COURSE STRUCTURE

Knowledge Development

Learn how your body accommodates the increased pressure at depth and how you can prepare mentally and physically for freediving. You will learn about the physics and physiology of freediving. You will learn what specialized gear freedivers use and how gear can improve your ability to dive deeper and stay down longer.

Confined Water

You will learn breathing techniques used to improve your lung capacity. You will practice stretches that will help you manage the stress of the water pressure. You will learn how to assist your dive buddy in the unlikely even of shallow water blackout.

Open Water

You will put everything you learned together to practice actual freediving, where you will hit a minimum depth of 33 feet / 10 meters!

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Why should I take a freediving class?

While the concept may seem simple, freediving is a complex sport that requires preparation to be enjoyed safely. During the freediving classes, you will learn how to extend your breath hold ability and improve your positioning to increase the depths you can reach and the time you can spend at depth. What do you do when you get down there? That's up to you! Some of the awesome things our freedivers do include taking photographs and video, spearfishing, grabbing lobster, and just improving their fitness!

Is Freediving dangerous?

Freediving does have inherent risks. We spend many hours covering how to dive recreationally to teach you how to dive in the safe manner that thousands of divers, all over the world, use every year.

How intense is Freediving?

You decide how intense you want freediving to be. Some freedivers work up towards competing, while others enjoy shallow dives with their friends!

What about sharks?

We have many native sharks in San Diego, but they're probably not the ones you're thinking of. The sharks we most commonly encounter are small, bottom-feeder sharks that are terrified of us. As a diver, you will learn how much of a challenge it is to find sharks underwater. Thousands of divers share the ocean with sharks every day by being respectful of the ocean and its inhabitants. Shark attacks among divers are incredibly rare, even more rare than among surfers, and usually provoked by the human doing something that defies common sense. Want to learn more about sharks? Take our Shark Ecology Specialty!

Is the water much colder in the winter?

This is a pretty common misconception, but water temperature varies much less drastically than land temperatures in the San Diego area. While there are fluctuations and the winter is usually a little colder, we wear thick wetsuits to keep us comfortable year-round.

I have a particular health condition that I am concerned about. Can I Freedive?

There are many conditions that may be affected by freediving and the best course of action is to check with your physician. If you would like to check whether you are medically fit to dive, have your physician complete this form.

Will this help me improve my breath-hold and underwater swims?

Absolutely! A large portion of the class is learning techniques to increase the amount of air you take in and managing that air effectively to extend your time underwater.

How old do you have to be to take the Freediving Level 1 Class?

You must be 12 years or older to take the Level 1 Freediving class.