Freediving is developing into one of the world’s fastest-growing sports and everyday more people are flooding their social media with wildlife encounters, personal training and beautiful underwater footage, all performed on a single breath. And there’s a reason that scuba divers should try freediving. In fact, there’s lots of reasons… but we’ll stick to five.
If you’ve ever been on a boat with scuba divers and freedivers, you might be aware that the two groups don’t always see eye to eye when it comes to their sport. Although both have a love for the ocean in which they dive, scuba divers don’t really get why freedivers do what they do, and the feeling is often returned.
Coming from a scuba diving background, and now running my own freediving school in Australia, I feel I am somewhat qualified to shed some light on why I think scuba divers should at least try freediving once, and what freediving gave to me!
It’s important to also say, that this isn’t just a freediver trying to fly the ‘freediving is the best’ flag from side to side. I teach both and love both equally for different reasons, some of them listed below!
The Reasons to Try Freediving
- Breathing techniques to improve your air consumption – Most scuba divers can relate to the feeling of disappointment when realising you are running low on air before the other divers in the group.
Freediving teaches you how to regulate your breathing and how to harness your use of breath to control and calm your nervous system. The more relaxed you are, the less air you will use! - Unique underwater encounters – When interacting with wildlife as a scuba diver, there comes a point where the loud sound of the inhale and the bubbles of the exhale will usually scare the wildlife away.
When you try freediving you’ll realise this doesn’t happen nearly as much and you can get closer and more personal with the underwater world. Of course, you can’t stay down as long but after a little bit of practice you’ll soon notice your dive times coming up! - No equipment! The freedom of having no equipment is just exhilarating. It’s just you, your body, a pair of fins, mask and belt.
No having to manoeuvre your way into your BCD and carry a heavy tank around. You are ready to just dive straight in and more freely! - It’s a new challenge – People think freediving is just a way to explore the underwater world, but did you know that freediving is also a competitive sport that requires a lot of dedication and training to become good at.
You might find, if you try freediving, that you will want to kick in some healthy new lifestyle habits to accommodate the new hobby! - Improving your equalisation techniques – Equalising in scuba diving is fairly easy, and not much effort has to go into it, which can sometimes lead to a lack of understanding when running into problems.
In freediving, your EQ has to be a lot more refined and more awareness has to be developed to improve and understand how equalising works to ensure consistency.
So there you have it! 5 reasons to give it a go! Of course, there are many more reasons that I could write about and I could talk all day about the benefits of freediving for the everyday individual, but perhaps that’s another article for the future!
Matt Turnbull
Founder and Director of OceanSense Freediving
Frequently asked Questions
Why should scuba divers try freediving?
Freediving helps divers improve breathing, experience unique wildlife encounters, and enjoy the freedom of diving without heavy gear.
If I try freediving will it improve my scuba air consumption?
In theory, yes. Freediving training teaches breathing control and relaxation techniques that help scuba divers reduce air use underwater.
Do marine animals react differently to freedivers than scuba divers?
Yes. Freedivers make little to no noise and bubbles, allowing closer and calmer encounters with marine life.
What equipment do you need for freediving compared to scuba?
Freedivers only need a mask, fins, snorkel, and weight belt — far less than the tanks, BCDs, and regulators required for scuba diving.
Can freediving improve scuba equalisation skills?
Yes. Freediving requires refined equalisation techniques, giving divers more awareness and consistency when equalising.
This article was originally published in Scuba Diver ANZ #63
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