Estimated reading time: 9 minutes, 57 seconds

Freediving is also known as breath holds diving or skin diving is a kind of underwater diving activity that depends on holding breath instead of using apparatus or machinery of breathing like scuba gears. Other than breath-holding, there is excellent exposure to high pressure and water, along with the physiological effect. Freediving somehow limits the depths and duration of diving too.

Recreational:

Freediving is way more different than scuba diving and is widely practised all around the globe as a recreational activity. On the other hand, there are a lot of risks while doing free diving, but it can be practised with safe hands to increase the level of skills even at the professional level of freediving. If we compare scuba diving with free diving, we can see the following differences in free diving;

  • It is less expensive
  • Freediving is quiet and does not bother living creature of the water but on the other hand noise of bubbling and breathing in scuba diving is quite loud that can disturb fishes in the water
  • There is more speed and mobility, although for a limited time.
  • Freediving is short surface only, and for deep dives, there is little time because it may cause the taravana or decompression sickness.
  • The greater visibility is in freediving because of the lack of exhaled air bubbles.
  • Professional and skilled free divers can go as deep as they can afford to. In both cases of freediving and scuba diving, the depth limit is upon the willingness to risk acceptance for the person, but scuba diving is also sometimes restricted at the point of certification need to do so,

Freediving opportunity is much more available at freshwater springs along with greater visibility. It is noted in freediving that you can dive in spring caverns with a restricted level of surface diving as compared to the open water diving experience. It is on the other hand. It is quite risky to solve issues underwater before getting hypoxia while free diving as compared to scuba diving. There are also some cases of death in confined cave system free diving like in Florida and eagle’s Nest Cave. For the starters of freedivers, the cave free diving is discouraged for them as a beginner before even getting the necessary training. Before doing the cave diving, there should be at least a good training session before ahead.

Best freediving locations in the world:

Koh Tao (Thailand)

If the person wants to get free diving experience along with vibrant coral reefs, whales and other remarkable marine life then Koh Tao in Thailand in an incredible place to visit. It is located in Thailand at its western shore. The most famous thing about this area is its white sand beaches with rugged cliffs on and relaxing blue water all around. There are more than 25 diving areas there that range from almost 30 meters to 100 meters. It is not wrong to say that Koh Tao is a paradise for free diving. One can have a beautiful site of sunset after having long rounds of freediving there.

Deans Blue Hole (Bahamas)

We can say that this is the most important and most visited location for the free divers. It is present in long island southern part in the Bahamas. It has a depth range of 202 meters to 663 meters and ranked as the world’s second-largest ocean blue hole. There is also an abundance of white sand beaches there, and the crystal blue ocean gives us a relaxing time. This location provides easy access to the surrounding shores and has calm water present all around. This diving location is way more than perfect for the starters of freediving, but many of the competitions regarding free diving was also held there. The sea here allows divers to visit any time in the year and have lovely condition all over the year. Noon days sunrays are the reason for attraction there that come straight in the ocean into the deep blue water and make some shark spotted on the point of the hole there.

Cebu (Philippines)

Freediving in the warm water of tropical area of about 15 to 20 meter and with the visibility level of 50 to 66 feet is fantastic for most of the freedivers. Cebu in the Philippines gives this chance to many of the free divers and much more than that. There are also some sharks and whales. This location seems like paradise for most of the freedivers who want to experience underwater life beautifully.

2 free divers coming up

The Blue Hole (Egypt)

It is located in Dahab and is considered as one of the most important sites for freedivers in Egypt. It is present in the north of Dahab. This is an amazing location to practice the training of freediving there. Many vibrant coral reefs are surrounding all over the water, and free divers can experience marine life species in many numbers along the path. A shallow opening that is also called as the saddle is present at the edge of the blue hole. There are many colourful seabeds, and this site is famous for this, and there is an excellent school of tropical fish too. This site is perfect for the freediving spot. It is a bucket list location for all the freedivers. The sea here allows divers to visit any time in the year and have wonderful condition all over the year. The sea temperature remains typically 20C. Even winter season gives a pleasant atmosphere there this place is hard to beat because of the marine creatures that look beautiful around and the number of coral walls around the water.

The Green Blue Hole (Belize)

This site is one of the few recognizable locations for free diving located in Belize in the western hemisphere. It is also one of the largest diving sites in the world. Its depth is about 124 to almost 406 feet. This site has many unique things that make it different from other diving sites in the world, for example, the number of marine species that make the site more extraordinary for the visitors and many coral formations that surrounds the water.

