I can’t believe tomorrow I would have been away from Australia for 3 weeks and it will be the arrival of The Ginger Hunk. The time has gone really fast for me but I know it’s been hard for him at home in the cold. I am so excited to see him and show him my new underwater tricks. I’m at the half way point of my course now, have sorted my ears and am well into the swing of my freediving training. A holiday it is not, I can barely keep my eyes open to read a book. Mind you, everyone in the course must be 25 and I am the elderly nanna of the group. It’s great though, a mixed bunch of humans from all walks. This week, I have been lucky enough to join in a five-day physiology workshop run by Apneista and Frederic Lemaitre, a freediver and scientist who has written forty something papers on apnea (breath hold). I am at day four and utterly exhausted but utterly happy. The workshop has consisted each day yoga, 3 hours of diving, followed by two hours of theory, and another hour of yoga and meditation to end off the day. I’ve been falling asleep at 8pm every night into a deep, deep sleep. Not really looking forward to sitting in an office again.
And most of all, I’m so happy with how my freediving is progressing. I didn’t come here with a number in my head, only to improve, and this week I can really feel things changing. Frederic starts up our water sessions playing games, like scissor, paper rock holding our breath or diving together, so it is all fun and we are not thinking at all about the breath hold. Then each day we have worked on different aspects of our diving, free fall, posture, duck dives, turns and the like. We are a mixed group of divers, but that is the beauty of freediving, as long as you have safety that can spot you then you can all train together. I’ve always had trouble with equalising and constant weight (which is kicking down with fins not holding the rope ) and mastering this technique has been hanging over my head to get my AIDA *** certification. But today I did it! Four dives to 27m finning down and relaxing. I just now need to work on relaxing on the way up 🙂
Tomorrow is the last day of the workshop before a well needed rest weekend. My Ginger Hunk arrives tomorrow night and some friends are joining us for the weekend in Amed. So it will be holding my Ginger Hunk close, some fun snorkelling, sun tanning cocktails and reading before more freediving school next week.
I am missing the fur babies. A LOT. Although I seem to have adopted a pregnant kitten over here. Lord help us if she has the babies while I am here, I won’t want to leave!
Much Love,
Ashleigh XXX
