Mexican Freediving Records

I am very proud to say that not only did my good friend and colleague Estrella break a ton of Freediving records, but one of my tec diving students Maja provided all the deep water supervision and safety diving up to 50 meters plus. To check out photos from the event check my facebook pages

Here is a press release from Estrella´s trainer Aharon Solomons:

The Cortez Cup Challenge was concieved to give my students a chance to experience competition , to make marks and break Mexican National records. In this we had a resounding success 6 National records broken by 3 of the Freediver’s Students . There were no Blackouts and no disqualifications in this competition .
In my estimation we had a narrow window of opportunity before the Northerly winds and winter water temperatures put an end to our aspirations till the summer of 2011.

One of the problems we faced was lack of personal equipment by all the students .Only Estrella and Gonzalo had equipment , Estrella had an excellent monfin a very good suit provided by her sponsors Costa Baja , and her liquid goggles , neck weight , weight belt and nose clip were provided by her trainer , Aharon. Gonzalo had complete equipment , but Esteban had only a suit so was limited to doing
dynamic no fins in the pool and Free Immersion and Constant Weight no Fins in the sea .
Linton had no equipment at all , so was limited to doing dynamic no fins in the pool.
Mario had a suit ,neck weight and mask but was no better off than Esteban.

Estrella has a natural aquacity from her swimming back ground , she is , like her brother, a competitive swimmer, and has tremendous genetic advantage ,tall slender and we will not discuss the rest of it !!
She very quickly mastered the correct classic style with the monofin and the under water adaptations of the breast stroke for the no fins disciplines . She aquired an excellent breath hold of 4 mins . static in her first week of training . Later she mastered the techniques of equalisation at depth that permitted her to do her 50mt Constant weight Record with the monofin and 40 mts just swimming down .C.N.F.

In this event Estrella took 4 Mexican National records and each one by a huge margin , shattering the former records.
50mts Constant weight Swimming down and back with the monofin
40mts Constant weight no Fins Swimming down and back breast stroke

and in the pool
100 mts Dynamic no fins
128 mts dynamic with the monofin
Estrella has enormous potential and next year can aspire to achieving a very high International ranking.
This is well worth keeping a eye on !

Esteban came to me 3 months ago he had only a suit and mask and therefore was limited in the pool to Dynamic no fins and in the sea to FIM ( pulling down the line and back ) .He did a swimming test with me and his swimming at this point was not good enough to attempt freediving ,so I suggested he learn to swim with Linton ,he practiced 2 months with Linton and I kept tabs on his progress , it tunred out to be a very successfull combination and I accepted him for freedive training , his progress was also astonishing and after only 1 months training he broke the Mexican National record formerly held by Manuel Gonzalez
also a student of the Freedivers from La Paz , With an excellent swim of 78mts . He went on to do a 30 mt free immersion dive and a personal best in the sea .
Linton who only trained with me intermittantly for 3 weeks beat Esteban’s record the following day with a great swim of 84 mts no fins thus taking the Mexican National record .He shows great promise if he can overcome equalisation difficulties ,which will permit him torealise his truepotential in depth .
Gonzalo did a course with me 2 years ago and has a superb style with Bi -Fins and an excellent breath hold , however his main interest is in spear fishing ,where he is establishing an international reputation today .
Mario is totally involved with his thesis and post graduate work and his training for this event was nearly non existant , although he had trained with us in the past , he has a 6 and three quarter min breath hold and also has an excellent potential in depth . He did a very creditable 50mts no fins dynamic and declared 40 mts free immersion in the sea which he was unable to complete due to the flu that seems to be going around La Paz.
Edna who is one of the countries top Master”s and long distance swimmers joined us just for fun and to experience breath hold diving and did a 39 mt no fins swim without any training .
The Judges were Ben Weis of the USA and Maria Teresa Solomonsof the freedivers , herself a 70mt
Diver in constant weight ( depth ) and one of the 4 topwomen in the world . She took two gold medals in the depth events in the intrnational competition in Greecee this summer and representedthe UK in the international team competition in Okinawa in july.

Images were provided by Luke Inman and in the pool by Gonzala Mata . Costa Baja sponsored the competition providing the boat and crew for 3 days , they also bought Estrella’s suit and flew in Ben Weis and sponsored his accomodation and food.
Thanks must also be offered to the Staff of the Gum and Prof Hirales who helped and supported us with unfaiing good humour throughout the training.
Much more can be expected from these atheletes in 2011 and may well be that the entire national team
will come from La Paz for the international team competition in 2012.
The Freedivers continue their commitment to develope and sponsor exceptional atheletes in Mexico and support the National organisation.

IDC and Tec Classes

Another successful IDC and Tec Instructor class finished. Congratulations to Chloe, Natalia, Maja, Luis and Wesley….

