Hi, I'm Jonathan Bird and welcome to my world!
Divers love warm, clear water.
And one of the most well-known locations for relaxed tropical scuba diving is the island
of Bonaire.
Bonaire is located in the southern Caribbean, not far from the coast of Venezuela.
It’s a beautiful, sunny island, which enjoys sea breezes powerful enough to generate electricity,
and has a long history of making salt from the ocean.
The last time I visited Bonaire, I was on a mission to film spawning coral.
But this time I’ll be doing some diving without a scuba tank.
Diving without scuba gear is called freediving, and frankly I’m not that good at it.
I’ve been invited to a freediving class at Buddy Dive Resort.
It’s being taught by Karol Meyer, a world-champion freediver from Brazil.
She can hold her breath for over 18 minutes!
I head down to the pool where Karol is practicing static apnea—which means holding your breath
while you lie very still.
We can start the class as soon as she comes back up from this breath.
I’ll be back!
Wow, that took longer than I was expecting!
Now we can head on over to the classroom.
Karol discusses techniques for breathing, rescue techniques and of course, safety.
Next, Karol gives me some tips on breathing with my belly in order to get more air into
my lungs.
All my life I have been breathing, and I thought I was doing it well.
But it turns out I’m doing it all wrong for freediving!
Since freedivers have been known to black out if they try to hold their breath a little
too long, the class practices rescue techniques—how to hold someone with their head above the
water and open the airway to make sure they breathe.
First Karol demonstrates, then the students try.
You are definitely going to drown, I’m sorry.
After a few attempts I get the hang of it…mostly.
I’m kind of hoping I don’t have to rescue anyone!
Finally we practice static apnea.
We relax, take big breaths and float quietly face down in the pool.
Nobody in our group is going to set a record, but we are trying to see how long we can comfortably
hold our breaths.
I’m not wearing a mask because water on the face triggers what is called the mammalian
diving response—a lowering of heart rate and conservation of oxygen.
The water on my face literally helps me hold me breath longer.
After a few attempts, I manage to go just shy of three full minutes without a breath!
I have never held my breath that long.
That’s all fine and good, but static apnea is a lot different from swimming in the ocean.
Karol takes the class out onto the reef to practice freediving.
We gather around a float with a line going down into the blue.
One at a time, Karol takes each of us down.
We go only to a predetermined depth so nobody gets in trouble, or has a problem getting
back to the surface.
Soon it’s my turn!
The line helps me swim straight down, so I don’t waste energy going diagonally.
At fifty feet, we turn and come back up, gently, conserving energy to make that one breath
last.
Less than a minute later, I’m back at the surface.
There’s no way I could hold my breath for three minutes while swimming!
What a day!
Today I did some stuff I never thought I would do!
With Karol’s instruction I held my breath for almost three minutes and I dove to 52
feet without a scuba tank!
The next day, I head on over to the dive shop again, because Karol is taking the class out
on the reef for a few hours of freediving practice.
We will each partner up with a buddy and hone our skills.
Karol is wearing a big monofin attached to both feet.
It takes strong leg muscles to swim with this kind of fin, but it provides a lot of thrust.
With it, she swims like a dolphin!
And like a dolphin, Karol can go a long time without breathing down there.
You might ask why freedive if you can scuba dive?
Why hold your breath if you can strap on a tank and breathe all you like?
Well, it’s peaceful, it’s less intrusive in the marine environment, the fish seem much
less bothered by freedivers than scuba divers, and it’s just a fun skill to develop.
But it requires practice.
Lots of practice.
So, my buddy and I are practicing and getting better all the time.
The goal isn’t to go deeper, but to stay longer on the reef, to have more time to look
around.
Karol shows me I have a long way to go!
But as I get more and more comfortable, I’m able to spend more than a minute down on the
reef.
And my deeper dives are passing the 60 foot mark.
And this is with only a few days of training and practice!
Later in the day, Karol and I spend an hour diving together.
Well, sort of.
I can’t really keep up!
Karol has set over a dozen world records, not just for static apnea.
She has been down to depths over 500 feet on just one lungful of air!
Today, swimming around a reef with her class, is just goofing around, easy stuff for Karol.
So at the end of my week of training, Karol certifies that I am a real free diver.
And I have the pin to prove it.
And now it’s up to me to keep practicing, to become one with the sea.
Maybe someday I won’t need a scuba tank anymore and I’ll become part dolphin like
Karol--but somehow I doubt it!