FREE DIVING IN ROATAN, HONDURAS

Before I get to the freediving stuff, here's a photo I took of Mt Rainier last week on my way back from Portland via Seattle. I had met my sister in Portland to visit my 94 and 96 year old Aunts. I really hope I have their genes. I also saw two first cousins, as well as my 96 year old Aunt's great grand and great great grand children. Plus, I added a day on each side to see Judge Ted, an old Iowa State Rugby friend, and Rog, a classmate from high school. It was a great trip. We're currently in Milwaukee visiting daughter Grace, will spend tomorrow night in Chicago with Patti and Brian before leaving for Guatemala via Honduras EARLY Wednesday morning.

Scuba diving has really never interested me a lot. The training, equipment and preparation all just seem like too much of a hassle, especially when I really enjoy the accessibility, simplicity and experience of snorkeling. However, I really would like to be able to stay under water longer. Holding my breath two plus minutes would be great. That would make snorkeling more fun and working below the waterline of the boat much easier. 

So, I stopped by the Roatan Freediving School and Training Center to see about lessons. I signed up for their introductory course. The course involved an hour of classroom time learning breathing, breath holding and ear clearing techniques, as well as signing waivers, along with an open water session. That night I practiced the techniques I was taught and the next morning we did the open water.  

Luckily for me, it was less than two weeks before Roatan was to host the Caribbean Cup Freediving Championships. As a matter of fact, Roatan just finished hosting the 2019 World Championships. Anyway, because it was so close to the Caribbean Cup some of the competitors were already in Roatan to train. So when we did my open water, my instructor and I were able to ride to the dive site with six of the competitors and two safety divers.

The first thing we did was boat from West End to West Bay where the diving platform was moored. Then we towed it out to the dive site, the same site that would be used in both the Caribbean Cup and World Championships.

Once at the site, which is in 700 to 800 feet of water, they attached the platform to a permanent submerged mooring. Then they lowered the weighted line, which the divers would follow, to 100 meters.

The safety divers had oxygen ready just in case...

I think five of the six divers did some form of meditation before their dives. Though they do need to hold their breath two to three minutes, as well as keep their ears clear, which is a constant challenge, the sport still seems to be very much a mind thing. Ironically, the best diver by far that day didn't seem to prepare at all. He just jumped in the water, took a few breaths and went down to 100 meters and back. The other divers were in the 70-80 meter range, but again, they were just practicing. I took the following photos while in the water with a Go-Pro camera.

The two safety divers are giving this freediver some instructions just before she descends.

There are several different disciplines in freediving, including with bi-fins, with mono-fins, without fins, with weights and various combinations. This diver is without fins, pulling herself down using the rope, which she is clipped to. That's a safety diver's fin in the foreground.

Once they're at 30 meters the air in their lungs becomes so compressed that they don't float any longer and actually begin to free fall. NO THANKS!

They then disappear for a minute or so. The safety divers keep track of how long they're down and if it's too long, they'll freedive after them. On top of that, two of the divers said they saw a hammerhead shark around the 70 meter depth. DOUBLE NO THANKS!

The safety divers meet the ascending diver at that 30 meter point and then escort them to the surface.

In order for a dive to count, the competitor must answer some a list of questions once they're at the surface. I guess this discourages them from pushing themselves too far, as if dying isn't motivation enough. Actually many of the world's best freedivers have died while practicing or competing.

This mono-fin was used by a competitor from Japan.

  

This is my instructor showing me how to pull myself down to the measly 10 meters my line was set at. On my first dive I made it down no problem, but after that my ears wouldn't let me go deeper than 10-12 feet. I tried and tried to equalize my ears, but no luck. 

Though it was a very cool experience, I have no interest in freediving any deeper than four feet while working on the boat or 10-15 feet while snorkeling. And there are plenty of You Tube videos and websites that show you how to hold your breath longer. However just like learning Spanish, working out, doing boat projects, etc. I need to "find" the "time".