Siargao – Day 2: Cowabunga & Carbon Dioxide
SIARGAO
Day 2: Cowabunga & Carbon Dioxide
October 27, 2024
PART I
My freediving adventure would have to wait a bit, though. Early in the morning, I headed to Ozen, the freediving hostel Micah worked at.
Here, I was met by Jen, who was basically like Micah but on steroids when it came to sports. People here seemed to be ultra-athletes of some sort – and I had no idea how they managed while working fulltime jobs. From martial arts and aerial yoga to surfing and freediving, from hostel manager and events coordinator to being a boss queen, hearing all about her exploits left me baffled. Some people are just built different, huh?
With her being a fully qualified instructor, I wanted to sign up for her first available course, which happened to be later that evening. As such, I had the entire morning to myself.Â
Baby Wave Master
My first and only stop was an obvious choice: Cloud 9 Beach. Turns out, this is the most famous surf break in the Philippines, located in General Luna. Known for its perfect right-hand barrel waves, it’s a dream spot for professional and experienced surfers. The wave breaks over a sharp reef, producing hollow, powerful tubes that make this beach a key stop in international surfing competitions.
Given that I had come here partly to surf, I thought squeezing in one lesson would be a good compromise. In hindsight, maybe it wasn’t. I went to a nearby spot called Jacking Horse, known for having friendlier waves. Here, I was met by Rodrigo, a Filipino guy who looked strikingly like Boris, my surfing instructor back in El Tunco. I wondered what it is about surf towns that has all men looking almost exactly the same. To this day, I’ll never live down not being able to have cool surfer hair. Or body, I guess.
I didn’t have much time to ponder my lack of cowabunga vibes as Rodrigo handed me a surfboard to start the class. We went over the basics on the sand for a few minutes so that I could recall the technique and then headed out to sea. The similarities with my experience in El Tunco stopped right there. The beach here was a rocky one, meaning every single tumble and fall left me with scratches and bruises all over. And, as one can imagine, there were many a tumble and a fall. I felt as if I’d forgotten everything I had learned back in El Tunco. Then again, it wasn’t much of a surprise. It had been over a year since I had last attempted the sport, not to mention that I had only had a few lessons.
Though by the end I managed to surf over a few baby waves, I still felt proud of myself. Of course, I knew that for me to properly learn and improve, I’d need way more than a class here and there scattered over months or years. But hey, at least I got to get on a surfboard again. Â
The Surfing Cup
My pride soon turned to jealousy once again as I walked onto this wooden boardwalk covered in flags from all over the world. This led to a viewing tower where a crowd had gathered.
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I happened to stumble upon the Siargao International Surfing Cup, and I ended up an unexpected spectator. Seeing internationally acclaimed surfers riding huge waves was phenomenal. I wondered what it’d feel like to be like them. To do a perfect barrel. To be surrounded by the wave on all sides. Hot diggity! I would’ve killed to be in their place. Then again, I would’ve been so dead if that were to happen.
Famished, I found the first restaurant I stumbled upon. I genuinely have no idea what I ordered as I sat in front of the big screen watching the rest of the competition, my eyes glued to the surfers as they performed their crazy acrobatics, leaving me in pure disbelief. I don’t ever remember voluntarily watching a sporting event with such excitement. I guess the last time was the 2022 World Cup back in Utila, but then again, I only joined in the fun cause everyone else seemed to be so into it. But this? This just had me going.
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During the intermission, I strolled along Cloud 9, the beach lined with chill cafés, surf shacks and bars. Here, I met Micah and Magda, this random girl whose first question to me was whether I was Maltese – instantly recognising my accent the second I opened my mouth. Of all places, I met a friggin’ Maltese girl on a tiny island in the middle of nowhere. There’s little more than half a million of us, yet you can find us everywhere!Â
PART II
Molchanovs Wave 1
Next up? Freediving. I went back to Ozen to find Jen getting ready for the course. We’d be doing the Molchanovs Wave 1 course, one of the entry-level freediving certifications in the Molchanovs system, founded by world champion freediver Alexey Molchanov. Designed to introduce students to the fundamentals of freediving, the course focuses on safety, technique and relaxation rather than extreme depth or competition. In fact, the latter wasn’t even on my radar.
I’d been wanting to try my hand at proper freediving ever since my personal trainer had started to practise the sport and went on to win a few international competitions. A few years down the line, I also read Deep by James Nestor, which pretty much convinced me to give it a go at some point. Of course, growing up on an island, it wasn’t the first time I had freedived. In fact, I had done my fair share of it, but it was always something I’d do just for fun and without so much as thinking about technique and so on. By learning how to actually freedive, I could connect with the sea and with myself on a whole new level. And finally, the time had come!
