Malta has lots going for it for freediving including amazing visibility of 30m+ and impressive underwater topography including caves and caverns. One thing that always stands out to our divers visiting Malta at One Breath Freediving is the abundance and accessibility of shipwrecks available to see.

Here I have made a list of our favourite wrecks for freediving. All have been sunk on purpose as an artificial reef and diving attraction and all are in the depth range (or viewing range) of 10-20m. Next to each listing is a link that takes you to a video of the wreck on the OBF YouTube channel so you can get a better impression of the amazing experience that is wreck freediving here.

I hope you enjoy. Let us know in the comments which is your favourite wreck to freedive!

1) Patrol Boat P-29:
LOCATION: Cirkewwa | DEPTH: 20-35m | VIDEO: HERE
​Former East German patrol boat built in 1960's before being sold to the Maltese navy in 1997. Scuttled as a diving attraction in 2007. Sits in 35m of water at Cirkewwa in North Malta, this is one of the wrecks we see most as we frequently train at this location. 52m long and 8m wide and sister ship to P-31 in Comino.

HIGHLIGHT: 
Seeing the dark shape below from the surface and if able to dive just to 10-15m above it, gives an amazing view of the whole ship, so perfect for new freedivers and as a first wreck.

2) Tug 2:
LOCATION: Sliema | DEPTH: 12-20m | VIDEO: HERE
A former working tug from the Valetta port, this boat was sunk in 2013 as a diving attraction and artificial reef. It is quite a swim from shore (10 min surface swim) but well worth the effort as it is a great looking wreck in a typical 'tug' form. Doors and windows are all removed to make it safe for divers to explore.

HIGHLIGHT:
Perfect depth and size for freediving on and to access safely inside. Great fun and ideal for making cool freediving videos.

3) Um El Faroud:
LOCATION: Wied Iz Zurrieq | DEPTH: 15-35m | VIDEO: HERE
This former oil tanker is an impressive 115m long and 16m wide and sits on the seabed at 35m in two parts having been broken apart in a particularly fierce storm. This part of the coast is susceptible to strong currents so this particular wreck is more suitable for advanced freedivers. If you are lucky and probably with a strong current present, you might see schooling Barracuda around the upper decks.  See photo above for this ship being positioned for sinking.

HIGHLIGHT: 
The pure size of this wreck is immense and amazing to see for the very first time. The propeller is very impressive if you are comfortable down at 35m.

4) Patrol Boat P-31:
LOCATION: Comino | DEPTH: 10-20m | VIDEO: HERE
This is the sister ship of the P-29 at Cirkewwa so shares the same specifications but sits shallower on a sandy bottom at 20m deep making it another wreck perfect for all levels of freediver. Scuttled in 2009 it is still in good condition as it is sheltered from the worst storms. Accessing the wreck is by boat as it lies off the uninhabited island of Comino. Beware of other boat traffic, especially in the summer months.

HIGHLIGHT: 
Being able to see the whole wreck from the surface (see photo above) is amazing. So also perfect for snorkellers. Often lots of scuba divers which adds more fun with the accompanying bubbles.

5) MV Scotscraig:
​LOCATION: Anchor Bay | DEPTH: 10-20m | VIDEO: HERE
This wreck has an interesting history as it was used for the Popeye movie (1980), firstly to transport the material into the secluded bay to construct the film set, and then in the movie itself. The boat is a river ferry 25m in length and relatively wide, sitting at 20m depth on a mix of rocks and seagrass. The visibility here is never great by Maltese standards (15m maybe) and it is a LONG swim (or better by kayak) just North of Anchor Bay.

HIGHLIGHT: 
Not frequently dived on because of its more isolated location, so feels more of a real 'discovery' and the marine life can be more abundant because of this.
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Come freediving with One Breath Freediving to see these and more wrecks in Malta. Exploring and fun freediving sessions available to already certified freedivers.
Interested in deeper and historical wrecks in Malta? At this underwater museum website you can view numerous amazing Maltese shipwrecks in a 3D interactive experience: HERE
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By David Watson, Owner, Founder & Head Instructor / AIDA Instructor Trainer at One Breath Freediving

1). Learn to Swim / Practice Swimming:
This is the biggest one. How will you be able to be relaxed in the water and focus on learning freediving if you are scared or worried by just being in the water? There is already a lot to learn about technique in freediving without your attention being mainly on trying to stay afloat or stress from having water touching your face. So be realistic about your ability. If you go to the pool for a pool party and stand in the shallow end with a drink in your hand, this doesn't count as training or being a swimmer! You don't have to be an olympic level swimmer to freedive but being able to stay afloat without panic and swim continuously for 5-10 minutes can make a huge difference for a trainee freediver.
(AIDA1 has a swim requirement of 100m, AIDA2 has a swim requirement of 200m, both are non-stop swimming, any stroke, no time limit) 

2). Practice Relaxed Breathing:
Breathing is the foundation of freediving. On the course you will learn the correct breathing for freediving, and how you can control your breath. Remember, we can control how we breath, whether it is fast or slow or deep or shallow. Start by lying down comfortably and breathing relaxed but a little deeper (always through the mouth!), so that when you breathe in, you feel the diaphragm muscle move down into the space where our stomach is (hence why we call this 'belly breathing'). Try this and feel how your heart rate will slow and you can practice relaxing all the muscles of your body at the same time, creating a calm and relaxed state (which is also great for stress relief!)

