Access
AIDA/SSI/Molchanovs-style courses and a club with a safety diver. Solo depth is how the sport writes obituaries.
Freediving is intentional breath-hold diving: a duck-dive to look at a reef, a line dive in a competition, or a spearfishing working breath. AIDA and CMAS write sport rules. Recreational depths for trained club divers often sit around 10–20 m; elite constant-weight records are another world.
Skill ceiling and risk sit high in this atlas. Gear load is low — a long-blade fin, a mask, a wetsuit. Accessibility is middling because a proper course and a safety buddy are the entry, not a hotel snorkel.
This chapter is not a certifying agency, not a live line-dive plan, and not medical advice. The freedive-safety chapter is the sibling that should be read first if the goal is depth.
Local notes
Season
Water temperature changes wetsuit and dive time more than a monsoon closes a line. Competition calendars are separate.
Agencies
AIDA, CMAS, SSI Freediving, Molchanovs. They are sport and education bodies, not a beach permit.
Sport bodiesAIDA, CMAS
Rec depthsOften 10–20 m
Elite CWT100 m+ records
BuddyNon-negotiable
Blackout riskSee safety chapter
NotA scuba substitute
Profile
Accessibility
38
Skill ceiling
90
Gear load
40
Risk
80
Seasonality
36
Wow factor
76
Seven chapters
Origins
Ama, sponge divers, and AIDA records.
Read →
How
Equalise, dive a line or a reef, surface to a buddy.
Read →
Gear
Long blades, a small mask, and almost no metal.
Read →
Safety
Blackout is why the next chapter exists.
Read →
Points
Blue holes, walls and working coasts.
Read →
Culture
Ama, AIDA, and The Big Blue.
Read →
Today
Courses for everyone, records for a few, blackout still the topic.
Read →
Frequently asked questions
Is freediving the same as snorkeling?
No. Snorkeling is surface breathing. Freediving is a planned breath-hold descent with equalisation and a buddy.
What is AIDA?
The International Association for the Development of Apnea, a major sport and education body for competitive freediving.
How deep do recreational freedivers go?
Many club divers spend years in the 10–20 m band. Depth is not a personality.
Is a course required?
Not by most beaches. It is required by anyone who wants a safety culture. This page is not a card.
What is shallow-water blackout?
A loss of consciousness from hypoxia, often near the surface on the way up. The safety chapter covers the culture; this is not a medical text.
Can scuba divers just freedive?
Equalisation and lungs work differently. A scuba card is not a freedive education.
Spearfishing?
A related working breath-hold culture with its own laws. This chapter is the dive craft, not a hunting licence.
Medical advice?
No.