Day Two

Today was a diving day, the boat left at 7.30am which meant getting up to a beautiful sunrise and a motorbike ride across the island. Monica & Eusebio advised no food for two hours before freediving and the prospect of getting up at 5am was less appealing to going hungry. Again the dive boat filled up with tonnes of dive kit but instead of feeling like we had forgotten something it started to feel like everyone else was overequipped.

Again Monica rigged the descent line and we started off by practising what we had learned the day before, making a few corrections to our technique. Both Shona and I were starting to feel pain in the ears from so many ascents and descents and problems equalising was limiting our depth today. Even with very quick equalisation it was still a problem. I had taken some nasal spray before diving so was getting a bit deeper but it was still not as good. When things go wrong, Monica explained, whether it is ear problems, cramps or whatever, unlike scuba you do not have time to sort it out underwater and should ascend immediately. We did some more practice with breathing techniques, working on finning and streamlining and trying to increase the amount of time we spent at the end of the descent before heading up.

On the first day we practiced doing the breathe up with a snorkel but today Monica had us use an alternative technique, to lie floating on the back with the face out of the water and one hand holding the float. This is a much more relaxing position and breathing is easier as there is not the same water pressure on the lungs as being face down with a snorkel. It also allows you to purse your lips which even after a short time makes a difference to your breathing as you can gauge the speed and volume of air going in. At the end of the breathe up you roll over on to your face and dive normally. Shona preferred it to the snorkel breathe up but I found it a bit disorienting when you roll over and then dive.

Monica & Eusebio had talked about the dangers of freediving in the classroom but not about what to do so we finished off the session with emergency drills. The last few metres (or the surface) is the place where any problems will occur and that is where a diver needs to watched closest. On most of our dives Monica was always there on the last few metres of the ascent just in case but now we had to know for ourselves what to do. In a samba attack the diver will convulse in a fit, in a shallow water blackout the diver just goes limp without warning. The rescue technique for both is exactly the same, grab the diver same-arm to same-arm (i.e. grab the right arm with the right arm or left arm with the left arm) and pull them round so they are side on to you, making it esier to swim and observe them and keeping out the way if they are convulsing. One arm goes under the diver's arm and across the chest, the other pushes the head forward, closing the airway. At the surface, the diver's head is tilted back to open the airway again, the mask removed (and weights if it can be done easily) and hopefully normal breathing should start automatically. If not then it's the same procedure as for a non-breathing scuba diver. Unfortunately when I was practising on Monica halfway up I realised that instinctively my hand was resting on her left booby. It was an accident... honest...

The afternoon was spent back in the classroom with a review of the two day's diving and the progress we had made. Then we went on to some more breathing exercises from pranayama. Pranayama is an area of yoga relating to breath control and ways of training the body to breathe more efficiently. In yoga, normal breathing is from low down, using the diaphragm, the stomach moving in and out but the chest staying static. After practicing this we we tried holding our breath and then did kavilabadi or fire breathing, taking short, forceful breaths through the nose, then tried holding the breath again and it made a good 15-20s difference. Monica is heavily into yoga, Eusebio is not. "I do yoga every day," she said. "He does not." Glare. Eusebio looked like he was at his school parents' night.

She explained that in yoga they believe that stress levels are affected by which nostril you favour and that we favour different nostrils at different times of the day. One nostril can cause stress aand tiredness, the other gives energy and relaxation. She taught us techniques for breathing alternatively through one nostril and then the other. Also she taught us bandas, techniques to stop our energy escaping during breathing exercises. The first is to tuck the chin into the chest. The second, "clench your, mmm, anus," she explained. Then we went on to square breathing, five seconds inhale, hold for five, five seconds exhale, pause for five, five seconds inhale, etc.

One of the most impressive exercises she taught us was nauli. This is where you exhale fully then draw your diaphragm up into the chest cavity, making your stomach almost disappear. Eusebio did it first until we could do it and then Monica did it. Her body looked impossible, her abdomen almost vanished, her body looked like she had the thickness of her spine and that was it. Amazing.

Tomorrow was a rest day so a late night tonight, up until at least 9pm.