My freedive master course officially started on Monday and mother nature has had other plans. One thing you learn very fast with this sport is not to push. Ever. After a three-day warm up with one of the Apneista instructors, Anna, I was super happy doing easy dives to 23m by Friday afternoon. No ear problems. I felt super relaxed. Did some fun diving with Dad on the weekend to Tulumben wreck before he left which was sooo beautiful. So many strange fishies! Monday brought the rain, and the rubbish to the water. And the current was so strong when we hit the water on Monday afternoon. We started our dive and did some 15m warm ups, which were more diagonal than anything else, and then the jelly fish came. Me and another guy left the water straight away, because I come out in hives from those things.
Tuesday I woke up bright as a bee and eager to dive but with much pain and water in my left ear. I could feel it moving around in there. I tried to dive and had such equalization problems and pain, even to 10m. It was a no-go for me. I was disappointed and MAJOR FOMO (fear of missing out) but I knew when I woke up on Wednesday that the pain was still there and I was best to give my ears another day of rest. This was assured the best course of action by my other student friends. One had a sinus for four days and was out of the water. One spent a week working on equalization. Everyone goes at their own pace here. And no one is to push ever. Coupled with some advice from some veteran freedivers, I sucked on my Ginger Tea for two days, did some stretches, some Bhramari Breathing to move my sinuses around and clean my ears with alcohol. I stopped sleeping with air conditioning. I even had a go at some crystal meditation. It worked. And wahlah ..successful diving to 20m again today, but I am hesitant to push more past this depth until my ears are super happy. I’m loving the workshops, the stretching and meditation. I’ve got my own little warm up routine for diving now that I never had before. Oh and I have a shop cat too.
Tomorrow, more diving, then off to Canggu for the weekend before a 5 day work shop next week…
Much Love,
Ashleigh XXX