• Welcome to the DeeperBlue.com Forums, the largest online community dedicated to Freediving, Scuba Diving and Spearfishing. To gain full access to the DeeperBlue.com Forums you must register for a free account. As a registered member you will be able to:

    • Join over 44,280+ fellow diving enthusiasts from around the world on this forum
    • Participate in and browse from over 516,210+ posts.
    • Communicate privately with other divers from around the world.
    • Post your own photos or view from 7,441+ user submitted images.
    • All this and much more...

    You can gain access to all this absolutely free when you register for an account, so sign up today!

What is your weakest link?

Thread Status: Hello , There was no answer in this thread for more than 60 days.
It can take a long time to get an up-to-date response or contact with relevant users.

What's holding you back?

  • Inadequate gear

    Votes: 4 4.5%
  • Equalization problems

    Votes: 27 30.3%
  • Oxygen (breath hold)

    Votes: 28 31.5%
  • Fear / Nerves

    Votes: 13 14.6%
  • What's the point? All the fish are at 50 ft.

    Votes: 3 3.4%
  • Other

    Votes: 14 15.7%

  • Total voters
    89
I agree. It is the feeling of gliding around effortlessly in the water that is great. I am not that big on water animals, and to me they are all fish more or less, just of different sizes and colors.

When you just sink to the bottom and lay there, looking around, enjoying the feeling of relaxation, that is what I like the most.

If I can take some cool pictures with my camera, then that is a bonus!

Erik
 
I agree and disagree at the same time.. I want to dive deep, well deep for me, but I also wan't to see things under there, it makes a huge difference. I dont like diving at places where the wiz is 0 at -15m and then on just cold and dark... and diving in places where the bottom is at -15m... :head
I love watching beatiful fish and marine life in general.. but as said before it is my motivation for diving. :p

SAfe diving what ever your motivation
 
  • Like
Reactions: Erik
I'm tottaly with you on that Pekka.

I mean the visual part is about 95% for me. Seeing porpoises, or fish and feeling like beeing a part of the sea. Instead of just beeing a human in water.

That's what the freediving is to me, I try too mimic a seal or a porpoise (poorly) in order to be a part of the world down there.

But how cool it is to hear other people's way of beeing in the sea
 
  • Like
Reactions: Erik
I definitely think the same way. Maybe I was just born into the wrong species...;) But anyway, problem solved by starting on freediving! If only I had gills... Running out of oxigen is, obviously, my weakest link!

regards Joe
 
  • Like
Reactions: Erik
For me currently the bottom (25m) is stopping me from going deeper. To answer the original question.

In the Netherlands I freedive for the feeling / sometimes performance. There's hardly anything to see but mud. Especially below 15m the light is switched off and you'll need a small torch to see anything.

On holidays however I freedive to see something. I can still see the sandy bottom & small fish in Malta, the Dolphins & seals in New Zealand and the coral, shark and colourful fish in Australia when I close my eyes.

I just like being in the water, the conditions determine what I'll be doing.
 
Jvoets- please tell us about the dolphin and seals in New Zealand. were you able to interact with them at all?
Jim
 
A lot of interaction.

On our first trip back in 1999 we went on a swim with the dolphins tour in the bay of islands (North Island), that wasn't a good one. Only 3 bottlenoses for 50 swimmers. The took off pretty fast (3 minutes or so) which is exactly what I would do if I were a dolphin.

Second time, much better!!!
In kaikoura on the South Island we booked a trip (book ahead, they're full for the next 3 weeks in high season) to swim with the Dusky dolphins. Small group of 12 people. The guides tell you to entertain the dolphins, cause that's the only way they keep interested in you and thus staying around.
1) sing a song through your snorkel
2) make eye contact
3) swim around in circles
4) make duck dives
or all above combined

that really worked. I spent 45 minutes playing with them
Good thing I brought my own fins (usually not provided), the even invited me for a game of pass-the-kelp
one dolphin will get a piece of kelp from the bottom and hold it with a fin or his mouth. After swimming around a bit he'll let go and another one picks it up. I was allowed to have my turn in their game.

