Courses in SoFla??

[Gambit7]

Okay, I've been thumbing around here and google, etc. looking for freedive training, and of course all I've been able to find is performancefreediving.

I like their operation and all, but quite frankly they dont offer enough courses in one location throughout the year.

My question is this: where the heck can one take a good free diving course without having to book a damned plane ticket and hotel?? It's kinda ridiculous to me there arent yet established schools in every metro area along the US Coastlines.

Can anyone point me in the right direction? I remember back in the day Pipin had a course in Key Largo but it was like 1500 bucks and you had to stay in "camp" for a week.

 

[ggarrett]

http://www.performancefreediving.com/courses/upcoming.html

 

[Gambit7]

I've seen that, just a bit surprised at the fact there's ONE COURSE every 2 months.. and only from one company.
One should be able to take such a course on his own time, not on the instructors'.

Perhaps there's a niche market in there somewhere... need more FD instructors I guess.

 

[Cliff Etzel]

Ricardo Hernandez is teaching out of Miami and is doing well with it. He takes a low profile approach to it - and is one heck of a nice person to boot... PM me if you want specifics...

 

[jimqpublic]

Gambit7-

I'm sort of in the same boat as you but on the other coast. I just posted in another thread about the fact that I can do scuba dive training from a dozen or more companies any week of the year, but the only regularly scheduled freedive classes in North America are from PFI, take just 12 people at a time, and have a total capacity of about 100 students per year.

[ame="http://forums.deeperblue.net/showpost.php?p=596500&postcount=13"]http://forums.deeperblue.net/showpost.php?p=596500&postcount=13[/ame]

I did see Ricardo Hernandez' web site and it looks like he would be good to both show you freedive techniques as well as guide you to some of the good local attractions.

There may be more training available- but anymore in my mind if it isn't on the web it doesn't exist.

Jim

 

[Cliff Etzel]

Ricardo is a good friend and has been in the freediving scene a very long time - for someone who is almost 60, he is in excellent shape and teaches courses throughout the Carribean (He just finished one in Puerto Rico last month) - I am sure if you looked him up, he could give you an assessment of what he has to offer and whether it would meet your needs or not.

 

[trux]

On the West Coast you can try contacting the Solomons. They have a base camp in Baja California (Mexico). According to this page they do courses all year long, though I see only one (past) date listed on the website right now - I'd suggest contacting them.

 

[smellsfishy]

Gambit7,

It's simply a question of supply and demand. There aren't near as many freedivers as there are scuba divers. Therefore there aren't as many courses. Performance freediving is the gold standard. Book the course and go when it's available.

Good Luck !