New places!

My traveler's heart just loves the adventure of new places. Seeing Dean's Blue Hole for the first time was a moment I have been looking forward to for ages. It's as magic as it sounds, with eerie darkness and a stillness that is unique to this place. Add to that a little yellow island house to live in, white sandy Bahamas beaches, and freediving buddies around, and what's not to love about this freediving life?

I've been taking it easy on depth since I don't like to rush depth adaptation and my break has been too long to take risks. So while all around me people are pushing to new limits, I have come to the only logical conclusion: I must dive shallow.

Since I have learned some time ago that I don't enjoy competition without at least a bit of a challenge,  the only logical thing is to finally face my nemesis, the one discipline I have resisted: constant weight no fins. Oh noooooooooo! Let the nightmare begin, is all I can say. Why would anyone do this if one can strap a perfectly good monofin to one's feet? It's mystifying.

After some thought and a lot of whining, I did hit upon a (very clever, I might add) training strategy: do as few of these awful dives as possible! Yes. That sounded like a clever plan. Until I found myself diving to 40m, 45m and 50m in three days, that is. Rarely have I done something quite so terrifying in freediving. It would not have been possible without my freediving friends around who provided me with therapy before and after the dives.

If mentally tough, physically the dives were surprisingly fine. This is clearly due to the hard work of devil crossfit coach Sebastian Werner as well as the entire crew at Spree Crossfit - if I couldn't get water time this winter, at least I grew enough muscles to get me back to the surface.

The annual Vertical Blue competition starts tomorrow. It's time to face my announcement devil and reign him in.

Be a pro, Anna, be a pro, be a pro....!