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#1
May 29th, 2004
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I don't know much about freediving from a technical side and I know even less about SCUBA. I taught myself to freedive at Blue Springs in Orange City, FL and have been diving there for years, never going past 60ft. I found some info on the web about a place called Blue Grotto Springs and am thinking of going there. They advertise something called an "air bell" at 30ft depth, sounds to be intended for SCUBA divers, but none of these springs ever mention freedivers anyways - only SCUBA and snorkel as far as they're concerned. What exactly is the air bell? Has anyone been to BG or a place with a similar bell? Is it what is sounds like, some huge inverted dome full of air? Would it be safe to freedive down into it and come up for air? Obviously if you did breathe that air, you'd have to re-ascend slowly and exhale the whole way... even I with my limited technical knowledge know about decompression syndrome or whatever it's called - I'm pretty sure it's *possible* to ascend 30ft with with pressurized air in (leaving) your lungs, if you do it right, but I'm not sure if it's something that's wise to go out and do 20 times in a day for recreation.
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#2
May 29th, 2004
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We have wrecks here which have air pockets in them (left over bubbles from scuba divers). I have breathed in such air pockets while freediving, and then done 'free ascents' slowly exhaling the air. I don't recommend it. There are many dangers, including nitrogen accumulation (leading to DCS), as well as embolism.
Although I figured out how to exhale as I ascended, if you screw up you're dead (a real danger the first few times). Then, even worse, after many such dives I ascended once and 'forgot' I had extra air to exhale. Suddenly my lungs felt like they were going to explode and I suddenly realized I needed to exhale, .... Eric Fattah BC, Canada
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#3
May 29th, 2004
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Air pockets underwater mean that it is trapped air. This air may not always be of a healthy breathing quality, ask the cave explorers or even cave divers and you might hear unpleasant stories about that, even people dying.
 You can never be sure trapped air is safe to breathe unless you analyze it at that moment. It is not only the oxygen content that can be wrong but there can be all kinds of unwanted substances in unhealthy concentrations in that air.   Together with the things Eric said about it it can be a nasty thing to breathe during freediving. Many advise against the use of "spare air" bottles during freediving because of potential dangers but at least that air is clean and has a known oxygen content.  I must admit that the idea sounds very cool, especially if there are many air pockets in swimming distance of each other you could explore a whole cave with, but I think I will skip the experience and live a healthy life tomorrow.  
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#4
May 29th, 2004
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Thanks for the replies guys. Both of you expressed the main danger being that the air would be dirty (the other danger being the possibility of what I call "pilot error" - making a mistake on your procedure).
Check out this page about Blue Grotto. http://underwaterflorida.homestead.com/grotto.html They call it a "fresh air bell" and specifically say you can breathe in it. I've also read that is has a "bubbler" which I'm guessing keeps that air supply fresh, because if it wasn't continuously replenished, it wouldn't stay clean for long with people "surfacing" in there and breathing. I'm still not planning on using this anytime soon, but was wondering if it was doable. But I am thinking about doing it sometime, maybe after receiving SCUBA training and some practiced "exhale ascents" over progressively longer distances. I'd also probably want to go with another experienced free diver who's done it. I'm sure there are freedivers that go to Blue Grotto and do this. That's why I was curious if anyone knew this particular spring.
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#5
May 29th, 2004
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A "fresh air bell" you can breathe in still can mean many things.
To give an example just considering O2: As a healthy person you can breathe air with oxygen contents between 14% and 100% at sea level quite normally for quite some time. Certainly considering extreme circumstances it could be considered fresh air. At 10 meters depth or at the about 2 bar air pressure in the air bell as low as 8% oxygen might, considering the circumstances, possibly still be perceived as fresh air. When freediving however, you might suddenly notice a big difference between normal air with 21% O2 and higher or lower O2. Low O2 concentrations might give you a big blackout on the way up to the surface and high O2 gives other problems. This is just talking O2 and there is much more to it. When freediving you do extreme things with the air you breathe and carry in your lungs so you should set much higher standards then others to what you consider as "normal fresh air". Be careful and take care with such general terms when doing things like freediving.
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#6
May 29th, 2004
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There is no way I would breath in an "air bell": I don't want to explode my lungs. I would only do so in an emergency.
__________________
I want to be the best I can be
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#7
May 29th, 2004
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on the wrecks.
If the air in this pockets comes in to contact with the iron hull of the wreck, chances are this "air pocket" has very low or ZERO oxygen content (oxygen gets used up in oxydizing the metal it came in to contact with). Also chances are this air has been in someone's lungs before it got there, which doesn't bod well for the oxygen content eather.
__________________
I have seen things, you people wouldn't believe. Attack ships on fire of the shoulder of Orion. I watched c-beams glitter in the dark, near the Tannhäuser gate. All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in the rain..." - Blade Runner Movie
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#8
June 3rd, 2004
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"long fins"?
I've already admitted I'm a self-trained non-educated freediver. I use $20 "US Diver" fins from Wal-Mart. Do serious freedivers use really long fins or something? And no worries, I have no intention of doing anything that would risk freedivers' access to springs. I was actually thinking about going to BG and DD this weekend, I'd never been to either of them. That's very disappointing.  How do they define freediving? Are you allowed to snorkel on the surface and dive down 20 ft? Not really looking for answers here, just bitching...
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#9
January 18th, 2006
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#10
January 18th, 2006
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Second part is really not in contention, considering the emergency technique of mouth to mouth resusitation... 
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#11
January 18th, 2006
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Re: "air bell"?
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#12
January 18th, 2006
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__________________
When I let go of who I am, I become what I might be "If I get contractions at 400 metres underwater, and the Klingons submersible appears, and Spock's dad swims by, am I Aquaman?" - Erik
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#13
January 24th, 2006
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Freediving to the air bell at Blue grotto is certainly possible, but not real wise, as it's about 15 feet back under solid rock at the 30 foot depth level. (No direct access to the surface.) See the diagram attached below.http://www.divebluegrotto.com/
I teach scuba classes there when the weather is bad, and I always wear long freediving fins. After making my class dives, I freedive for a while. It's 40 feet deep in the open basin area. Devils Den is harder (creepy) to freedive in because of the limited light in the air cavern. It's really hard to see where the surface begins when you are ascending. http://www.devilsden.com/ There is really no reason to mess around with compressed air ascents while freediving. Get scuba certified first, and after that if you still feel like you have to try it, (the novelty will likely be gone by then), do it from your tank, in very shallow water. Attached are two photos looking up at Devil's Den, and one of my "freedive equipped" scuba students from Blue Grotto this year. Chad
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c. 727-423-7775 Freediving, scuba & spearfishing instruction www.floridaskindiver.com Last edited by Chad Carney; January 24th, 2006 at 17:12.
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#14
January 24th, 2006
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 Be careful, Erik Y.
__________________
"Live your own life, for you will die your own death" Roman proverb... http://www.beyondselfnow.com/
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#15
January 24th, 2006
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