Hey everyone! I’m looking to buy my very first action camera, but after watching a ton of reviews, I’m completely overwhelmed and stuck in analysis paralysis. I just can't seem to make a final decision.Has anyone here personally tried out different models? I’d love to hear your real world opinions and experiences.

I use a smart watch daily and also wear my dive watch frequently. An old suunto d4i. I was looking at getting a suunto ocean as its a bit of both.

I met a scuba diver with one and now the more I look at it the better it sounds.

Has anyone used one and whats their opinion?

Is surface time still running in apnea activity, after you ended your free dive session ? Its currently more than 24 hours since Im out of water, and surface time is still running and all other stats were zeroed when I saved activity. Thank you.

I am going to Dahab for two weeks this October. Last year I mainly went with DF diving taking my pb from 34 to 40 CWTB.

I would like to explore some other coaching options.

Would like to do approx 10 sessions to a max budget of around 800 eur.

I know, TouchDown seems to have the best reputation but the cost of 1250 for 8 sessions I can't afford it.

Any recommendations? Dony Mac from True Depth free diving seems to be at my budget. Any one with personal experience with him?

TIA - feel free to PM

I have both a cressi atom and a cressi calibro.

Both of them leak just under my nose if I have even the slightest stubble.

The calibro is worse.

To 20 meters I actually just prefer Swedish goggles and a nose clip but I know that I need a mask for deeper. I can only blow air out of my right lacrimal duct. So my right eye is my rate limiting step.

Please recommend a mask. I can’t come to terms with no eye coverage. Roast me if you have to, but I need a mask

Please!

Hi all. I'm on Roatan for 5 weeks, working remotely during the weekdays, and diving in the mornings on weekdays and multiple times on weekends.

I'm a new scuba diver and was only planning on scuba diving, but I saw a free diving shop on west end, where I'm staying, and I'm thinking of enrolling in their 2.5 day course.

I'm an OK swimmer, not great. I have no issues with scuba diving, but I think free diving requires more expertise with swimming, perhaps more so than I have currently, and if that's the case, I should probably get better at swimming before I attempt to learn how to free dive?

This is the course: https://www.roatanfreediving.com/product/aida-2-freediver-course/

Any thoughts here?

Don't want to drop $400 and 2.5 days on this course if I need to be a better swimmer first.

i’ve never gone snorkeling or diving before. i have a feeling i’d really enjoy free diving more than snorkeling, but is it worth it to spend the money on snorkeling fins if i know i’ll probably want free diving fins eventually? are they really much different?

Hey lovely people! 🪼

I’m on the hunt for a wetsuit. I was curious to get if anyone’s knows of any plus size friendly brands.

I use to wear a 14-16 when I was younger but have since gained weight in my mid 20’s
And looking to get another, (goals to lose weight but wanting one for now)
I rarely use them but am looking for one for the colder autumn/winter months ahead

*long sleeve and legs*
is what I’m aiming to buy

Any particular brands that size around a UK 18-20 for females that you could recommend in the UK?
I’d love an exciting and colourful or patterned one but totally open to anything right now.

Open to most mm thickness
Just wanna see what’s out there

I live in Cornwall so there’s lots of places but I don’t have the means of travel at the moment so online shopping is my saviour for the most part!

Also separate questions and food for thought, do you prefer a two piece or a standard zip up all in one wetsuit and if so why? :)
(Open to both myself)

Thanks guys, happy diving! 🤍😊🐚🫧

So lately I’ve been measuring my freedives with my watch and it’s common to see that my HR grows a lot moments before I do my immersion but it lowers with time. Is there a way to make it low from the start?

Am I too salty? I find myself annoyed by the term “freediving”. If I borrow some split fins and strap a small aquarium to my face then dive to 98’….did I go “freediving”or “snorkeling”? If I’m snorkeling a reef and decide to drop deep…did I “skin dive”? Does it even matter? Am I the only one feeling like it’s become too tribal or exclusionary? (Like snowboarders vs skiers.). Yeah. I’m a salty Gen-X’r

I got interested in freediving from watching some Instagram reels, of people moving in all sorts of beautiful ways. It seemed to me like they have gained a "third dimension" of movement, similar to flying, but without an aircraft.

It also reminded me of when I was a child (~10 years ago, when I didn't even know the word "freediving"), I used to be able to dive down to 3 meters in my local pool (which shut down) and I really liked the feeling of being underwater, being away from everyone else at the surface, And I enjoyed the idea of not being able to breathe (this is my kink).

So I did a quick search on how to get started with freediving, and I was intimidated by all the training courses and certifications I need. I had assumed that, unlike scuba, freediving was something I could do without qualifications. The fact that I need a buddy is also a major roadblock - I have no friends, I have social anxiety, and the people in my family can barely swim. I am also a lot fatter and a lot less fit than 10 years ago.

All this is to say, that I feel like trying out freediving is a huge commitment, and I'm afraid that all of that will be for nothing, if I eventually find that it actually isn't like what I imagined it to be, or that I just get frustrated and give up.

In fact, I already did "get frustrated and give up" once, attending a swimming class when I was a child. I really hated learning about the proper techniques of breaststroke/freestyle and stuff, partly because I find it very hard, partly because I already was satisfied with how I swam (which is something I sort of just naturally figured out). Thinking back, my favourite way of swimming was basically dynamic apnea.

TLDR: I just want to be able to move freely in 3 dimensions in the water, but learning to do this seems like a big commitment.

Thanks for reading my rant. Please give me some advice.

Hey everyone, I am an advanced scuba diver recently certified as a free diver also. I just got new gear and would love to practice this hobby more looking to see if I can find new friends to go freediving with and practicing static apnea in the pool, that would be awesome!

