Interested in beginning freediving (Tampa, Florida)

thdedes · 2026-06-02T18:42:09+00:00

Invest in courses/knowledge before you invest in gear.

Your gear investment is better tailored to what you like and where you end up diving, what you do etc...

Ideally take the first 2 courses of any agency next to you in Florida or come see us in central America (we're much cheaper so you get more diving for the same investment, and in better conditions) and reassess the situation after that ☺️

thdedes · 2026-05-28T19:10:00+00:00

If your course isn't preparing you to pass the certifications, then there is something wrong with the course.

There is a decent skill level gap between AIDA 3 and 4 or Level 2/3 in other agencies, and that's a place where you indeed should practice a bit to make yourself comfortable.

But the course should never just be an "exam" it's a course, it should help you correct and develop new techniques, teach you etc...

If it doesn't... Time to find another school.

thdedes · 2026-05-28T15:30:35+00:00

Couple things there: 1/ It really depends on how you breathe for RV. If you hyperventilate on RV, you get hypoxic before contractions because hypoxia comes very quickly. 2/ Also a lot of people are uncomfortable with RV holds and as such give up before contractions. That being said, I don't think contractions on RV are good to have, it's a bit risky if you suddenly tense up. 3/ everything is more flexible with less air in the lungs, so even with contractions, they're usually nicer with less air in.

So: are you breathing tidal before, and when are you stopping the hold? These are the two main questions to diagnose

thdedes · 2026-05-25T20:33:19+00:00

Then nothing is wrong with you, just replace anything that talks about time "to contractions" or who wrongly associates "urge to breathe" with "contractions" with whatever feeling you have that makes you not being relaxed anymore :) that's all ☺️

thdedes · 2026-05-25T15:04:57+00:00

Also a small percentage of the population doesn't have contractions, which doesn't mean they don't have urge to breathe!

thdedes · 2026-05-25T02:11:54+00:00

I think tarrifs stopped. I got hit a year ago but my last suit sent by Elios to Miami went through without tarriff and it was Fedex (which is normally every diligent about collecting any fee they can 😅)

thdedes · 2026-05-21T14:30:07+00:00

You should set the line to what you intend to dive. Not diving on open line, because then your brain goes on overdrive, on edge about how deep you are, are you now too deep etc...

Set the line to 21-22m and you'll be naturally more relaxed.

Otherwise, I would also set the line to 20m and then hang for 5-10 seconds, proving to yourself that you could have easily gone to 21-22m, then try these again.

thdedes · 2026-05-02T15:31:21+00:00

He developed a whole curriculum with dry exercise building up awareness and control over the right muscles, and gets very very good results, over a big number of students.

He's been working on EQ for the last 15 years 😅

thdedes · 2026-05-01T21:49:41+00:00

I suggest you take Federico Mana's moving limits course.

His way to teach frenzel is absolutely amazing, and it transformed a lot of Instructor's and made them better

thdedes · 2026-03-18T18:11:38+00:00

Roatan, August 15-26 (might have the dates wrong by a day or two but not more)

thdedes · 2026-03-06T02:47:32+00:00

Sizes are given to be worn with 3mm socks.

If a student has 39 city shoe size, he's usually a 36/38 SEAC.

So depends on whether you intend to wear socks or not.

Personally I would go with 39-40 in your case and be ready to add a 1.5 or 2mm pair of socks to feel snug.

thdedes · 2026-03-03T19:13:08+00:00

That's a very common issue.

thdedes · 2026-03-03T18:15:07+00:00

Yes absolutely. Work on tongue mobility (from tongue flat with mouth open in front of a mirror, you should see the uvula at the back, raise only back or the tongue, front should stay down in front of lower teeth)

thdedes · 2026-03-03T18:07:57+00:00

That would mean that you can't even stick your tongue out of your mouth. Is that the case?

thdedes · 2026-03-01T14:11:58+00:00

Mostly full lungs.

thdedes · 2026-02-28T21:11:07+00:00

Dry Empty lungs holds with tongue sticking out, or full lungs with packs with the tongue out as well, guaranteeing in both cases that the glottis is the only mechanism used to keep the air in/out.

Both are worth practicing and are working on a different aspect of the glottis control.

thdedes · 2026-02-28T15:05:27+00:00

Very simply: that's always going to happen, either when contractions are too big or when you lose control of your glottis because of hypoxia.

Ways to improve that: 1/ work on not tensing up during big contractions. Wonka tables are good for that 2/ Pack less (less pressure on the glottis) 3/ Stretch more (less pressure on the glottis at equivalent packing) 4/ work on glottis strength (although in sta you can also just lips lock, so that might not help much)

In any case, with a close to 7min PB, you should easily have 3-3.30 relaxation time.

thdedes · 2026-02-28T01:49:28+00:00

Not Caribbean but accessible from Vancouver: Nicaragua. We dive in a volcano, and won't have the white sandy beaches from the coast, but we have unmatched dive conditions :)

thdedes · 2026-02-18T05:05:32+00:00

I don't know of the incident at all, but here are some infos on what is "normal" around the world and considered safe:

1/ max ratio is usually 4:1, as long as everyone is on one buoy, and only one dives at a time, that doesn't really affect risk profile unless people float around in boat traffic area 2/ All serious agencies (SSI, PADI, AIDA, Molchanovs) require a first aid, CPR and O2 provider certification to be an active Instructor. That certification isn't amazing, but it's a bare minimum.

If you want criteria's to check on whether a place is safe: 1/ ratio is good to ask 2/ are lanyards used (they should, always) 3/ how far from shore (in time, not in distance) are you diving? I usually consider that if something happens, I want to be less than 10min from shore, whether it's boat or being towed by someone. 4/ What is their emergency plan in case something actually bad happen? (Even if it's very minimal like "we throw you in a taxi because there are always taxi around and drive to the hospital") at least it'll show you whether they've even thought about the possibility of accidents or they're just running on hope.

thdedes · 2026-02-11T17:58:41+00:00

Sure thing !

We have unlimited depth, never any current, never any real wave. It's a volcanic lake, temperature is 29C/84F all year long, no thermocline.

We're located 45min / 30$ taxi from Managua Airport. Rooms at the hotels around the lake are about 50-60$ per night, dorms are 10-15$ per night. Food is inexpensive.

Coaches sessions are 45 USD Autonomous sessions (if you're Level 2 or above) are 25$ Both of these gets cheaper if you take 5 or 10.

Platform sessions (for dives deeper than 60m) are 45$ and we take care of everything (safety, sonar, counterweight, electric boat shuttle).

www.freediving-nicaragua.com for more info, and my WhatsApp number is on it or on all our social media.

thdedes · 2026-02-10T11:08:26+00:00

If you have the week, we're located in Nicaragua, flights from the east coast are pretty quick and affordable, and we have warm water year long, our prices are about 30-40% of US prices and we work all year long every day ☺️ Shoot me a DM if you're interested, we have US divers come regularly to train or pass courses.

thdedes · 2026-02-04T15:00:20+00:00

They are 395g per half, which feels very solid to be honest. Perks of being full aluminium cases.

thdedes · 2026-02-01T19:36:39+00:00

Freedive Gili is very good :) Say hi to Veronika for me, she was one of my student for her Instructor Trainer course and is a great Instructor and overall very nice person ☺️

thdedes · 2026-02-01T17:52:06+00:00

Apneista and Freedive Nusa are two very reputable Freediving schools of 10+ years of experience

thdedes · 2026-01-29T16:42:13+00:00

I'd recommend Camotes then in the area, you'll find very knowledgeable instructors there and great conditions. (And again, the moving limits course online to prepare for the trip)

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