Freediving UK – Ocean Diving

Deep, clear and still waters are the best conditions for freediving and for this reason, the UK is not known for being a great sport for open water, ocean freediving.

If you want to try open water diving in the UK however, head to Cornwall. FreeDiveUK run open water courses and dives in the waters around Lusty Glaze and Newquay Beach.

For the best ocean freediving conditions however, head to Thailand, Australia and Bali.

Those oceans are the perfect conditions and their reefs are known to be a great spot for spotting many different types of wildlife.

Best Courses In The UK

While getting in the water and giving it a go is super easy in this sport, anyone who fancies their hand at freediving UK should consider a introductory course.

“It’s an incredibly easy thing to get into and a very tempting thing to get into it without doing a course because its not like scuba, the way you have to have a certificate to hire a tank,” says head of FreediveUK, Ian Donald.

“The temptation to do it without a course is really strong. Most people probably do a bit of it without a course.”

“If people have got it in their heads that they want to freedive however, they need to do a course just to stay safe.”

Diving Certifications Available In The UK

Aida 1 Star– At this level you will learn about equipment for freediving, breathing for freediving, equalisation and safety for freediving.

You will also be introduced to the safety proceedures such as preparation breaths, static apnea training, using equipment, duck diving, equalisation, body positioning, finning style and buddying.

Aida 2 Star– At this level, divers will build upon what they have already learned, while experiencing deeper and longer dives.

This course includes deep diving up to 20m, breath-hold times of over 2 minutes, dynamic apnea distances of over 40m, rescue from depth, more advanced buddy skills and line diving with lanyards.

Aida 3 Star- “The start of DEEP freediving. 3* divers are trained to dive up to 30m and will start to experience the sensations of deep diving, it can be an epiphanous moment!” says Ian Donald.

As this course requires some quite serious deep diving to take place, it charters an MCA coded dive RHIB for your safety and ease of access.

Aida 4 Star- Focusing on constant weight training, this course is the highest level non-professional course in the UK. On this course you build on everything already learned to a near professional standard.

Not on all freediving courses are by the coast. Whether you live North or South, they’ll be one fairly close by.

Centers Offering Freediving Courses In The UK

Cornwall

• Freedive UK
• Freedive Cornwall
• AquaCity

London and the South East

• Apnea Revolution
• Blue Water Freediving
• London Freedivers
• Freedive Collective

South West

• Salt Free
• Bristol Freedivers
• GO Freediving

North  

• Apnea UK

Scotland

• Pure Freedive

You may also like:

Competitive Freediving | Freediving Disciplines And Records

Freediving Equipment | What Equipment Do You Need To Start Freediving?

What Is Freediving? Everything You Need To Know