3). Feel the 'Urge to Breathe':
Doing a dry breath hold following on from the relaxed breathing, explained above, is a safe way to feel what signals our body will give us when it tells us it wants to breathe again. So take a big, full  breath after a couple of minutes of the relaxed breathing and try holding until you feel the diaphragm (breathing muscle) start to contract and moving a little bit or you feel a warm sensation there. This is the urge to breathe and although we can safely hold beyond this urge, we are not used to experiencing this sensation or challenging it ever in our lives, so this will feel new. Before the course you can experience this and try holding 5-15 seconds (count down in your head) after you first feel it and see how you are still perfectly ok afterwards. This type of practice then, is great mental and physical training for the urge to breathe we feel as a freediver!

4). Practice Ear Equalisation:
Ear equalisation is the most challenging part of freediving for beginners as it is something we rarely do ever in our day to day lives! Chances are, even if you are a scuba diver you are doing it inefficiently as they only teach the very basics of it on a scuba course. On the freediving course you will learn about doing ear equalisation correctly and efficiently for freediving, but most people will benefit greatly from practicing and training this in the weeks and months leading up to the course. You will be provided with guidance on this in by your instructor in preparation for the course, but start by looking up Frenzel equalisation technique and Valsalva Maneuver (us freedivers want to do FRENZEL as it is much more efficient).

5). Read the Course Manual:
​Once you are signed up for the freediving course you will receive access to the relevant AIDA freediving course manual. It goes without saying that by reading this before the course starts you will be in a better position to understand the concepts once they are explained to you by the instructor during the course. Also, you can test your knowledge of the manual by answering the test questions at the end of each chapter. Most beginners are surprised how much theory there is to know in freediving. There is a 100+ page manual for EACH level (AIDA2, AIDA3, AIDA4), introducing new concepts to help you dive deeper, although the foundation knowledge comes on the first level course (AIDA2).

IMPORTANT:
It goes without saying that these 5 tips alone do not make you a safe and competent freediver and definitely do not replace taking the freediving course! But with these 5 steps you can ensure you are prepared and ready to experience your adventure with One Breath Freediving!
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In this blog post I wanted to introduce you to the One Breath Freediving philosophy and also to look more specifically of why it is important as a teacher (instructor) to also have a teaching philosophy. Those of you that have freedived with myself will know already that I have my own beliefs on how freediving should be experienced, especially when it is introduced to beginners.

A teaching philosophy is common among professional educators, especially in a classroom setting but of course there is no reason it cannon't be successfully transferred to what we do in and out of the water in freediving. Here are some points of what might constitute a good teacher and be part of their/your philosophy. It is by no means exhaustive so feel free to add in the comments anything else that you believe is important. 
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• I believe a good teacher, first, has a powerful faith in the future. As Henry Adams says in the quote you see above, how and what you teach someone can be passed on and on and on and far beyond, affecting peoples lives in ways we might not imagine and will never get to see.
• A good teacher must understand motivation and the effects of peer interactions on learning. That most learning occurs through social interaction but at the same time,  a competitive environment is not healthy. Promoting curiosity and the broadening of knowledge for self improvement is key.
• A good teacher must know their subjects and how to help students learn those subjects. How to link relevant pieces of the jigsaw together to create the bigger picture and make the subject come alive.
• A good teacher cannot begin or continue to inspire learning without being a learner. The good teacher must constantly learn what is new in the discipline(s) that they teach.
• A teacher is a powerful role model and should be ever aware of the awesome obligation of needing to “walk the talk” with their students. If asking them to live their values and beliefs, the teacher must do the same.​

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Maybe the teacher’s greatest gift to the learner is helping the learner be motivated to think, and then to want to learn more.....

One thing that I get asked about by students and customers often, or find that there is a lot of confusion around, is sea conditions and how the weather effects us as free divers. When I talk about "waiting to see how the weather is on X day" a new diver or non-diver will often think about if the sun is out or if it might rain, which is of much less importance to us than the wind strength. Lets be clear: freediving in strong wind is not fun! For scuba divers, they can get in and go down and not feel the effects too much, while trying to relax on the surface can be quite a challenge in even moderate wind or chop.

