Holding our breath in Exmouth
With our cruising lifestyle, we are following the sun and spending a lot of time in the water exploring wherever we may find ourselves. Our time in the water is spent foraging for food to sustain a healthy and self-sustainable lifestyle as well as looking for, and appreciating, the environment and the wildlife within it. We literally feel like little kids again with a revitalised sense of curiousity that you get from exploring and immersing yourself in the natural environment. Who’d have thought there were so many colourful and interesting species of fish swimming just below the surface; a surface, when viewed from above, looks quite unremarkable.
We have always been ‘water people.’ Both of us have swimming and surf club backgrounds, so we feel comfortable in almost all conditions, but , at the same time, we are always alert to the potential dangers of currents, swell and other swimming nasties. We have both done a bit of scuba diving, Pete probably more so, having had his own tinnie for a few years, so we also understand the basics of diving and the associated hazards.
Learning more about freediving was a bit of a no brainer, as this is essentially what we are doing on a daily basis; albeit in generally shallow waters. We were wanting the opportunity to extend ourselves, and to do it safely. Can’t have those crays getting away as we re-surface for some much needed air! Extended time on the bottom is what we were after.
There is some common awareness about ‘shallow water blackout’, particularly due to a few high-profile deaths over the years and this is always one of the biggest risks when spending a lot of time freediving and breath holding. Putting ourselves in risky situations is not an option and we feel that education is the key in helping to keep us safe during our explorations!
If you want to learn more about Shallow Water Blackout, this link will take you to an interesting site: Shallow Water Blackout Prevention
Through our own salty dreamer, Jemma, we had met Liv, who is a free-diving instructor that splits her time between Lord Howe Island and Exmouth – sounds like a tough gig, hey! Liv has her own little enterprise called ‘Liv for the Sea’ @livforthesea.
We knew that Liv would be in Exmouth for the season, so we had made contact earlier in the year to try and tee up some freediving tuition around her schedule. Something customised to our needs. On Ningaloo, Liv runs a number of 5-day liveaboard freediving trips on a 38 foot Leopard catamaran, so it was just a case of working around these. Check out the footage on her Instagram to see some of the amazing whale and dolphin interactions they had on this season’s courses!
Prior to leaving Serrurier Island, Liv had sent through some reading (based on the Molchanov free-diving course) for us in preparation for our little course, so we were getting stuck into that and learning a lot. Natalia Molchanov was an amazing freediver who established a freediving education system for a variety of freediving levels; from the basics all the way to competition freediving.
The Origins of Excellence – Molchanovs
But, before we get wet, let’s talk about what else we got up to during our second stint in Exmouth for the season.
After a glassy, windless and whale-filled run from Serrurier Island, we motored into Exmouth Marina just after lunch and headed straight to the fuel dock to refuel Singularity. We were in neap tides, so there were no trawlers clogging up the fuel jetty. Thankfully, it was just a case of getting alongside and getting to the fuel bowser. We only needed about 100 litres and normally we would just do a jerry can run, but Exmouth is tricky logistically so it was just simpler and more efficient to pull up to the bowser.
Whilst we were refuelling, we heard someone shout our name. Ian and Katie Brown had just pulled up alongside, with Ian’s brother, Andrew in tow. They were on their way back in after a day’s fishing. A quick chat to organise a catchup at the pub to watch the Matildas, before moving over to the end of the T-jetty where we had a berth organised.
After the usual settling in, we touched base with Liv. Looking at the weather, we decided we’d need to quickly spring into action as we had a few days of light winds that would enable us to get out into the Exmouth Gulf and do some diving in some epic conditions. We weren’t looking to reach crazy depths; we just wanted to learn correct technique and extend our abilities safely.
First step was for Liv to come on board and spend a few hours going through some theory, as well as some basic breathing exercises. Liv is really passionate about freediving, so it was great spending time with her to understand some of the physiology of breath holding. Learning how to actually fill your lungs, rather than just take a puff of breath – which is effectively what we had been doing - was interesting and took a little getting used to. We practised some breath holds and Liv set us up with a great app called Freediving Trainer which will help us to continue to improve our breath holds over a period of time. There’s an app for everything these days which makes learning and improving so much easier and much more enjoyable!
