Here's where we put theory into practice. All my fears of holding my breath and submerging below the water got the best of me and I had a difficult time relaxing enough to dive down the line. After much patience on our instructors part, I slowly (extremely slowly) built up enough confidence to start again.  Day one was a trying endeavor for me but at the end I was able to make a free immersion dive (pulling myself down the rope) to 4.5 meters (15ft). Greg had no mental blocks and successfully reached 20 meters on multiple dives. 

While Greg and I took the class during the day, Roy was off exploring the local reefs and hunting for dinner. He managed to spear a few nice fish including a 44lb Giant Trevaley, 33 lb Barracuda, and a couple small snapper. He gave some of it away and made some local friends who invited us over for dinner later this week, and gave the rest to the restaurant where we are staying. In exchange for one of the whole fish, they cooked us up a delicious snapper curry  that we ate over a bowl of rice. As Roy always say's nothing beats his favorite food, free food!

  

Day two of the class began with a whole new mindset. I was more relaxed and focused on accomplishing my goal of grabbing the tennis ball placed at the bottom of the line around 8 meters deep and feeling more comfortable underwater. 

The same as before, we began with covering more theory, focusing on safety. We stretched, and spent a couple hours in the water practicing our new skills. I learned how to duck dive (bending at the waist and efficiently diving straight down) and made a few successful dives to 8 meters feeling a bit more comfortable each time. Greg did great and also reached a personal best with an impressive 80ft dive!

After lunch Roy joined us with his underwater camera and followed us out to take some photos. I felt nauseous and queezy in the water so i was limited to just a few dives but it was enough to reach my goal of hitting 10 meters (33ft)! If you don't believe me, Roy has it on video to prove it! 

I swam in early to rest while the rest of the group finished with some safety protocol and dives. 

At the end we were all thrilled with our accomplishments in the water, and so happy with all we have learned. Big thanks to Matt, Kelly, and the rest of the staff at Apneista. Without their coaching skills and patience, I would have never left the surface. We hope to return some day to freedive with them again and end the day with "ginger tea, popcorn, and smiles"!