The trail of bubbles leading to the surface is the only connection to the air-breathing world descending into the darkening depths that are home to the free diver.
Chris Peters, a Tallahassee native and adamant diver said free diving is a primal experience and that “there is a something free and pure about it.”
As someone who has been a certified scuba diver for over seven years, Peters has logged numerous hours underwater. He said although he enjoys the range and intellectual challenge that scuba provides, “the sense of satisfaction knowing you’re doing something without the help of equipment or technology; something that few people are physically capable of” is the main draw of free diving for him.
Although Peters enjoys free diving recreationally, the diving has been around nearly forever; however, originally it was not seen as a sport.
Ancient civilizations, and some not so ancient, have used breath-holding techniques to forage for food and defend against aquatic attacks. The Greeks collected shellfish and sponges off their coast as far back as the eighth century. It has been reported that during the Trojan Wars Greeks divers routinely sabotaged opposing ships by destroying them from below and cutting anchor lines.
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| Journalist Karl Etters freediving in Sister Sinkhole in Leon County |
A free diver, unlike in scuba, is, as the name suggests, free. He or she is equipped with only a set of fins, a mask, the standard dive knife and only as much air as they can hold in their lungs; one breath is all a person gets when it comes to free diving.
Free diving became a sport when, according to the International Association of Free Divers, Hungarian Raimondo Bucher completed a dive of 30 meters (98 feet) off the coast of Naples in 1949 using a large rock as a ballast to pull him into the depths.
In 1962, Enzo Maiorca, who would become one of the most skilled divers in the world, reached a depth of 50 meters (164 feet), which scientists had previously predicted was impossible due to the limits of the human body.
After the infancy of free diving as a sport, popularity grew and soon there were international competitions and the ever-present thought of breaking the last depth record. In 1966 Jacques Mayol, of Çhina, revolutionized the sport by utilizing meditation and heart rate slowing techniques that opposed what had become the standard technique of hyperventilation that tricks the body into thinking it requires less oxygen.
Mayol would become the first diver to breach 100 meters (328 feet).
The 1970s saw an increase in the number of females participating in free diving and in 1989 Italian Angela Bandini broke Mayol’s record by diving to a depth of 107 meters, solidifying her record as the deepest in history at the time.
A number of women have joined the ranks of sport divers and have produced some of the greatest depths known; some at their own peril. In 2003 Audrey Mestre was attempting to break the no-limit depth records for males and females. She plummeted to 171 meters (561 feet) off the coast of the Dominican Republic and after a reported nine minutes underwater without oxygen she surfaced with assistance from an inflatable buoy.
Attempts to revive her were unsuccessful, but her attempt was later recognized as the free diving world record. The current records for no-limit free diving are 214 meters (702 feet) by Herbert Nitsch in 2007 and 160 meters (524 feet) by Tanya Streeter in 2002.
Ben Alcocer, a sales associate at Tallahassee dive shop Blue Water Sports, although not ready to attempt a record dive is a spear fisherman. He utilizes free diving almost exclusively, reaching depths up to 30 meters (100 feet) in the Gulf of Mexico in search of his prey.
“For me free diving is relaxing, but not relaxing. It’s unique. I would like to describe it as being really focused. When you’re out there doing it, nothing else matters,” he said.
Alcocer’s favorite spots to dive include K-Tower, a navigational tower off the coast of Apalachicola, where he pursues fish at a depth of 60 feet. He has also explored several freshwater springs including Morrison Sinkhole in Walton County and Cherokee Sinkhole near Tallahasee.
Both he and Peters agree that attempting record dives is risky. “You’d have to be a complete maniac to try that,” Peters said.
“I can do a touch and go at one hundred feet, but anything past that I’d be pushing it,” said Alcocer.
Techniques and health effects
There are several recognized techniques for free diving; each has its own rules that were set to apply standards to the sport and differentiate between records. Some allow for the use of weight aides, guide ropes and fins while others do not.
No-limit diving allows any form of breath taking and any form of descent help and is the most basic and popular.
All mammals have a reflex when submersed that allows them slow respiration and other bodily functions to extend the amount of time spent underwater. There is a noticeable drop in heart rate, the blood vessels constrict. Blood is diverted away from the extremities and pulled to the heart, brain and lungs. Blood cells carrying oxygen are released, increasing the number of cells that can take, and use, oxygen, and blood vessels within the lungs fill with blood to provide more structure to keep them from collapsing under the immense pressures that come every 33 feet down, where the pressure changes one atmosphere.
The sport is ranked among the most dangerous with over 5,000 people plunging in each year. Close to 100 die annually in diving accidents.
The most common concerns when diving, especially free diving, is the risk of pushing the body to unnatural limits underwater. Divers can experience cardiac arrest, lung collapse, decompression sickness and an elevated risk of blackout.
According to National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration research article by Paul C. Focazio, shallow water blackout is an all too common occurrence among free divers. Blackout occurs when a diver approaches the surface and there is “both a drop in water pressure and gas pressure in the lungs, making it so that enough oxygen is not delivered to the blood and therefore the brain.”