Roatan Honduras

This location is famous for many free diving spots there. It has warm water with calm texture and has many species of marine water. This location is an attractive place for many athletes who look for the competition of freediving. But you don’t need to be a professional diver or competitive diver to get a chance of freediving in Roatan. The limited depth for many sea divers is offered here because of the number of coral reefs. It gives swimming of all levels to free divers so anyone even the beginners can enjoy their experience here.

2 free divers

What pleasure do we get through freediving?

There are a lot of reasons for people to free dive like, for example, it is a way for them to give food for their families and community like Malaysian and Indonesian Badjao. It can be something new and adventurous for travellers around the globe. It is the source of challenging support for many athletes, which make them excited to go to deeper and deeper oceans to make the national records. Freediving can help a lot in the sense of health issues and also help in our way of living. On the other hand, freediving is very much beneficial for resolving emotional issues.

Relaxing:

The most valuable part of freediving is stress relief and relaxation time. When a free diver dive, he or she is completely relaxed when doing diving and during it and even after the diving which keeps the consumption of oxygen level to low also save the body from many injuries and thus also make our dive to stay for more period. The courses of free diving also techniques for meditation, exercises that include relaxation phenomenon and therefore in the water you experience a separate world free of stress and anxiety. It has also been studied in the year 2013 that those athletes who do free diving have a lower score in becoming emotionally unstable or having stress or any negative factor on health than those who are not athletes. 

Helpful for joints:

Other sports on land are sometimes stressful on your joints; activities in water help in decreasing the joint issues like swelling and movement of joints become free and easy. Because when the hydrostatic pressure is exerted over the body because of the underwater weight.

More flexibility in the body: 

Deep diving help in flexibility to help with taking a longer breath to avoid severe injuries inside the water. In some courses of the freediving, they taught different types of thoracic flexibility stretches especially in some advance level of training, along with minimizing the risk of injury. Many freedivers train yoga too to get a flexible body for the diving hours.

Increase in self-confidence

Confidence is one of the factors that are caused by free diving. Because keeping in your confidence before diving and after diving and especially during the process of diving is very much important for your own safety and protection and also to get a better dive for you. It has been noted in a study that free divers had more level of self-confidence to deal with different strategies and thus can have higher trust in control. Self-confidence is the primary factor that an save the diver from drowning in the water or from getting into more significant troubles.

4 free divers

Safety inside the water: 

Freediving courses make safety as the primary concern and tell everyone how to deal with difficulties even during the session with the partners. They train them properly that what they can do if they will lose the mask or encounter any risk then what will the rescue strategies. Your confidence can help you a lot inside the water because it can help in highlighting the problematic situation before head and you can cope with the risky situation quickly if you know about them before they come in your way. 

Increase in ability to focus:

A major level of focus and concentration is required to get your work and goal done, and in case of freediving, the most important thing is focus to get through it safely and to have a proper enjoyable time. It is very much essential to keep in mind all the factors, including depth of water, relaxing because the sports require focused efforts more than any other field. It takes a lot of courage and determination to dive in the water to play any other game on land. In sports, it is very much essential to stay tuned with the matters of your body. There is not even tiny thing that you can ignore or avoid because ultimately it will cause you trouble.

Increased oxygen efficiency:

Oxygen requirement is more fundamental to our body than the water. Its efficiency is essential in case of freediving to increase the period of diving inside the water. It creates the constant triggering of the reflex of dive inside the body, which helps the body to get available oxygen to use it in a better way. This is the reason that divers who do deep diving have blood composition level same as those people who live at mountains at higher altitude.

Fitness increase:

Diving deeper needs skeletal structure and diaphragm flexibility to assist with taking an even bigger breath and to avoid injuries at depth. Stretches to help body part flexibility are sometimes instructed in intermediate and advanced freediving courses, at the side of full-body stretches before open water sessions to attenuate the danger of injury. Some freedivers conjointly follow yoga to remain in form and work on their flexibility. One of the foremost necessary components of freediving is relaxation. A good, safe dive involves being utterly relaxed before, during, and when a dive.

Better nutrition:

Eating before a night or the day of freediving is very much important factor in what to eat and when to eat. Major meal parts before entering into the water can build free diving troublesome. Dairy farm merchandise will cause enlarged mucous secretion production. People who take free diving seriously also focus on their diet before the head.