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freediving/scuba can do both?

Thread Status: Hello , There was no answer in this thread for more than 60 days.
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gdiver2004

New Member
Feb 13, 2004
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have posted several threads rec. confused, love to scuba but just as crazy about freediving. Newbie, insofar as wanting to improve to max abilty. is this poss. for someone who does both.how sould i train? how often, don,t want to become pro just looking to enjoy both. some commets on scuba less than favorable on site,is this in jest? i enjoy both,and want to continue. am i wasting tine trying to do both?
 
You can absolutely do both, however, if doing both on the same day always freedive first.

Most of the anti bubble blower comments are in jest but many well trained scuba divers find themselves gravitating to freediving exclusively.

This is a great place to begin your journy surf the previous training and techniques forum for great ideas on how to train.
 
absolutely you can do both, I am a PADI Staff Instructor and an AIDA Freedive instructor - do both all the time. My club saltfree thrives on people who do both - we always need our scuba safety team and if people are good enough to swap between the two that is great.

Just be very very aware of the possibility of getting bent. I got bent last year freediving 16 hours after my last scuba dives. Some docs think this was not possible but hey it happened and it was after a full week of deep heavy scuba, most importantly my computer had not cleared. If you are going to freedive after scuba, treat it like flying and don't do it until you have all the nitrogen well clear of your body. This will be at least 12 hours after.

let us know how you get on
Sam
 
You can do both, but I have found that freediving is so addicting that I now only throw on a tank(s) if someone else is writing me a check to do so- as in teaching a class or salvaging something.:D

Jon
 
Please do continou to do both, but indeed beware of the decopression illness, like Sam said.

Freediving enriched my scuba dive experiences immensly, in fact I've become more one with the ocean, consume even less air, see more fish and life, etc.

Some of the minor things about scuba is the bulky equipment, and the slow fins and the noice of the airbubbels, these days mostly of the buddies as I've slowed down may exhale when I stay at the same depth.

Anyway much fun with both!
 
Like the others say, I've found that yes, you can obviously continue to do both. I seem to spend my time 80/20 or 90/10 in favor of freediving, however (although I go through periods of time when I scuba-dive more).

As someone who likes to shoot underwater photography, I've found that each type of diving is suited for different kinds of shots. If the vis is good, all the more reason to freedive and shoot kelp forest scenics. If it's not so good, then a better day to throw a tank on and get macro closeup shots of nudibranchs and whatnot. Although I _have_ shot macro while freediving, I have to say it get a little challenging.

Here's a freedive-gathered shot of a Spanish shawl (chiefly possible because it was in shallow water).
 

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SCUBA FOR FREEDIVERS

How prescient ! The Deeper Blue Editorial Calendar ( ssshhhhh!) has scheduled, not too many weeks from now, a brilliant exposition of this very topic by the indispensable Paul Kotik.



Paul Kotik
Florida, USA
 
You can definitely do both (although I wouldn’t want to freedive just after I had been scuba diving).

I was still scuba diving regularly for a few months after I started freediving. I have however just about given up scuba because freediving is so much more fun in my opinion. I’ll strap on a tank when I need to –to dive with my wife for example or to do support dives for some tech diving mates but I would much rather be without a tank if I can

I kind of wish I had fallen in love with freediving long before I bought all my tech dive gear. What on earth do I do with 8 regulators??:confused:

Ash
 
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I kind of wish I had fallen in love with freediving long before I bought all my tech dive gear. What on earth do I do with 8 regulators??


Sell them off, buy a bunch of fins and join us in the fin-selection thread.;)


Jon
 
Yeah I thought about that but the 2nd hand price for the regs is depressing. It's not just the regs, it's the 3 sets of drysuit underwear, the drysuit, tanks and wings and all the other bits and pieces like Argon bottles and DSMBs etc.

Even though I’ve “given up techdiving”, a little voice keeps telling me to keep all my gear "just in case I get back into it one day". However, another little voice is telling me to sell some of it, contact Jyri and get a set of extra extra stiff Hybrids with about 6 inches added to the blades - but that's another thread:)

Ash
 
baby steps

I started with some of the extraneous stuff and moved on from there.

-Sell off a couple of stage bottle/ regulator set-ups and buy a new digital camera and housing.
-Sell off the HID light and get a wide angle lens.
-Sell the drysuit and get a new custom speargun, monofin, and a dome port.

Eventually, you’ll just work down to the basic stuff that you really need to tank dive with and get rid of the extra stuff to buy more toys that you’ll actually use.

I can now spend a lot of days out on the water freediving compared to what I used to spend in just one day on helium.;) Plus, those extra long hybrids don’t look so expensive once you compare them to something like a Gavin.:)

Jon
 
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