Joining me would be two girls from Israel, Ophir and Rotem. After the usual pleasantries, we were loaded onto a tricycle and driven to a fancy hotel with a pool we’d be using for practice. The girls had gone through the theory part of the course the previous day, something Jen thought I could do without for the time being, given that a lot of it overlaps with concepts taught in scuba diving. While that might have been the case, I still felt unprepared as hell, not quite knowing what exactly I had gotten myself into.Â
With Jen being the awesome instructor that she is, she assured me she’d still explain everything as we went along, not to mention that I’d have to go over the eLearning part later anyways.Â
Freediving 101
She started off by telling us how oxygen and carbon dioxide affect the body, what happens during a dive, and how the mammalian dive reflex helps conserve oxygen.Â
Then she went over breathing techniques for relaxation and recovery, including diaphragmatic breathing and box breathing. After that came equalisation theory, focusing on the Frenzel technique, which is essential for going deeper safely, and which I had apparently been doing unknowingly while scuba diving all along. Finally, she went over safety principles, buddy procedures and how to avoid blackouts, loss of motor control and shallow-water hypoxia.
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Once we donned our masks and snorkels, we headed into the pool to start our practice. First up would be static apnoea, which involves breath-holding while floating in the water to build comfort and control over the urge to breathe. For this part, we’d have to spend two minutes doing a body scan, going over every single part of our body and ensuring we were fully relaxed. Once that was done, we’d have a full minute of slow, controlled breathing to make sure we were calm and ready. Then came the apnoea part. With our faces immersed in the water, we’d take one final deep breath in, remove the snorkel and just float.
Back on land, every time I’d try to hold my breath, I’d feel like passing out after only a little over thirty seconds. I was curious to see whether all that preparation and the diving reflex would have any effect on me. Turns out, they so did. My first attempt lasted a minute and a half. I was impressed by both Jen’s instructions and my body’s capabilities. And, according to Jen, I could do way better. You see, at the end of my try, I could feel my diaphragm contracting like crazy, the so-called carbon dioxide contractions. The urge to breathe is driven largely by carbon dioxide build-up rather than a simple lack of oxygen, which was both terrifying and fascinating to experience in real time. Also, she emphasised that any unnecessary movement or tension would waste oxygen and make the urge to breathe arrive earlier – including hand signals!
And that, she explained, was something both the body and the mind can learn to handle. With time and practice, our bodies are able to tolerate higher levels of carbon dioxide, meaning you can hold your breath longer the more you do it. In fact, by my third attempt, I managed to hold my breath for two minutes and fifteen seconds – something that baffled me given that the requirement for the course was a minute and a half. I guess the fact that I had quit smoking and that I did some amateur freediving back home did help after all.Â
Meanwhile, Ophir was doing just as fine, while Rotem couldn’t quite manage to overcome the carbon dioxide contractions, which was surprising to the both of them given that she’s a professional swimmer. Â
Dynamic Apnoea
The next part of the course was dynamic apnoea training. Now, we’d have to swim horizontally underwater from one side of the pool to the other using bi-fins, while doing our best to maintain relaxation and efficiency. My first attempt was a success, with the thirty-metre swim being relatively easy for me. That said, Jen noticed many an imperfection in my technique, pointing out one thing after the other as I tried the dive over and over while the girls practised their skills.
After everyone was done with this part, following an agonising wait as Rotem struggled, we went over basic rescue techniques, with our buddy having to fake a loss of motor control underwater and us having to save them. Once at the surface, we’d make sure to support their head above the water, call out to them, encourage breathing and, if needed, escalate to rescue breathing. It suddenly became very clear that freediving was not just about looking serene underwater like some aquatic monk. It was technical, disciplined and potentially dangerous if done badly.
And that was that for our first day. I have to admit it was way more intense than I expected it to be. Luckily, I was in great hands and in great company. Ophir seemed like the most genuine person on earth. She told me all about her work as a chef during her military training and offered to cook something for me if we got the chance. Rotem, on the other hand, was a bit subdued given that she thought she’d excel. As always, I told her that if I could manage, anyone could, with my body not being particularly adept at anything.
We then went for dinner and tried to forget all about the course to give our minds a break. Then I headed to my dorm, where I had to remember all about it again as I went over the eLearning. Fun.