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Quick answers
Which local rescue or training agency should I check first?
Use the local lens: coastguard/federation norms and the shop briefing for that bay — not a blog visibility claim.
What is AIDA?
The International Association for the Development of Apnea, a major sport and education body for competitive freediving.
How deep do recreational freedivers go?
Many club divers spend years in the 10–20 m band. Depth is not a personality.
Is a course required?
Not by most beaches. It is required by anyone who wants a safety culture. This page is not a card.
What is shallow-water blackout?
A loss of consciousness from hypoxia, often near the surface on the way up. The safety chapter covers the culture; this is not a medical text.
Can scuba divers just freedive?
Equalisation and lungs work differently. A scuba card is not a freedive education.
Freediving’s distinctive risk is hypoxic blackout, often near the surface. The dedicated freedive-safety chapter is the longer text. This page only states the culture: buddy, no hyperventilation, no solo depth.
This is not medical advice and not a rescue protocol.
Hazards
- Shallow-water blackout — Hypoxia on ascent or at the surface.
- Deep blackout — Less common in rec depths, still real.
- Equalisation injury — Ears and sinuses.
- Boat traffic — A small head, a long time underwater.
- Solo depth — The recurring fatality pattern.
- Combining with scuba the same day — A gas-loading question for a course, not a guess.
Rules
- Buddy for any depth dive — The rule.
- No hyperventilation as a trick — CO2 is a warning system.
- Turn early — Ego is not a depth gauge.
- Stay at the surface after — Until clearly recovered.
- Read the safety chapter — It exists because this paragraph is not enough.
Red flags
- A “try dive” to 20 m on day one — Walk.
- A partner filming instead of spotting — The camera is not a buddy.
- Tingling or tunnel vision — Stop the session. Not a diagnosis.
- Anyone urging one more deeper dive — The session is over.
First response
- Call the safety diver / emergency services — Blackout response is a taught course skill.
- Do not invent a protocol from a film — The Big Blue is not a manual.
- Not medical advice — Clinicians and courses, not this atlas.
If this section felt short, that is because freedive-safety is the next topic. Use it.