The improved weather and conditions have
brought the first freediving students of the year; currently apneists are
enjoying 20-25m visibility at Ko Haa and Ko Bida with water temperatures of
29C. Seas are calm, the lines are straight... lets go diving! And after the
training on the lines there's always time for some fundiving through the
gorgeous Cathedral Cavern at Ko Haa, the swim-throughs of Ko Bida Nai or with
the resident leopard shark on Hin Bida.
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| Adeline |
Adeline Ridira is a champion rifle shot back
home in France so is no stranger to pressure; with her competitive nature she
had no problems getting to 17m Constant Weight on her AIDA 2 star course. By
way of celebration she also demonstrated her “spinning top” approach to dancing
– other dancers beware!
Chris Carroll had completed his AIDA 2 star
on Ko Tao and had definitely caught the apnea bug. By the time he finished his
AIDA 3 star course he had reached 30m Constant Weight and was breaking 4
minutes on Static breath-hold. He's now weighing up his choices of whether to
continue travelling or start a career in music festival management back in the
UK – it's a hard life! - but either way I think we'll be seeing Chris again for
more freediving.
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| Benjamin Baker |
IT expert Benjamin Baker from Switzerland
was a calm Zen-like individual. Having tried apnea in a cold local lake with
friends back home the tropical 29C crystal clear waters of Ko Lanta were a
welcome change! By the end of his course Benjamin was achieving the AIDA 2 star
maximum allowable depth of 20m and definitely had more gas in the tank.
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| Christopher Esh |
Benjamin's course-mate was Christopher Esh,
a pilot from Alaska, USA who knew nothing about freediving before starting the
AIDA 2 Star. Christopher's laid-back view on life concealed a steely
determination which was best exhibited by his commitment to beating initial
equalisation problems to eventually reach 18m Constant Weight. Good work mate!
In addition to these students Blue Planet
staff members Caro and James have both started their AIDA 2 star courses: Caro
achieving 20m CWT on her first day out and James a Static time of 2min49sec.
With the scuba season really kicking off they're pretty busy now but I'm sure
we'll see them on the lines again before April.
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