Equipment Outfitters

Swimming into the deepest reaches of the ocean is a feat that many divers have experienced to a degree. Some may go below 200 feet (60m), others deeper. All would be lost without the air they bring with them. There is a special breed of diver who can go deeper than most, without air tanks. These freedivers have pushed the limits of unassisted breathing dives to below 400 feet.

Tofreedive to depths of even 50 feet (15m) is an unsettling prospect for all but the strongest swimmers. To dive much deeper requires holding a breath for minutes. In fact, the world’s best freedivers hold their breath for periods that rival many marine mammals. Read the rest of this entry »

The mysteries of the sea have driven many to brave the ocean depths to experience first-hand what it feels like to live beneath the water’s surface. Those who pioneered modern scuba did so at great risk—our bodies were not meant to breathe under water, nor were they meant to breathe under the pressure of millions of pounds of liquid. As you go deeper into the sea, your body is no longer able to use the air you breathe as effectively as above the surface. As a result, hundreds of diving fatalities occur each year.

MAN’S SEARCH for a means to breathe underwater can be traced back to the ancient Romans, when early divers used a floatation device to support airhoses attached to leather helmets to provide oxygen. It was not until 1819 that deep-sea diving became a practical reality, when German inventor Augustus Siebein developed the bulky brass dive helmet linked to an air compressor back on the ship. Read the rest of this entry »

Snorkeling is a pleasurable way to swim gently along the beach or in clear waters where fish and reefs are in view. The detail from the surface, or up close in the shallow areas, is what most swimmers equate with snorkeling. However there is a darker, deeper, and extreme type of snorkeling that few would consider doing without a tank, if at all.

Blue water hunters are a combination of freediver and spearfisher, and swim down slowly into the water, careful not to disturb any of the larger, and tastier, inhabitants. The diver must maintain a state of calm and heightened awareness in order to get a glimpse of the big fish they seek to catch. Quiet, methodical movements are the only way extreme snorkelers will avoid scaring their prey. Read the rest of this entry »