Welcome back to the channel, SD fans. In a recent video we talked about technical diving,
and this time around, I am at the opposite end of the scale – freediving. Now, we all
like a good snorkel, but what about freediving and scuba diving on the same day? In this
video, I’ll look at the current DAN guidelines regarding scuba diving and freediving on the
same day. Now, let’s dive into the video!
Freediving, or advanced snorkelling, as I like to think of it for us mere mortals who
are not doing record-breaking deep dives, is one area of our underwater sport that is
rapidly growing in popularity. Like technical diving, freediving is effectively a niche
within a niche, but it is certainly gaining ground at a serious pace, and these days,
it is common to see freedivers practicing both at inland sites and in the sea alongside
scuba divers all over the world. Now we all enjoy a good snorkel at the best
of times. It is serenely relaxing to glide around on the surface, watching the comings
and goings below, and occasionally duck-diving down to be among the fishes. Freedivers might
spend more time actually underwater, effortlessly moving through the water unencumbered by BCD
and dive cylinder. It is just a nice way to spend time in the water – just stick on
wetsuit, mask, snorkel and fins, and you are away.
But what about when you are away on a trip and you want to do a spot of freediving as
well as scuba diving? What are the risks regarding scuba diving and freediving on the same day?
We asked the medical team at DAN for their take on this topic.
Freediving before scuba Now with freediving before scuba, the answer
varies depending on the intensity of the exercise when freediving, and the depth you reach.
If you freedive without straining yourself and at shallow depths, you can scuba dive
afterwards without much worry. Obviously, the more breath-hold dives you do, the more
difficult it could become to keep equalizing over and over.
On the other hand, if you go deep and strain yourself a lot, you will need longer surface
intervals before you can scuba dive. If you freedive to a depth of only 12m-15m and for
a limited number of times (say two to three), all you need to wait before scuba diving is
30 to 60 minutes. For deeper, more-strenuous free dives - a common practice in spearfishing
- the surface interval needs to be much longer, even if there’s not enough data available
at present to allow for definite suggestions.
Freediving after scuba If instead you choose to freedive after scuba
diving, it is another story. You need to be aware that you already have gas bubbles in
your system from scuba diving, therefore even if you freedive at shallow depths, there are
risks. The most-obvious one is that freediving involves physical exercise, and straining
after scuba diving may increase the amount of bubbles circulating in your body. Another
maybe less-evident risk is that, during freediving, the circulating venous gas bubbles that are
already in your body from having scuba dived get compressed and shrink because of the pressure
of the water, thus they could pass through the lung filter much faster than normal and
reach the arterial circulation. It is also worth mentioning that freediving
alone, especially if deep, repetitive and strenuous, can produce a high quantity of
bubbles in the system. We’ve all heard of extreme freedivers, such as record holders
who dive very deep, showing neurological symptoms after surfacing from a single deep dive. These
symptoms, which can be compared to the decompression sickness that scuba divers can suffer from,
are referred to as Taravana, and can go from simple nausea, dizziness or headache to very
serious visual, hearing or speech problems, paralysis, and in the worst cases loss of
consciousness and death. Needless to say, it’s never a good idea
to carry a high bubble load in the body, so it would appear more prudent not to scuba
dive and freedive on the same day if the dives undertaken are long, deep and strenuous, thus
creating significant bubble formation in the body. Each person and each case is different,
but it is always better to be more cautious than less.
To summarise, if you freedive deeper than 15m and do strenuous physical activity, such
as spearfishing, it would be better to scuba dive and free dive on separate days. Even
long surface intervals between the two activities, if involving long, deep and strenuous dives,
do not eliminate the risk of overloading the body with bubbles. As aware divers, it is
simply wiser to avoid this risk.
Do you like freediving? Do you freedive and scuba dive on the same day? Leave your comments
below, and if you have a question, fire away – if we can’t answer, maybe someone in
our community will be able to. Remember, if you enjoyed this video, be sure to subscribe
to our YouTube Channel, and check out our ever-growing playlist for more educational
and inspirational videos. As always, stay safe – and if you are going
diving, whether that is scuba or free, enjoy!