I saw the movie aged 13, I fell in love with Jean Marc Barr and 15 years later I finally did something about it and took up freediving.

These days most of my freedive news goes up on my club site, SaltFree Divers but before that - I wrote everything here. It strikes me that all the experiences I went through as a newbie, including my amazement at first discovering the sport and the trials and tribulations of the first few competitions are worth leaving up for you to read about.... so it is all still here. If you want up to date news on my freediving, you'd do better to browse SaltFree Divers.


The original extreme sport, freediving is simply any diving where you spend time underwater without an air source. Holding your breath as you descend into the blue, or even just float sleepily on the surface with your face in the water and your eyes closed. It is undoubtedly my new passion and beats scuba and even rebreathers hands down for the silent descent into the watery universe, chilled out side of diving.


But really it's just a childish mermaid fantasy.....
N.B Please don't try this without an experienced instructor or buddy. Visit SaltFree Divers. to get dates and details of Freedive Courses.

I wrote the stuff below the minute I got home from my first ever try at freediving in summer 2001. It captures so much of the buzz I felt that day that I have left it up on here in the hope it will encourage you to try too. I went on to get picked for the UK Women's freedive team for 2002 and as Captain for the UK in 2004, so things came a long way pretty quickly. For the full story of my freediving progress have a look at the freedive diary from the link at the bottom of the page....

I blame my friend Sue, at a recent charity auction here in Hurghada she got a bit drunk and bid for almost everything, including a day's freedive training with Egyptian team captain Yehia Safwat.
We began with a chat about the basics and lesson one, playing dead face down in the pool (also known as Static Apnea!). My previous experience of this kind of freediving was aged 5 with my brother in the bath, one went under while the other counted and you weren't allowed up til he reached one hundred. Things were slightly calmer and just as well.... the stressed out life of Red Sea dive staff meant we had to spend a good amount of time relaxing before attempting our first breath hold. Floating on our backs at the surface, one by one, we took turns to be lulled into a soft state of oblivion by the combination of warm sunshine, the arms of a hunky man and the odd soothing word.... breathing deeply to the very base of our spines until finally feeling ready to turn over. With a final long breath in we were asked to lift a finger as a sign we were ready before gently rolling over into the face down position. Hypnotised by the sunshine fluttering on the base of the pool or later sleepily eyes closed, we were both amazed by how long we could spend without breathing. All the time our instructor was watching carefully, occasionly asking for a prearranged ok signal and swiftly scooping you back up to fresh air if it wasn't given immediately. We both managed over 2 and a half minutes, not bad for a first go.

One hour spent freediving erases a week's worries - Terry Maas

We then moved onto dynamic apnea, also known as swimming around underwater, more relaxing, stretching and finally the open ocean. Both feeling a little underdressed without scuba gear, we made our way with just mask, snorkel, fins and weight belt out to a line that dropped into the deep, deep blue I have been dreaming about for 15 years, would Jean Marc be at the bottom? Now there was motivation... A little in awe of the pros training with us, Yehia from Team Egypt, Belgian team member Patrick Musimu and Carlo of unknown origin, we tried hard to look cool and not giggle at the funny fins, nose clips and hint of "I'm half dolphin half man" attitude that was in the air.
We began with empty lung dives, with a full or near full exhalation before descent down the line and already I was starting to feel the thrill of being at last free of the heavy, cumbersome scuba gear that makes my back ache and my credit card boil every day of my life. We then moved on to the real thing, breathing preparation horizontal on the surface before descending down, down, down, equalizing the ears all the way until the moment came to make the decision to head back up to reality. It would have been all too easy to keep going. I found myself feeling truly at one with the ocean dropping down, down, down then turning to find one of the others on the way down to "spot" me on the way back up. Coming back up you need to keep it slow, calm, finning smoothly, stay near the line and be ready to fight the cramps that urge you to breathe. With Yehia signalling to look at him and not up to the surface the journey felt never ending but peaceful until finally I broke the surface and could breathe again. Even then the breath wasn't urgent or gasping but calm, peaceful, deep breath. So much so that I even forgot to look at my computer to see how deep it had been... but the others were waiting so we looked and by the end of the afternoon I had reached 22m... Not bad for a first day but the other guys are doing 30, 40 even 60 at times so there is room for practice. Sue amazed everyone by staying under for longer than anyone present could join her for but with a bad cold was unable to equalise and didn't get below 8m, giving us an excellent excuse to go back and try again.
I will never mock them again. What these guys do is truly exceptional, the combination of preparation, total relaxation and physical and mental control required to reach incredible depths is awe-inspiring. Exploring the full aquatic potential of the human body and entering the ocean as one of her own lets us enjoy the pure beauty and silence of the deep in a way that is simply not possible with scuba gear. An experience that takes your breath away (and you want it to!)
Thanks to Yehia, Patrick and the guys for this incredible introduction and Sue and I hope to see you again soon.

And since then?

Well things are getting better... well yes you guessed it, it pretty much took over my life. Check out the freedive diary link below for more... see you down there, safely. Sam xx

"slowly shut your eyelids
feel all overcome
something's working beautifully
something's this much fun"

from "breath" by David Bridie

If you want to come and train in the UK - come and dive with saltFree

Thoughts/poems/words about freediving

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