Posts by Paniolo del Mar

    Haha, he sounds just like the manager/instructor of the dive shop I used to work at. But he only dove scuba and always referred to freediving as "snorkeling". He wasn't a good role model for the sport of diving either.

    If the crux is the poor local conditions then I would teach myself to comfortably dive dirtier water and not focus on depth and duration. It could open up more areas to hunt and increase your overall water time.

    I'm pretty comfortable in low viz, but it is more work when you can't spot fish or crabs from the surface. I dive conservatively for safety. If I could dive deeper that would open more areas, but I do ok. If I did dive with a buddy I might be inclined to push for more depth and time.


    Thanks

    Thanks for the replies,


    Adrian, most of my dives have been in cold water and Puget Sound is where I learned to scuba dive and I love it here. My warm water dives were mostly in fresh water lakes. The restrictions aren't as bad on the coast and Neah Bay is great for spearfishing but it's a four hour drive. Puget Sound would be so much better if they would just open rockfish. Crabbing will be closed in the south sound this summer (Areas 11 and 13) which is where I usually hunt, but they will be open in Area 10. I'm planning on going to the west side around Port Orchard, anywhere north of the Southworth Ferry dock. The visibility is usually a lot better on that side of the sound. I think it will open in July if you want to try it. I have the manuals of a few freediving courses and I have practiced the dry tables. I agree there is useful information in the classes, especially for a beginner. I don't think that I need to sit in a class with an instructor to learn most of it though as I have no interest in line diving or competition.


    Don Paul, I agree. There is a long history of skin diving before freediving came along. I consider my diving as a part of that tradition more than a part of freediving. Although, freediving has helped to perfect the gear, people have been diving for food long before freediving became a sport.


    Dan, thanks for the input. I agree with you. I think it's an individual choice based on training, understanding, and accepting risk. I just don't want to see the freediving industry try to force its own standards on everyone the way the scuba industry does, like when they force you to have your gear serviced by a certified technician and won't sell you the parts to do it yourself. Or they try to tell you that you have to take a class to learn to dive in a drysuit. The whole industry is built on the premise that divers are incompetent, just so they can sell more training or services.

    Hello from Washington State,


    The spearfishing here is not great, but it's fun. In Puget Sound we have Ling Cod season from May 21st to June 15th, and that's about it. During the summer it's mostly about diving for crabs and I usually catch my limit every time.


    I've been snorkeling since I was a kid and scuba diving for almost 20 years. I'm a PADI Divemaster and I've worked in the dive industry. I've never taken a freediving class, but I've read every book on freediving that I could find.


    I have a couple of questions for you guys. I don't have a spearfishing buddy as a lot of the freedive spearfishing people around here won't dive with you unless you have a freediving certification. My question is what do people learn in a four day class that makes them a more qualified diver than someone with decades of diving experience?


    So I dive alone, a lot. My operating depth is about 30 feet and I only dive for about one minute. My surface intervals are always at least twice as long as my dives. Do you guys know if there is any actual data that shows that my dive profile could lead to shallow water blackout? Personally, I think that the risk is usually exagerrated and applies mostly to divers who are pushing their limits.


    I'm not trying to stir anything up. I would just like to know what experienced divers outside of the dive industry think about this as opposed to dive industry echo chamber.


    Thanks