Freediving means diving underwater on one breath. You breathe at the surface, hold your breath, dive down, and come back up to breathe again. No tank, no regulator, no bubbles. What you carry down is the air in your lungs and whatever calm you managed to find before you left the surface.
People come to it for different reasons. Some want to see more of the sea than a snorkeller does from the surface. Some like the idea of a quiet sport that rewards patience rather than effort. Some are spearfishers or underwater photographers who want to stay down longer and more safely. And some simply saw a video of someone gliding down a line into blue water and wanted to know what it feels like.
What freediving is, and what it is not
At its core, freediving is a skill of relaxation. The longer and deeper dives come not from forcing yourself to hold on, but from spending less oxygen: relaxed muscles, slow movements, a quiet mind. That is why beginners often progress so fast. The first gains come from learning to stop fighting the water.
The other skill is equalisation. As you go down, water pressure squeezes the air spaces in your ears and mask. You learn to add a little air to your ears as you descend, the same way you might on a plane, only more often and more deliberately. Most of the early work with an instructor is about getting that right.
Freediving is not about holding your breath until it hurts, and it is not a test of bravery. A good freedive ends with you back at the surface, breathing easily, with plenty in reserve.
Freediving, snorkelling and scuba: the difference
- Snorkelling keeps you at the surface, breathing through a tube and looking down. Snorkellers sometimes duck under for a few seconds. Freediving is what happens when you learn to do that properly: with technique, depth and safety.
- Scuba diving uses a tank of compressed air, so you can stay underwater for a long time at depth. It needs more equipment and has its own training and rules. There is nothing to hold your breath for, and you should never hold your breath while breathing from a tank.
- Freediving sits between the two. Dives are short, usually a minute or two, but you are free of equipment and moving on your own power.
If what you are really after is scuba, we do not teach it. Our partner in Plakias does, and there is a link to them at the end of this page.
What a first freediving session in Plakias looks like
No experience is needed. You should be comfortable in the water and able to swim about 200 m, and you fill in a short medical questionnaire before training. A first session follows a simple shape.
On land first
We start out of the water, with breathing and relaxation. You learn how to breathe before a dive (slowly, not deeply and quickly), how to recover afterwards, and how to equalise your ears. You also learn the basic safety system: one diver goes down, one watches from the surface, and nobody dives unwatched.
Then into calm water
Most of our sessions are at Schinaria Beach, a clear cove east of Plakias with real depth close to shore. You float at a buoy with a line hanging down from it, and an instructor is beside you the whole time. You pull yourself down the line a few metres, turn, and come back up. Then you rest, breathe and do it again, a little calmer each time.
Groups are small: never more than four students per instructor. That is what lets the instructor watch every single dive.
What people reach
Over a two to three day beginner course, most people reach somewhere between 10 and 20 m and a breath-hold of two to three minutes. That surprises nearly everyone. The numbers are not the point, but they show how much of freediving is technique that can be taught.
Courses and certifications
A first taster with us is Discover Freediving: two to three days, no experience needed, and a real introduction to breath-hold training and your first dives on a line. If you want a recognised certification, we teach Molchanovs, SSI and AIDA levels, all valid worldwide. All equipment is included in courses. You will find each option on our freediving courses page and every price on the pricing page.
If the sea is not safe on the day, we reschedule the session or refund you in full.
The safety rules that matter most
Freediving has a small number of rules that are not negotiable:
- Never freedive alone. Always dive with a trained buddy watching you from the surface.
- One up, one down. While one person dives, the other watches until the diver is back, breathing and has spoken or signalled that they are fine.
- No hyperventilating. Breathing fast and deep before a dive feels like it helps. It does not. It hides the warning signs your body sends you and makes blackout more likely.
- Never practise breath-holds in water on your own, not even in a pool or bath.
Our guide on how to hold your breath longer explains the reasons behind these rules in more detail.
What to bring
Swimwear, a towel, sunscreen and water. We provide the specialised equipment: long fins, low-volume mask, wetsuit and weight belt. If you want to understand what each piece does before you arrive, read our freediving gear guide.
Fitting a session into a Plakias holiday
A first session is a good morning's activity rather than a whole-holiday commitment. Mornings are usually calmest on the water, which leaves the afternoon for a beach, a walk or lunch. Non-divers in your group can stay on the beach at Schinaria while you are in the water. For ideas for the rest of the trip, see the Plakias guide by our partners at Scuba Diving Crete.
Looking for scuba diving? Our partner in Plakias, Scuba Diving Crete, runs try dives and SSI courses. Explore scuba diving in Crete