Divers who experience blackout are at a much higher risk for drowning, and it is a known risk that
the last 10 feet of a single breath dive can be the most dangerous.
Peters admitted testing the limits once. “I will never do it again,” he said. He added that “the most dangerous aspect of diving is almost invariably your body's inability to deal with pressure changes, and the limitations on your air supply.”
He also added that the mind can have an impact on the safety of a dive, to the extent of becoming disoriented. The biggest culprits he said are the clarity of the water, time of the day and a racing imagination. “If it's dark or the water isn't very clear and you find yourself alone your imagination can cook up some stuff,” he said.
Alcocer condones using the buddy system when diving, even if not attempting records. “I don’t have what it takes to attempt a record. I’m pretty comfortable in the 80 foot range. Anything past that and I’d be pushing it. If I’m with a buddy who’s there and will save me if I have a blackout, I push it.”
Decompression sickness, or the bends, occurs most commonly in scuba divers who use compressed air, but it could potentially affect single breath divers as well. The condition manifests itself as gas bubbles collect in the blood stream, usually Nitrogen, and is the result of improper decompression when coming from the depths. Protocol calls for divers to ascend slowly and remain at various depths for 10 to 15 minutes to allow stray bubbles to escape through respiration.
According to the Divers Alert Network the most common symptom of a mild case of thee bends is pain in the joint areas. Increased levels of air, usually associated with rapid ascent, can be more dangerous and affect the brain or the spinal cord, causing numbness, paralysis and disruption of cerebral functions. Even greater amounts of trapped air can cause loss of lung function or circulatory shock. The best way to avoid the bends is to consistently exhale while approaching the surface.
Preparation for a dive is almost as important as techniques used during. Most doctors recommend a good night’s sleep as the best way to prepare. Alcocer’s preparation starts the day before. “I definitely have a routine,” he said. “No caffeine; lots of water; don’t eat too much.
“When I’m on the boat on the way out, I start breathing real heavy to try and stretch my lungs out and doing a couple breath-holds on the way. Once I hit the water, I’m just trying to relax and breathe deep, but not hyperventilating,” he said.
Hyperventilating has been used as a diving technique to reduce the concentration of CO2 in the lungs and increase the amount of time of breath-holding. As a person ascends, expanding lungs, which have
already been starved, pull oxygen from the bloodstream; a leading risk of blackout.
The key, according to Alcocer and Peters, is to breathe deeply and relax. “A healthy warm up also helps, said Peters. “For the most part, I just try to breathe deeply and get my chest out of the water on my final inhalation.” This allows him to get more air into his lungs than if they were slightly under the water.
The first few dives are warm ups lending to increased depths and longer times underwater. “Once I get in my rhythm, that’s when I get closer to the two minute mark [two minutes underwater.]”
Florida is home to numerous bodies of water; both inland and the bordering Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean. These waters provide recreational enjoyment for visitors and natives alike. Diving is among the top outdoor sports pursued in Florida.
In the Tallahassee area there are numerous fresh water springs that are the home to panoply of divers, both scuba and free. It is not uncommon to see bubbles rising from the depths of the interconnecting
underwater passages that make the Florida aquifer, and then to have a diver, as if out of nowhere, surface in what was thought to be a secluded area.
Divers travel for miles in the network of caverns mapping a large portion of them. Their progress is hindered by the amount of time they can spend underwater.
Wakulla Springs, a short drive from Tallahassee, is one of the largest spring-fed systems in the United States. Experienced cave divers have spent decades mapping and exploring the underwater world. In 2007 the connection between the Wakulla Springs Basin and the Leon Sinks systems was made. Last year, Legislation was presented this year to state officials that would allow recreational diving at the park, which previously has not been open to the public.
Some people would rather not divulge the location of their favorite spots to swim, (I am one of those people), but there is a number of state and county parks that are open to the public. Although scuba diving may not be permitted in some of the areas, there is no regulation against bringing a mask and snorkel and enjoying the remarkable underwater landscape of Florida’s limestone caverns and warm oceans.
Both Peters and Aclocer have resided in Florida their entire lives.
Water has been an important part of both of their lives and each have been “diving” their entire lives. “I think any kid who grew up around the water could claim to have been free diving since they could swim,” said Peters.
Alcocer told of his youth, when he and his friend would go to the Howard Park Sink, a cave in the saltwater grass flats of Tarpon Springs, Fla., and hold on to large rocks that would drag them to the bottom.
Free diving has evolved over the years to include a number of uses in a variety of outlets.
As a means of obtaining food and maintaining a steady flow of employment, to use in warfare sport, and recreation, what may seem scary to one, life underwater, is a source of sustenance, enjoyment and wonder for another; it is hard to explain that feeling to someone who has never felt the weightlessness of an unassisted dive in spots where the bottom may not be visible.
In fact, it’s nearly impossible.
Peters said the most exhilarating thing he has ever done underwater left a deep impression in him. “I free dove to 70 feet once and spent few seconds looking around. I actually tried to set the hook on fish using a line that was being worked from the boat.
Of course I was unsuccessful but it was definitely memorable,” he said. “It’s exciting and there is feeling of exploration that comes with it, but it can also be very peaceful.”
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