How to freedive in scuba diving site?

[moonshade]

Hi experts,

I am new to freediving and practicing it at nearby diving site for a year (I live in Taiwan).

I am wondering how freediving people go travel for fun diving?
Do they get a ride on a scuba diving boat? or they go with the snorkeling boat?

I am concerning that some scuba diving sites are too dangerous for beginner like me. The current maybe very strong and no local freediving guide to watch out for me (assume that my buddy is as green as I am). If I go with the scuba divers I probably cannot have fun. However If I go with the snorkeling people I might lost some stunning diving site.

So how do you freedive when travel to a scuba diving paradise like Palau, Sipadan? Maybe I should ask how a beginner like me do fun freedive safely at a scuba diving site.

 

[monkeyhatfork]

check out this series of video from palau, seems freedive catered boat

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8iGgQT2tnjI]YouTube - Herbert Nitsch - PALAU 2010 PART I[/ame]

though rare I thing there is more stuff popping up for freediving, or pick a spot with lots of shorediving

 

[shrek]

my experiances with scuba divers and freedivers on the same boat the first difference is usually the timing of dives, some times we want to spend hours at the same site and the divers have blown there air and want to move.
or it's the other way and we want to do six sites for a day and end up waiting for diver to do surface intervils and they usually only do 3
the next difference as you pointed out some dive sites are better tank dived
which ever dive charter you are looking at going with ask the skipper what sort of depth the dive site is this should give you some idea then compare these figures with depths you can comfortably dive to and hang around at (not max depths) and hopefuly you shoul have a good time

 

[Kars]

You and you buddy should do some more technique practice, duckdive and safety. Doing this for 3 - 4 hours will make your technique much better and let your confidence, relaxation, dive times grow. Next is going to the scuba guides and ask for trips to max 15m divesites without current and good vis. They know their dive sites and sure can say or alert you when you can come along and have some space for your needs.

Since you're diving recreational for long hours, have special care for your weights setup. To prevent yourself from getting too tired soon, dive with 'easy full lungs', perhaps even FRC later on. Dive efficiently - slow, relaxed, with minimised smooth movement, good hydrodynamics - without tensing any part unnecessary. Floting on the surface should be like a static, falling down to the floor too, travelling horizontal could be like Kick 'n glide, ascending like a relaxed dance (Watch Umberto's 80m CWT ascend!).

Oh and have your own buoy, whistle, and water bottles, antioxidants to keep your body in good shape.

Have fun!

 

[moonshade]

Thanks for all the advices, which really helps me a lot.
Especially the safty/rescure stuff advice. I am collecting those now.


We decide to go Palau. I and my buddy are going to have intense pool training before our tour.

Thanks again !

 

[acardet]

We are planning a trip to Palau next year with some scuba diving friends,my wife and I will be freediving if possible.Please let us know how your trip goes.

Fred Cardet

 

[moonshade]

I just come back from Palau. I didn't get to the blue hole and blue corner due to the awful weather that week. However the rock island tour is wonderful if you are a coral reef lover.

My question - scuba or snorkeling tour, has not yet an answer.
It seems that neither scuba nor snorkeling tour are good for freediving.

I chose Sam's tour and on the first day I went to their shop ask for freediving.
They just answered me "NO, we don't do freediving", which means you CANNOT go with the scuba boat and freedive without a guide, despite that I and my wife are well equipped for this trip. We have a hunting buoy with flag and whistles, the boat can spot us pretty easily. So I asked to go snorkeling with scuba boat and they say yes. Pretty strange, isn't it? I guess that's a wording problem. Freediving sounds scaring but snorkeling is good I guess. So we went to a scuba boat trip and they sent a assistant guide to watch us while "snorkeling". We went to the Iro wrek in the morning and light house channel in the afternoon. The wreck was boring to me, because I never liked wrecks, also it's quite deep (over 20m) and the visibility is quite low. The second dive is light house channel. The scuba guide does not allow us to do a drift dive. I don't understand because the current is toward the shore, so it should be safe. I am very disappointed and a little bit angry. They dropped the scuba divers and they saw mantas while we were dropped near the shore and saw nothing.
On that day I decided not to go with scuba boat anymore. On part is the weather. They are not going to blue hole ore blue corner anyway.

I went on with one day kayak and rock island tour for another two days. These are true snorkeling tours and operated in calm waters. The tours are very good but somehow lack depth, literally. We saw very beautiful coral reefs but no big fishes.

One kayak tour guide told me that the best way to do freediving is charter boat diving but it cost 600 USD per day. That's only affordable when you have more than 6 people. Another option is to go with Pleasure Island. Pleasure Island has spearfishing tour as well as freediving tour. I think their tour is more flexible since both the company and boat are rather smaller compared to Sam's.

 

[Kars]

It sounds like the dive operators there are pretty stuck with linear thinking, and fear of the unknown - being sued. 600 USD for a day???? is the inflation so much? I think you could almost buy a boat for that! Maybe talk to some local children, maybe they know some of the fishermen who like to skip a day of fishing and be your guides for a day? Maybe you are even invited to a family meal? That would be cool!

But next time talk things through with boat / dive guides, to avoid disappointments, and if they cannot offer the same as to scuba divers, you can go for a discount.

At the same time I hope you did enjoy the good moments you had together, and don't focus to much how you may have missed out on some occasions. I rarely get to see blue water, only at the pool basically. Having a girlfriend freediving with me in blue waters is already for me a dream come true.

Love, Courage and Water,