So lets look at 4 of the main sea conditions that can be experienced:

Wind (Chop): The effect of the wind passing horizontally over the surface of the water causes localised waves which can range from small and insignificant to large and powerful (see Beaufort Wind Scale). Wind does not necessarily cause sea current and can often be in completely the opposite direction!
Wikipedia WIND information HERE

Tide: The rising and falling of the sea, usually twice in one lunar day due to the attraction between the moon and sun. Therefore tides are a predictable factor and in many parts of the world regularly updated and accurate 'Tide Tables' are available, mainly to help with shipping and other sea traffic.
Fact: The Mediterranean Sea does not get strong tides due to the narrow inlet at the Straits of Gibraltar that connects it to The Atlantic Ocean.
Wikipedia TIDE information HERE

Current: The movement of the water, often in a horizontal direction, often caused by water temperature differences. There can be ocean currents on a predictable global scale as well as more local currents
Wikipedia CURRENT information HERE
NOAA information HERE

Swell: This comes from distant weather conditions rather than local. Often in the sea it is experienced as the residual effect after a period of strong wind, where it is no longer locally windy but there is still a distinct up and down movement of the water, most noticeable on the shore line. Swell can travel thousands of kilometres through the sea.
Wikipedia SWELL information HERE


To efficiently read the weather, an app such as Windfinder (and more so the 'Pro' version which gives more detailed information). is a must for anyone that is in or on the sea on a regular basis. Also, the use of the 'Beaufort Wind Scale' is an invaluable way to gauge prevailing wind conditions purely by sight. Wikipedia information HERE

I hope you found this blog post interesting, let me know your thoughts in the comments.

We all know the main equipment we need for a successful freediving session or to go exploring in the sea.  It's a pretty standard kit list: mask, snorkel, wetsuit, weights & belt, fins.
Maybe if you are an extreme 'minimalist freediver' you might go in the water with only a swimming costume and mask / goggles (see an extremely  impressive take on this in the video below!)

But in this blog post I wanted to share with you all 5 pieces of equipment I keep in my dive bag or in the car that could potentially save your freediving session:

1. (Johnson's Baby) Shampoo -A cheap and little known way to keep your mask from fogging up. Apply inside the lens before getting in the water, and rinse out before putting on, to guarantee a clear view all session! This has saved the day for me or my students more than once after masks that should have been good after multiple treatments with the flame of a lighter, still fogged up.
2. Fin Retainers - Cheap and small these can mean that if you forget your neoprene  socks you can still use your fins and dive. If someone else with smaller feet needs to borrow your fins they can still be used. I use them all the time as it gives a more secure fin fit and transfers more of the power each kick to the blade (See: https://massdiving.com/products/full_foot_fin_retainers)
3. Emergency Whistle - Small and discrete I have these attached to all the buoys I use for teaching. Perfect to attract attention or give a warning in an emergency situation (See: https://www.ndiver-rescue.com/peeless-whistle)
4. Mask strap - Can save the dive session if you mask strap breaks, and it will take up almost no room in you mask box! A must have.
5. Lanyard - Even if not diving deep or diving off the line  I keep this in my dive bag. If used as a backup lanyard on a line training session it gives an option to secure bi-fins or monofin as they can be threaded through and kept secure when not in use (diving no fins for example). It also provides a spare carabiner that is always useful to have.

Have I missed anything? Let me know in the comments section if you have any more to add.

Poem about the sea by D. H. Lawrence

When the Paralenz dive camera was released it was a game changer for underwater videography as it had some extremely innovative and unique features and did not require an external housing. Those of you that follow the One Breath Freediving social media channels will know I'm a big advocate of this camera (both for teaching purposes and fun use), and I take it with me in the water as much as possible.

Now it has been on the market a few years and has evolved with newer versions being released, it is possible to buy the older versions cheaper or even secondhand, making this type of camera even more accessible to freedivers.

Here are my 5 top tips for using a Paralenz:

1. Depth overlay feature: The overlay adds the current depth and water temperature to your videos (see still shots above) and updates constantly during the dive. This creates a visual record of where you are in the dive and makes your videos much more interesting to people watching them.
2. Mask mount attachment: The mask mount attachment is a great item included with the camera package, and especially useful for instructors (or buddies) doing line depth training. Though not as ideal for higher quality video shots as the selfie stick, the mask mount allows continuous hands free use of the camera and is great for filming a student or a buddy so you can review the technique of the dive later on after the session (see top left still shot).
3. Auto start / stop feature: As the Paralenz camera has a depth sensor, as we already discussed in #1, we can also set this feature to stop and start the camera filming. For example, if you set the camera to start and stop filming at 0.5m using the mask mount then it creates a truly hands free camera that you can simply turn on and forget about during your dive session.
4. Paralenz App: Downloading the Paralenz app to your phone means you can review the footage straight after the dive while you are sipping your coffee :) Footage can be transferred easily and quickly via blu-tooth connection.
5. Battery life: One of the stand out features of Paralenz is the battery life which can be 2-3 hours long on average! So make sure you don't cut corners by buying a cheap or small capacity memory card. With this type of battery life you can film as much as you like in the session without fear of 'missing' those passing dolphins that will no doubt appear at the end of the dive day when those other, inferior, cameras will be long finished.