Last trip Kaikoura had bad weather, so we went to Akaroa. There you have the Hector dolphins. Same thing. If you act funny they'll come around and check you out. Here we also spent almost an hour in the water. Was bad viz though only a meter. Hectors are much smaller and they keep their distance a little more than the dusky dolphins.

This last trip we also went swimming with the Seals in Abel Tasman national park and in Kaikoura
There's a place called Tonga Island in Abel Tasman that has a small colony. They weren't really interested in us. Occasionally one checks you out and then disappears again doing his own stuff. In Kaikoura we had an overcast sky, the seals didn't get warm enough to need to go in the water so most of them were sticking to their spot on the rocks.

On a scuba dive later on 2 seals were much more interested. They'll sneak up from behind and come have look at those clumsy bubblemakers.

Jim, are you planning a trip to New Zealand?
 
I would love to go to NZ. A friend of mine swam with the dolphins and she loved it. Its a really long trip from the states, though.
Jim
 
Swimming with dolphins is a definite #4 on my list of things to do. But I would like to swim with porpoises even more, because they are really shy, so to get that honour one would have to be very zen.
 
#1 Obtaining complete peace of mind

#2 Rowing across the sea between Norway and Denmark

#3 Getting the dynamic record in my country

#5,6,7.....brag about #2 & #3 untill retirement
:D
 
Back to the question- what's holding me back? Same as Bill said earlier... that weakest link for me is the stuff between my ears. Funny, my ex Mother in Law thought the same thing... :hmm


sven
 
Belive it or not, wisdom comes in curious shapes...;)

Adrian

By the way, how are your sinuses? I commiserate Sven, I've been limping for a month now with a lower back sprain :(

Life keeps on being bliss...where did I leave it? Under the bed? (sounds of someone searching as pillows, sheets, blankets, dried lizards, and other sundry items fly all over the place) :D

Adrian
 
  • Like
Reactions: icarus pacific
Hey Adrian! Yeah well the Mother in Law didn't have the shape but her daughter sure did! ;) And then came the kids... :head

The sinuses are much better after having a camera/scope snaked up there to see what was going on. Now theres something you don't want to have to do! :crutch After much poking and proding, the verdict came out fine, albeit a tad laden with snot. And after all was said and done, they gave me some Claritan for an onset of middle aged hay fever and said have a beauty. I'm golden.:cool: Now if the water and my schedule and finances would all line up, things would be darn near OK. Thanks for asking and good luck on that bliss thing. It sounds much like my search for some serenity.


sven
 
Last edited:
Sven's Sinuses

Holy cow! I was only joking with that Neti Reamer thing. Now it seems you may have actually taken my advice (a bad idea, in general).
 
Fear has held me back, along with the fact that my buddy can not go as deep as I. The fear started when I reached about 90 ft
and started to sink down a wall in Cozumel. I did not realize this
would happen. As for the stuff to see at 30 feet people, yesterday
I scared a three foot nurse shark that had been hiding in kelp at about 30 feet. So I see what you are saying.
 
hi

At the moment with diving, Lung capacity is holding me back big time :(

cheers
 
Lung squeeze is stopping me going deeper. In a practice dive in the Sony Freediver comp I got blood being coughed up and a pain in the chest.

I rested for a day and did the dive anyway but I must either pack a little more, stretch a little more or just get to be a bit more flexible.

Probably all three.
 
DeeperBlue.com - The Worlds Largest Community Dedicated To Freediving, Scuba Diving and Spearfishing

ABOUT US

ISSN 1469-865X | Copyright © 1996 - 2024 deeperblue.net limited.

DeeperBlue.com is the World's Largest Community dedicated to Freediving, Scuba Diving, Ocean Advocacy and Diving Travel.

We've been dedicated to bringing you the freshest news, features and discussions from around the underwater world since 1996.

ADVERT