Freediving: First impressions

Today I write from South Tenerife, in the Canary Islands.

We've been freediving for the past three days (yesterday morning at Tabaiba's "El Puerto"). I believe much of what we're learning will stick with me for the rest of my life.

Freediving is a highly technical sport. You can do it to explore the seabed, spearfish, or—as professional freedivers do—to go as deep as you can. (The depth world record is over 300 meters and the time world record over 24 minutes.)

Here are a few facts I've learned so far.

• You always need a buddy to look at you whenever you go down, and neither of you can go deeper than the other can (otherwise, you wouldn't be able to help each other).
• You wear a belt with lead weights (and long fins) to go down quickly. (I carry 4 kilos.)
• You have to equalize the pressure in your middle ear every meter you go down. Not when your ears hurt, but before. Every meter.
• Every muscle uses oxygen, so you have to relax your entire body and only use your legs to move (with your legs straight, not "cycling").
• There's an effective technique to prevent your goggles from fogging (which I'll share in a separate post).

For the first two days, I went 6.5-meters deep. Yesterday, I went around 18-meters deep.

I wonder what would happen if we were to learn as many technical details about other sports—think of running—as we're learning about freediving. I probably do many things wrong when running—say, how I move my legs, how I breathe, or how I stretch when I finish.

It's been an incredible experience so far, and we still have four more days to go. I like the breathing, concentration, and relaxation techniques required by this sport and its meditative aspects.

I hope to share more with you in the coming weeks.