GUEST JOURNAL: DOWN THE LINE...
by Anna Eva, Sweden / South Africa
From growing up in Stockholm with water all around to having our summer house on an island only available by boat, my fascination for water has always been there.
As an avid waterlover and after a couple of months of way too much work, I read about I AM WATER Ocean Travel’s trip to Mozambique: a week of learning how to truly freedive, “The Big Blue” style. It took me about 2 minutes to make up my mind and book a spot…
My journey to Mozambique started with a 5h drive from Durban, which was an excellent time to get to know my fellow companions for the week and Peter [Marshall] from I AM WATER. All of us came by ourselves and had all sorts of different backgrounds, jobs and ages. But we where united by one thing: wanting to learn how to freedive.
Upon arrival at our lovely house with sea view we met the rest of the team: Hanli [Prinsloo], the founder of I AM WATER, Beth, a professional mermaid J and Victoria, the lovely chef.
The first day consisted of freediving theory and breath-hold training on land. If my memory serves me right I did 1 min 50 sec that day. From then onwards, each day started early with a very tasty smoothie before a practical freediving session: diving down the rope, which – unexpectedly – turned into one of the things I enjoyed the most. My feeling afterwards was just fantastic. You have focused so much, filled your lungs with so much air that you feel mentally cleaned…. Not so easy to explain. If you like water, it has to be experienced.
The rope exercise was followed by swimming with dolphins and other marine life. And there were dolphins all over. We had the pleasure and luck to see them doing all kinds of things: sleeping, playing, eating, cuddling with each other, also called sexy times ;-) We also saw tortoises, manta rays, a teeny tiny new born octopus, half the size of my thumbnail and lots and lots of other fishes.
After an amazing lunch and some rest, Hanli, who is not only a passionate freediver, but also a certified yoga instructor, taught a yoga session – she is a real treat especially if you have never done yoga before! Some of us already were yogis, the others became yogis. And during the daily breathing exercises, we kept challenging ourselves a bit more every day.
Our lovely private chef Victoria prepared a delicious dinner every night – it was like a big family feast: we all gathered around a huge table, lots of laughter, swapped stories getting to know each other more and more.
At the end of this week, I was able to hold my breath 3,5 minutes, dive down to 11m, had a bit of trouble with my ears that cleared the last day, otherwise I know I would have been able to do 14m ;-), met lifelong friends and my passion for water has grown even bigger. This was definitely not my last trip and it is a must for everyone who loves water!
JOIN THE I AM WATER TEAM FOR MORE DOLPHIN FREEDIVING IN 2017 -- >