seeing underwater

[Mermaid Amanda]

So I am new to all this. I have recently become very obsessed with mermaiding. My tail should be here in a few weeks. However, I want to start training my eyes to open underwater and training to hold my breath so I can freedive. What tips can anyone offer for training for freediving with keeping my eyes open and holding breath?

 

[grantl]

It's a pity you are across the pond as there is a famous manmaid called Steve from Manchester here in the UK.
Steve runs a 'find your inner man/mermaid course'.
He's got the most amazing sequened top and a big mermaid tail. It's a glorious sight.

Sent from my E5823 using Tapatalk

 

[kwtony]

Step 1 : Hold face under water
Step 2 : Open your eyes


Pretty much how i did it...

 

[3joern]

I've heard about the Bajau. The kids are more in water then on land. They train their eyes to see under water.
Or this

 

[growingupninja]

Eye training: keep your eyes open underwater and swim without goggles. In warm water with 150' viz it is pretty nice. Cold murky water not so much. Everybody is pretty much blind when doing underwater shoots, you just see shapes and trust that your scuba safety diver can see you and is paying attention to your hand signals.

That brings me to the second part of 'mermaiding': get your scuba cert. About 99% of the photos you see are done on scuba because if by some absurd chance the model can freedive for real (about 1% of them, maybe another 2% are not great but aren't laughable either), the photographer and crew can't or the producer is terrified of the liability of a freediving shoot, real or imagined. There is a safety diver hanging just off camera with a scuba tank octo feeding the model on demand, and potentially bringing a mask so the model can see the hand signals or drawings as the director/photographer adjusts them between takes... Some of those kids have a like a whopping 20 sec breathhold. If the model actually has a real underwater work time it is much, much better but that is the exception.

The other thing is that maybe 99% of what you see of mermaids are photos instead of videos because if you saw those girls trying to swim in a monofin/tail you would laugh out loud, but they look great in a still photo....

That is my deeperblue rant for the day, weather has sucked and I have been too long out of the water. I have a bunch of mermaid friends and sometimes I coach them. If you want to be a real mermaid, look to the best freedivers and train like that. Swim in the ocean. If you can do 30M drops and have beautiful monofin technique and hold your breath for 5 mins then lounging in a silicone tail with a safety diver feeding you O2 is a sweet paid vacation.

 

[Bill]

"That is my deeperblue rant for the day, weather has sucked and I have been too long out of the water. "

Cheer up Lance. Worst WX is always right after the new moon. The last few days of lobster season can be great.

On the subject, after diving without a mask (a little) for ten years, my vision seems to be getting better. Talked with a few of the mermaids that noticed the same thing. The eye cannot focus but it's connected to a computer capable of amazing things.

 

[growingupninja]

"That is my deeperblue rant for the day, weather has sucked and I have been too long out of the water. "

Cheer up Lance. Worst WX is always right after the new moon. The last few days of lobster season can be great.

On the subject, after diving without a mask (a little) for ten years, my vision seems to be getting better. Talked with a few of the mermaids that noticed the same thing. The eye cannot focus but it's connected to a computer capable of amazing things.

Yeah we should get a little break this weekend, at this point conditions don't even need to good, I am diving as long it isn't blowing a gale.

I still haven't been able adapt to the no mask thing in competition, maybe one of these days. Our water at depth is just too painful. Lena has been doing this thing that she said the French lake divers do where they fill goggles up with surface water so there is a little thermal barrier but I haven't tried it yet.

 

[Saltylake]

I wish I was near the ocean.