Poseidon Mark 6 Rebreather

I would like to congratulate, Maria, Vincent, Romain & Olly for successfully completing their Poseidon Mark 6 Rebreather Course in Playa Del Carmen. I was impressed with the students and impressed with the units….here is a little snippet from Poseidon´s website about the Mark 6:

The Poseidon Discovery is the world’s first rebreather for recreational divers. It’s a fully-closed, fully-automated unit that will make you see diving in a different light.

The system comprises a breathing loop (mouthpiece, hoses, counter  lungs and backpack) with associated electronics module, and two independent gas cylinders. One contains 100% compressed oxygen which is added to the breathing loop as the diver consumes it. The second cylinder typically contains compressed air “diluent” to compensate for compression in the breathing loop as the diver goes deeper. It’s also a back-up system, containing enough oxygen for the diver to breathe directly in an emergency.

The dive is fully managed by onboard computers, with two continuously recalibrating sensors constantly monitoring oxygen levels, and dive information recorded in the removable battery module. The hand-held control unit displays depth, cylinder pressure, and oxygen concentration. The system is also equipped with a number of active warning systems.

To begin the dive, the diver must ensure that the battery is charged, the bottles are filled with gas and the pre-packaged scrubber is attached. The computer then performs a thorough pre-dive test to ensure that all parts of the system are functioning properly before the dive is allowed to proceed.

Light, safe and simple to use, the Discovery is designed not only for seasoned divers, but for those who are new to the experience. With so much less to do, you’re free to concentrate on the dive itself. And with no bubbles to frighten the sea life, it’s a dive you’ll enjoy more than ever. It’s also a dive you can enjoy for longer, with the potential to stay under water for up to three hours at a maximum depth of 40 m.

At just 18 kilos (39.6 lbs) fully gassed up and ready to dive, the Discovery MkVI weighs less than many dive tanks weigh on their own. And minus tanks and canister, it weighs just 8 kilos (17.6 lbs), making it easy to travel with.

I have been diving rebreather since 1997. My first rebreather was a semi-closed Dolphin unit and back then I could not have recommended the experience enough as an introduction to rebreathers. The unit was simple and fun to use, the only thing I disliked was the tedious filling of scrubber cartridges.

Since then I have progress to teaching and diving a range of Closed Circuit units and owner and user of a Steam Machines Prism. I have completed over several hundred hours diving the Prism and the unit is simple, easy to breathe and consistently performed excellent in varied conditions. The best feature of the prism is the reliable analogue PO2 gauge allowing you to dive the unit manually, even without batteries. I successfully used the unit to tag hammerhead sharks in the Sea or Cortez and the Pacific Ocean. The unit also performed excellently during various broadcast productions and proved to be humpbolt Squid proof.

However, regardless of the unit, I never found anything exciting or fun about filling and emptying absorbent cartridges. Now, don´t for one moment think that I ever underestimated the importance and safety requirements of preparing a rebreather scrubber. It has to be taken as seriously as packing a parachute…..but that does not stop it being boring and time consuming.

I was so impressed with the new Poseidon Mark 6 Discovery CCR unit, mainly for the disposable scrubber cartridges that is uses. To find out more about learning to use one drop me an email

Driving Across Mexico

Driving six thousand kilometers, across Mexico from La Paz to Playa Del Carmen sounds daunting but it is easy and fun. Our journey started by taking the ferry to Mazatlan. The ferry crossing takes 12 hours and it was smooth sailing with great food and great service.

The ferry leaves in the evening, which allows you to eat and then sleep for the crossing. Waking up in time to see the approach to Mazatlan. From Mazatlan we drove on the toll roads to Guadalajara and met up with Juan Pedro from Azul Sin Limites to ensure we had all the spares we needed for the Rebreather course in Playa Del Carmen.

We did our best to avoid Mexico City, but due to the toll road being closed, we had to drift in to mexico city for what we hoped would be a few hours and turned out to be almost an entire day with a little…..as Obi Wan Kenobi would say “an Imperial Entanglements”….Once the police had been dealt with we continued on to Cordoba as our next stop. From Cordoba we made it to Merida for the night and arrived in Playa the following day in time for lunch.

If your planning to drive across Mexico, ensure you always try and use the toll roads, your journey may be a little expensive, but your save DAYS in travel time!

Azul Marino Restaurant

Napoleon said “An Army Marches on it´s Belly” and he was right. I am used to being fed well during productions. Shooting all the promotional photographs for the best restaurant in La Paz became more like being on a gourmet cooking show than work.

Azul Marino consistently offers the best food in La Paz. Situated in the pueblo marinero in Costa Baja. The restaurant in owned an run by sisters Cristina and Margarita. Margarita runs front of house and Cristina is the chef. Everything about the place is welcoming and friendly.  The food is second to none and they have a very impressive cellar.

I thank Margarita and Cristina for the work and all the wonderful food they provided me with during my week shooting there.