With the theory covered, it was into Liv’s van and down to the Exmouth pool to put some of that theory into practice. The pool is closed this time of year – too cold! Strange but true. In fact, we remember when we first moved to Hedland in August 1994 and the pool was closed and we were like, What? We soon realised how cool it got at night which made the pool icy cold , especially if you had been in town for some time and had the opportunity to acclimatise. Same story in Exmouth…
Dive schools and instructors have access to the pool year around, so it was a case of letting ourselves in, removing the blanket off one half of the pool and getting wet. So, into the water we went, practising some breath holds, finning and then rescues. Some of it was a bit foreign to start with, but once we warmed to it, we started to familiarise ourselves with the pre and post dive steps so that when we got to the ocean it wouldn’t feel as if we were embarking on something totally new.
The weather looked great the next day, so the plan was to take Singularity out into the Gulf, find some space away from other boats and then do some line training. Line training is essentially dropping a weighted line straight down from a float to a desired depth and then swimming down the line before returning to the surface.
It was a breathtaking sort of Ningaloo day; light to no wind, blue skies, clear glassy water and whale action everywhere. We motored out about four miles east of the marina and found ourselves some nice open water, which was about 17metres deep.
Well, we thought we had found space to ourselves…. but those pesky whales! As soon as we stopped, we had whales left, right and centre. We were in the water, with Liv trying to teach us, and we had a continual procession of humpbacks buzzing past. It was almost comical; we’d be about to launch into ‘focus’ mode and one would appear. Whale song filled the water and whales were cruising past, just in our periphery, making it a little hard to concentrate. We swam around, hoping to catch an underwater glimpse as they glided past. You could here them, smell them and sense them, but they were just far enough away to stop us getting a clear underwater visual. Once we’d finished laughing and were able to let the excitement of the moment settle down, we finally got serious and started focusing on the task at hand; relaxing and then descending.
We spent a few hours line diving and practising the various techniques we had learnt. This also included diver rescue and recovery. Even though we were fully wetsuited up, we start to feel the cold. This was our prompt for lunch, along with some whale watching from the boat where we’d have some elevation and a better view of the antics going on around us.
Enjoying the show, we were able to warm up over lunch on the front deck. Conversations centred around all things cruising, diving and generally living life to its fullest. Liv is really passionate about the ocean which really shines through when you talk to her. We both learnt a lot and will now be able to put the new knowledge into practice as we continue to spend our days in the water. Thanks to Liv for a great few days. We look forward to watching you grow your brand and continue to inspire and educate others about freediving and the importance of looking after our oceans.
After a long day on the water, we reluctantly passed on the catchup with the Brown’s at the pub, instead having some chill time on the boat watching the Matildas beat France in a nail-biting penalty shoot-out. Katie then came and picked us up for dinner at their place. This was a great opportunity to catch up on all the news since we had last seen each other in Exmouth almost a year ago to the day. Thanks guys, the Korean BBQ and the company was amazing!
All the usual jobs were required to be completed whilst in town, so we set about ticking off the usual bits and bobs, which involved lots of walking into and out of town. The Brown’s were heading out on a charter for the day and they kindly offered us the use of their car whilst they were gone. We took this opportunity to drive out to Charles Knife canyon up on the Cape Range. We weren’t geared up for a hike, but were able to enjoy the stunning views out across the Gulf. Pretty specky! We also managed a lift into town with Casey and Beau who had borrowed a car from the Kirralana crew. We’re always so appreciative of the help we get from others when in town. Definitely makes life easier.
While waiting for a weather window to head south, we endured some gusty south easters and southerlies whilst tied up to the T-Jetty. We repaid the Brown’s for their hospitality by hosting them for dinner; fish tacos (coral trout of course 😊) whilst watching the Matildas semi-final against England. Not the result we were after, but, like the rest of Australia, pretty stoked with the team and their entire World Cup campaign. The socialising didn’t stop there as we also spent time getting to know our neighbours, John and Jenny on Aquabat, over a few drinks.
Sitting on the end of the T-jetty, there was the usual run of boats to and from the boat ramp keeping us entertained. There are a number of superyachts tied up just around the corner in a little commercial precinct so we zipped around in Bob one afternoon to check them out. Looking on in awe one evening, we watched Platinum quietly slipping past us on their way to their superyacht berth. Always a bit of a sight to have a 100+ foot yacht cruising past 25 metres away!
Our weather arrived and, as per usual, we faced an ugly start out of the marina on a stiff south easterly that would take us around to Tantabiddi, and south once more. A little short-term pain for long-term gain :)