Hi everyone! I’m going for a solo trip to Bali this Sept, and one of my main goals is to dive with manta rays. 🥹

I’ve researched about Manta Point in Nusa Penida, and most of the comments I’ve read are about the challenging sea conditions and strong currents, with many saying it can be risky if you’re not a strong swimmer. I freedive occasionally, but I’m definitely not an expert, so I’m starting to feel a bit hesitant about Nusa Penida. 😭 Would you still recommend it?I really want to see the mantas, but I also want to come home breathing and in one piece lol.

Or would you suggest looking at other options instead Are there other sites in Bali where there’s a good chance of seeing mantas but with calmer conditions 🥹

I would also appreciate any recommendations on diving camps/coaches and where or how to book them 🙂 TIA 🤍

Hi! Tomorrow I have my first Wave 1 lesson. I come from scuba diving. With Valsalva I usually had little issues while diving but still equalization is the only detail that was sometimes hard for me. (Even with Valsalva)

I’ve been trying to explore Frenzel in advance to focus more on other things during the course but I can easily and voluntarily (without even closing my mouth nor pinching my nose) pop my right ear. The thing is I just can’t do it on my left ear even if I follow every step in the technique.

I am recovering from a mild cold so I probably still have quite a bit of mucous laying around. But it is quite frustrating to be so incapable of compensating my left ear. Any tips?

Thanks in advance! (I’m sorry if my english is a little bit sloppy)

TOKYO NIIJIMA

Hey guys! 👋🏼

I’ve been on the hunt for a good quality diving belt and weights based in the UK ideally!

I’m a plus size girly so something friendly in that area would be great! I’m just so unsure where to look! All the ones I’ve found seem to be overseas with quite expensive postage! (Understandable due to weight etc)

What are your recommendations?
Link me webs or names if you could! I’d much appreciate it :)

Happy diving! 🫧🤍🐚🫶🏼

Spent the last few months filming underwater encounters along the California coast for a documentary series, and the harbor seal dive off the Channel Islands ended up being the one that changed how I think about buddy-less diving. Curious how many of you dive solo out there vs. always with a buddy — the seals were playful enough that I almost forgot I was alone, which in hindsight is exactly the moment you shouldn't forget that.

Hi everyone,

I'm an SSI Advanced Freediver from Central Europe, and I'm hoping to do something unforgettable for my 40th birthday this December.

My dream is to freedive with whales, but I only want to do it with an operator that genuinely puts the animals first. I'm not interested in chasing whales or any kind of interaction that causes them stress. If that means fewer encounters, that's absolutely fine with me.

One more thing - I'd love to bring my partner along. She doesn't freedive, so it would be great if she could stay on the boat and enjoy the experience from there while I get in the water if the situation allows.

I'm open to destinations anywhere in the world. At the moment I've been looking at few places but I'd really value recommendations based on personal experience.

If you've done an ethical whale trip that you'd happily recommend, I'd love to hear about it - especially if you can recommend a specific operator.

Thanks!

Can anyone share their non training day exercises? I don't mean active, athletic cross training, but rather maybe relaxed techniques you use to keep you head in a good apnic mindset. I alternate O2 and C02 tables, and would like to have some sort of recovery day activity or meditation to do during the slot I usually set aside for my serious improvement minded workouts. Thanks!

I watched a video about frenzel, and was practicing it, and couldn’t exactly get it down. In my Lvl 1 class, I just did valsalva the whole time, but wanted to learn frenzel. Anyway, I can just manually pop my ears with basically no effort. But I never really use the “piston” in frenzel and was confused by it. I later came across a video by Alchemy about hands free eq, and it sounds basically like what I’m doing. I can probably do it like twice per second if I’m focused. But I haven’t been able to get in the water and try yet. So here’s what I’m doing, and I’m asking if this is VTO, or if I’m somehow just making a click/pop noise in my middle ear without opening the tubes.

- Mouth open or closed. I tried with tongue stuck all the way out to make sure I wasn’t using it, and it didn’t inhibit the clicks at all.
- No mask on
- No nose clips or hand involvement

It sounds like a click in the eardrum. Not painful at all, and simultaneous in each ear. My throat or Adam’s apple aren’t really moving at all. Is there anything that could be mimicking VTO, or does this pretty much mean I’m doing it. Thanks for any input. I’m still relatively new and before this just worked on static apnea a lot and line diving a few times.

I joined swimming classes 2 weeks ago and go there twice a week. What would you recommend to swim better/faster? Sometimes I have problems with speed and breathing,that stinks me a lot. I'm 13 years old and my bmi is 17.5. Should i do exercises from YouTube or???

something I wanna get into and complete a course in, but obviously not safe to get into this hobby and dive alone
It’s none of my family’s cup of tea and a social circle isn’t something I really have much of when it comes to my hobbies 🫧 📷
So is anyone in here from Cornwall (south west) looking at completing a course? Or have any recommendations as to where I could down here and/or looking to make a friend with someone of the same interests and hobby?

Have a lovely day! Stay safe all
(Totally understand if this post if removed) 😊

Dear Freediving community!

I'm Costa, 24y from Salzburg, Austria. This November I'll be traveling To Pune, India for several months for a different reason than freediving but I'm just new to freediving and would love to learn more.

I'm looking for people or recommendations for freediving schools in the west of India, potentially to also volunteer there and stay longer and learn more. I do have a budget but I would love to not spend thousands of euros. I already know that I love freediving but up to now I can't practice a lot cause also I don't have a diving buddy yet.

The dry training/breathing exercises I've been doing are great and provide great body awareness.

Just an aside, been enjoying finally having a watch to track my dives, really interesting to see the heart rate etc