Wednesday, May 16, 2012

The Blue Hole

Rourke and Chris
Long Island, Bahamas is where you will find the Earth's deepest known underwater cave, Dean's Blue Hole.  We hitched a ride to the other side of the island to take a dive in it.  The locals on Long Island are so friendly we had no problem getting a lift.  As it happens the some of the worlds top Free Divers from the US and Italy are here at the moment practicing their skill, lucky for us.
Layla looking on as the Pro's practice their deep dives
Chris and Rourke on the left watching, diver in silver suit, Nick Mevoli, lying on surface using breathing techniques to lower his heart rate.

After watching them decend deep into the abyss and gracefully ascend as if they had all the time in the world, holding their breath for up to 5 minutes underwater, we were encouraged to do the Free Diving Course offered by Evolve Diving, Ren and Ashley Chapman who happened to be here at the moment. Ashley is a contender for the woman's world record which takes place in the Caymans Islands next month so she was here training at Dean's Blue Hole.
Static training in the pool
The course was inspirational, teaching safety and breathing techniques for free diving.  Quite funny as Chris was sure he would be able to hold his breath underwater for longer than me because he is a more experienced diver (I thought so too, of course).  He went first and did 4min 45sec, WOW! then it was my turn and I did the exact same time unintentionally! 4min 45sec me:REALLY? WOW!  Rourke (11yrs) did the course with us and managed to hold his breath for 1min 30 sec, and he free dived downed to a depth of 10m (33ft) very good, he is our safety officer, he took the safety very seriously, a good dive buddy to have.  With the new breathing techniques taught by Ashley and Ren we were able to hold our breath in ways we never thought possible.
Ashley( Now, May 2012,Womans World Champion Constant Weight No Fins Free Diver, 65meters) and Ren Chapman with Rourke after our course, all smiles.  Thanks Guys

Ashley and Ren are from North Carolina USA, so, to all the American readers who love the ocean, get hold of them and do this course!  If you are a nervous snorkeler or an avid spearfishing dude, you gain all the confidence you need to take it to the next level.  You can email them at:   ashley@evolvefreediving.com

 Evolve Freediving, LLC

PO Box 10341
Wilmington, NC 28404
(910)358-4300

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3 comments:

  1. MeirMay 17, 2012 at 7:56 PM

    That's Nicholas Mevoli in the silver wetsuit, myself and Instructor Ted Harty. Shortly after training in the blue hole Nick went to Grand Cayman and broke the National Record for constant weight. 91 meters !

    Nice pics/video, thanks !

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  2. UnknownMay 17, 2012 at 10:50 PM

    Meir, we are in Grand Cayman at the mo and met and had a beer with Nicholas, Ashely and Ren last night. After chatting to him, we all figured he was the guy (silver suit gave it away) in our footage, funny. I have some more footage I want to upload, one with, can only be you, descending, pretty cool, thanks for your comment, you guys are doing awesome stuff! Will upload it in the next day or two. Enjoy! Sascha

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  3. Johnny HøjfeldtJune 12, 2012 at 5:06 AM

    AWESOME... I would love to do this myself... Being a diver myself, I have seen free divers in action here in Cyprus... We have a huge shipwreck here called Zenobia which lies on 40 meters just outside Larnaca harbour... And you sure look when you all of the sudden see a guy next to you carrying no tanks or anything... It's so unreal...
    And around 5 minutes... Wow it seem too unrealistic... I think I can manage around 30 seconds lol...

    Again, as always great reading and fantastic pictures... Chris sure know how to charge a battery... :)

    Stay safe guys and happy sailing...

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