{"id":39363,"date":"2017-10-11T19:00:54","date_gmt":"2017-10-11T23:00:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/?p=39363"},"modified":"2023-05-06T16:50:15","modified_gmt":"2023-05-06T20:50:15","slug":"freediving-in-tonga","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/freediving-in-tonga\/","title":{"rendered":"Freediving in Tonga"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\n\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\"freediving\" <\/div>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n
\n The lack of bulky gear makes it a perfect physical activity for cruisers who are looking for a healthy pastime \u2014 or want to be better at spearfishing.<\/span>\n Kate MacBain<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\t <\/figcaption>\n <\/section>\n\t\t\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m floating in the electric-\u00adblue water of Tonga\u2019s Vava\u2018u group. My goal is relaxation. It shouldn\u2019t be that hard here, 50 meters from the white shores of a tiny tropical paradise. Then again, I\u2019m not floating on the surface, cocktail in hand. I am facedown, taking deep breaths through a snorkel in preparation for a 30-foot descent. I will hold my breath for nearly two minutes while the cheery island of \u2018Eua\u2019iki and its clacking coconut palms, thatched-roof fales and smells of lunch wound up in the breeze are left at the surface. I\u2019ll need to focus, but I\u2019ll also need to be calm as I descend into my brief underwater existence, where, if everything comes together, I\u2019ll find myself suspended in another world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

This is Day One of my freediving certification course, and I\u2019m immediately hooked. Freediving is a pure form of sport, involving almost no equipment and an uncluttered mind. On a purely athletic level, it\u2019ll whip you into shape if you take it seriously. For those of us who are keen to stay fit while cruising but are less than thrilled with the idea of downward dog on the foredeck every morning, freediving is the perfect practice. It also puts you on a more level playing field with fish, so when you select and spear your own dinner instead of reeling in whatever you happen to hook, you can truly say you worked for it. For me, it\u2019s a combination of all these things.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

Tonga is an incredible place, and seemingly designed for learning the essentials of freediving. The numerous islands that make up the Vava\u2018u group have steep drop-offs, so divers can ease into deeper water as they progress rather than plunge immediately into the deep blue or, worse, have to be surrounded by the concrete walls, chlorine stench and fluorescent lighting of an indoor pool. The Vava\u2018u group also is perfectly set up for leisurely cruising. There are lots of sandy anchorages, protected bays and a lively little main harbor. No anchorage is more than a few hours\u2019 sail from the next, so short trips between islands don\u2019t require advanced planning. Sundowners and barbecues at picturesque anchorages happen all too frequently, which, if you\u2019re like me, is dangerous to maintaining an ideal level of fitness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

\n\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\"freediving\" <\/div>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n
\n Freediving is beautiful in its simplicity.<\/span>\n Kate MacBain<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\t <\/figcaption>\n <\/section>\n\t\t\n\n\n\n

Until I began freediving, I only partook in two forms of exercise while living aboard: grinding winches and walking long distances, carrying as many overstuffed grocery bags as each shoulder could bear. And I was attending happy hour more often than I care to admit. I badly missed running \u2014 the challenge of it, the way my body had to work in sync, the feelings of accomplishment and pride at having pushed myself after a tough session, and the lucidity that came after a long run. I missed needing only a pair of shoes to get a glimpse of the outdoors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

Freediving relit that athletic flame for me. Unlike scuba, I didn\u2019t need a bulky buoyancy compensator or oxygen tank to re-establish my connection with nature, and as I progressed, the psychological aspect of the sport became more significant too. I began paying more attention to the daily influences on my state of mind and the minute patterns in\u00a0my breathing. I paid close attention\u00a0to my diet. With practice, I was not only able to dive deeper and hold my breath longer, but I began to feel stronger, more agile, and to regain the mental clarity that I\u2019d felt I\u2019d lost along with regular \ncardio exercise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

Why, as someone who spends every day on the water, it took me so long to discover this sport, I\u2019m not sure. But when I found myself 30 feet below, focused but calm, physically challenged and mentally aware, I knew I would continue. For a brief moment, blueness and silence enveloped me. Then my diaphragm began contracting, a signal that it was time to ascend. The fish that had scattered at first encounter now swam near me, curiosity prevailing over fear. To my left, the sandbank rose gently toward where I\u2019d watched from shore earlier as a school of baitfish moved as one unit, hunted by cunning needlefish. To my right, nothing but depthless blue. Whales sang in the distance. Time melted. I felt nowhere and everywhere all at once. I was a world away, just like I\u2019d set out to be.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Cruisers in Tonga discover freediving and are immediately hooked on the simple elegance of a healthy pastime.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":19658,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"BS_author_type":"BS_author_is_guest","BS_guest_author_name":"Kate MacBain","BS_guest_author_url":"","hydra_display_date":"20171011","hydra_display_updated":false,"_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":"162","_yoast_wpseo_metadesc":"Cruisers in Tonga discover freediving and are immediately hooked on the simple elegance of a healthy pastime.","_yoast_wpseo_title":"Freediving in Tonga %%sep%% %%sitename%%","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","arc_story_id":"VRKMYJUF4DRZ3RGJQ63WUFSX4U","arc_website_url":"freediving-in-tonga\/","custom_permalink":"freediving-in-tonga\/","arc_subtype":"right-sidebar","arc_exclude_from_feeds":false,"sponsored":false,"sponsored_label":"Sponsored Content","sponsored_display_label":false,"sponsored_image":0,"post_right_rail":true,"post_right_rail_ad_1":true,"post_right_rail_ad_2":true,"post_right_rail_ad_3":false,"post_right_rail_ad_4":false,"post_right_rail_recirc":true,"fixed_anchor_ad":true,"post_top_ad":true,"post_off_ramp":true,"post_taboola":false,"labels":false,"apple_news_api_created_at":"","apple_news_api_id":"","apple_news_api_modified_at":"","apple_news_api_revision":"","apple_news_api_share_url":"","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":false,"apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":"\"\"","apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[162],"tags":[205,345,347,346,241,333],"acf":[],"apple_news_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39363"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39363"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39363\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19658"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39363"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39363"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39363"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}