I think I'm a Free Dive addict

[saffikeagan]

So I've logged 27 scuba dives, 2 freedives (under tutelage), have booked a liveaboard for November, and all I can concentrate on is "Will I get opportunities to free dive?!?!?!??!!!!!! I REALLY want to freedive!" Any advice? LOL

---------- Post added May 1st, 2015 at 10:30 PM ----------

I will also admit to diving down to the bottom of and olympic deep end pool after returning home from the trip on which I did the freediving, only to flip around, expect to recreate the wonderful feeling of floating to the top with nothing but blue and bubbles as company, only to find myself still on the bottom of the pool Huge disappointment!

 

[Ouvea]

This depends on what you want to accomplish during your vacation. However, I do not see Scuba and Free diving as mutually exclusive activities. If I find myself in 20-30 feet of clear water, I won't hesitate to dump the scuba gear. I have clear line of site to the bottom and can easily and safely reach those depths. Yes, you can scuba diving with freediving fins. I find that they make me feet heavy but I can compensate for this by shifting ballast on my rig. One thing to consider though, if you don't equalize properly during freediving, you risk barotrauma to your ears. This will put an end to your freediving and scuba diving very quickly.

Travelling with freediving fins is a completely different matter. I haven't found any sturdy bags that are long enough to carry freediving fins. My big Subgear freedive bag has made it through several trips so far. Might consider a Sport Tube to provide better protection.

If you want to a freediving vacation, consider taking a Peformance Freediving Inc, advanced course in Kona, Hawaii. You might also consider taking the course from Ted Harty in Florida. I don't know if there is empirical evidence to support the suggestion, but you should not freedive after scuba diving, because of your nitrogen loading and possible micro bubble formation in your tissues.

 

[Phantom Menace]

As Ouvea says - don't freedive after SCUBA diving.

Travelling with freedive fins can be tricky - although I now have a bag long enough.

Personally I don't need "line of sight" to the bottom to encourage me to freedive although that is because I have pretty much fully evolved from SCUBA to free diver now. If you are even slightly interested in freediving find a local club and get involved. My freediving went ahead in leaps and bounds when I joined a club - which took me from 25m dives to 40m+ now (with the good safety protocols and buddies). That way you will learn and progress in a safer environment.

 

[danvolker]

I travel with my freedive fins (big DiveR fins) in a large suitcase with clothes...packed diagonally...works great. Wife does the same with her freedive fins. So what that some dive gear is with clothes????
Also, I have always freedived between recreational dives when the vis is too awesome to NOT want to jump back in....this since around 1976....Never had even the tiniest hint of DCS....
To me, the issue on the safety of freediving on scuba trips is related to :

• You need to be a cyclist, so that you have maximal perfusion and optimal conditioning of the primary muscles used in fin swimming....If the muscles don't really get worked, due to the relative ease of fin swimming versus cycling, then there will be no issues with constrictions from overworked muscles that could cause DCS. Running works the wrong muscle groups for this.
• Its highly genetic.....more important to choose your parents well than almost anything else you do....genetically, some people can "almost" ignore the standard dive tables.
• You have to determine how good of an "off-gasser" you actually are....How quickly you can get rid of bubbling after a dive where you are way beyond traditional NDL and without a deco stop beyond the safety stop or slow ascent. Best experimented with when you have an O 2 bottle handy if things don't go the way you had hoped for....and you are fine with hanging at 20 feet on pure O2 for some time if you feel some discomfort. If you are one of those people that have to be taught everything--the OPPOSITE of an Adventurer...and if you think any injury you could get will be someone else's fault--then this freediving and scuba idea is NOT for you....and really, Golf would be better for you than scuba as well