Ever since I can remember I’ve always been drawn to the sea - cliff diving, fishing, wind surfing, water skiing - all sports, as long as water was involved. The one sport I really enjoyed most of all was snorkelling, but more being under the water than on top, freediving. Freediving is breath-hold diving, being under the water whilst holding one’s breath with only a set of flippers and a mask…
I was very lucky as a child. We had an apartment in Ibiza and at every opportunity would spend time over there. This would give me the chance to go freediving in a relatively mild sea, the Mediterranean. It’s like nothing else in the world - you have the ability to stay underwater on one breath of air, and so enjoy the silence, peacefulness and beauty. For me there is nothing better or more relaxing than being underwater and freediving.
Ibiza was a good place to start, and it taught me the basics, but it was nothing like I experienced when I did my first scuba dive at seven years old in the Red Sea near Taba (Southeast Sinai). This was back in 1981, when Taba was still part of Israel. It was not until 1982 that Israel gave that part of the Sinai back to Egypt, which is now a massive holiday location, Sharm el Sheik. Back then this area was untouched coral reef with very few visitors, and I was hooked. This was my favourite place to be.
My cousin lived in Tel Aviv and as a teenager we would go and visit her often. I would always get an open return flight, so I could leave the family, travel down to Eilat, cross the border and enter the Sinai. This was the later 80s early 90s, therefore no hotels, just Bedouin encampments. It was amazing; the Bedouin are one of the most friendly, welcoming people I have met, they would let you stay with them and provide food for mere pennies a day and this gave me access to the Red Sea where I could freedive all day.
Taba Reef - ©johnwalker1 - stock.adobe.com
Relaxation is the key to freediving. Deep, slow, calm breaths help lower your heart rate so your body will conserve oxygen. Every tense muscle uses heaps of oxygen and energy. I started to get good at freediving when I learnt these techniques - meditation was key. Taking slow long breaths, being able to breathe out all your thoughts and breathe in nothingness, until you get to a place where you have no thoughts in your mind at all. They say meditation like this for only 20 minutes is the equivalent of four hours’ sleep. Worth trying if you’re tired and having a very stressful day!
One of the most magical experiences I’ve had happened on one of my trips in the Sinai. We crossed the border as usual at Taba, where we would haggle with the Egyptian taxi driver to take us to our destination, usually Dahab. They drove the old Peugeot cars and would fit seven people in, so you would pay your fare, but then they would wait until they had enough people to fill the car. On one occasion we teamed up with five Dutch people. They had heard about a fisherman who had apparently rescued a dolphin from his nets, and that during the day the dolphin would stay near the fisherman in the bay, joining his pod in the evening and overnight. This was an opportunity to swim with a wild dolphin, and the bay was only a small detour off our journey. A welcome break when you are in a taxi for six hours driving through the Sinai desert in temperatures reaching fifty degrees centigrade!
When we arrived at this small hut by the bay, we haggled with the fishermen. One needs to understand, in Egypt you have to haggle for everything - it’s the culture - if you just offered to pay the first price they gave, they probably would not sell to you. More often than not you also have to sit down and drink the customary seven cups of coffee or four cups of tea, so as not to offend, but that’s a different story. After we had paid our 20p (or 1 Egyptian pound), we entered the water, not quite knowing what to expect.
As soon as we started to swim out, there it was, a Common bottlenose dolphin, weighing in at over 1000 pounds and roughly 3.5 meters in size, quite a sight to see. It was awe-inspiring - the dolphin was circling, and the group I was with were following it. You could see it was going just fast enough for them to keep up but not catch up. I wanted a closer encounter, and as a strong freediver had an idea. I dived down below the dolphin to about 20 meters, and waited for it to approach me on one of its circles. When it came close I slowly ascended and was able to swim next to it, being able to touch and connect with a wild dolphin, look into its eyes and feel its kindness - they only have one facial expression and it’s a permanent smile. It seemed to like most when I tickled under its chin, and I felt a real connection which to this date, twenty five years on, has changed and inspired me. The warmth, kindness, and love which seems to radiate from a creature like this is amazing. It’s hard to find the words to describe the connection you feel when you have an experience like this - spiritual.
Over the years I dived with many creatures in many places: turtles in the Pacific off Hawaii, schools of barracuda in the Red Sea, conger eels in the Mediterranean, at shark nets in the Indian Ocean near Durban, and in the Atlantic Ocean off the Canary Islands. In all the time I’ve spent in the sea, I’ve never felt afraid. For me it has a healing feeling, a place of meditation and a place where we can be at one with nature. It hurts me and I feel sad, that we as a species can be so intelligent and hold ourselves in high esteem, and yet do so much damage to the oceans. I’ve never seen an octopus throw litter or a jellyfish pollute, yet we look down on these creatures as inferior. Really, who is the inferior species - the ones who pollute and destroy, or the ones who are able to live in harmony with their environment?
If anyone would like ideas, or to chat about places to go, please catch me when I’m down in Redhill or send me a email. Remember, freediving is for everyone! You don’t need to be an athlete to enjoy freediving. The sport is more about relaxation, mind-set, and technique, than it is strength. Appreciate every minute of it, and happy diving!
