FAQs
Frequently Asked Questions
For your convenience, our most common customer questions are answered right here.
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What is freediving?
Freediving is swimming or diving underwater while holding your breath. Unlike scuba diving, freedivers do not use equipment to assist breathing underwater. Freediving can be done recreationally or competitively.
What is the difference between Adventure and Sport Freediving?
Traditionally, freediving is taught whilst diving on a dive line and for the purpose of achieving greater depths, distance or static breath-holds. Freediving courses are geared towards perfecting the skills and techniques required to successfully reach depth and distance goals, to break national and world records. This is Sport Freediving.
The vast majority of people want to freedive for the purpose of exploring and encountering underwater flora and fauna in our wild and wonderful oceans. This would be recreational Adventure Freediving and requires a very specific and adjusted skill set, including body awareness, buddy safety and open water diving.
The important question for you to ask is what your personal freedive goals are. Are you wanting to adventure and explore the oceans, or are you focussed on diving deep and working towards becoming a competitive freediver – potentially breaking national and world record?
Whatever course direction you choose, we proudly cater for BOTH styles of freediving – taught by our team of national-record-holding, adventure-loving instructors! You are in good hands.
I have a medical condition, can I still learn to freedive?
Depending on your condition, a medical assessment may be necessary to confirm that you are ‘fit for freediving’. This is to ensure that the physiological changes experienced during freediving don’t cause reason for concern.
In our experience, the vast majority of medical conditions are not restrictive. If anything, freediving has shown to be beneficial to overall physical, emotional and mental health. We provide each student with a medical checklist to be completed before the start of the course and for your your doctor to review if this should become necessary.
I can freedive but have never done a course, can I join an advanced course?
In most cases we would recommend to start at the very beginning. Having a solid freedive foundation is a fundamental part in safely progressing into the deep (and often the reason you are not progressing as desired in the first place). That said, we review each request on an individual basis to ensure everyone involved is getting the most and best out of this underwater adventure.
I have been scuba diving for years, do I need to join a beginner freediving course?
Unless you have completed an entry level freediving course in the past, yes. Scuba diving and freediving are both practices under the water surface, but this is where the similarities end. Scuba divers have the advantage of knowing what they will find underwater and this adds a whole lot of comfort and confidence whilst learning to freedive. The skills you will be learning and specifically, putting these into practice, are very specific and unique to the sport. The secret to freediving is having a good and solid foundation. Get excited about learning an entirely new way of exploring the underwater world – this time, one breath at a time.
What is snorkeling?
Snorkeling is swimming with a mask on to see below the water surface and using a tube to breathe air above the water surface. Snorkelers can also use other equipment like fins (flippers), wetsuits, gloves, neoprene socks etc.
Are the courses internationally certified?
Yes they are. We offer the full range of internationally certified Pure Apnea courses. Pure Apnea are one of the top freedive education systems in the world, leading in terms of course quality and teaching standards.
Do I need my own gear during the course?
No you don’t. We offer all our students complimentary use of gear during the course. Freediving gear is very personal and we recommend trying before buying.
You are welcome to buy freediving gear directly from us after or even during the course. Our selection is small but proudly fit-for-freedive-purpose. We only sell gear that we personally feel confident and comfortable using and which we have trialed and tested during our 15 years of freediving.
Who can learn to freedive?
Freediving really is for everyone, provided you can swim and are reasonably fit and healthy. Incredibly, humans share some of the physiological traits that fellow oceanic mammals such as whales and dolphins display. This means that humans are capable of spending extended periods of time under the water surface, given the correct technique, safety and body awareness.
What level of fitness is required to freedive?
Being fit has its advantages but does not automatically translate into a “good” or “bad” freediver. The most important aspect, is that you are able to swim comfortably for extended periods of time and that you are in a generally good state of health.
Can my children join me on a freediving course?
Yes with pleasure – provided your children are 12 years and older for the Adventure Freediver I and Surf Apnea courses and 16 years or older for our other courses. It is imperative that your family doctor provides a signed “fit-for-freediving” assessment for extra peace of mind and if younger than 16, that at least one parent is enrolled with the child on the course.
Do you offer anything for children?
Yes we do. We offer underwater exploration and snorkelling experiences, to our young mermaids and mermen as an introduction to freediving and the ocean world.
A child’s cognitive and physiological development become more adult-like from the age of 12 onwards. Taking into consideration that children are still developing both mentally and physically and that their bodies are not yet operating at the same physiological level as an adult, freediving is typically restricted to those 12 years and older.
What happens if I am not able to complete the course requirements?
Although this is mostly an exception, some students may experience equalisation issues that may need a little more practice, body awareness or in rare cases – medical attention to overcome. Whatever the reason, you have 12 months to complete your course and be certified.
Note that we charge R500 for course completions to cover our basic costs.