Red Sea Freediving Holiday

So, we’ve just returned from our Red Sea freediving holiday, and I have to say it was one of our biggest EVER! We had 19 freedivers, 3 instructors, 2 assistant instructors, 9 crew members for starters! During the week seven freedivers undertook the RAID Freediver Course , two divers completed their RAID Freediver Course skills from earlier courses, four freedivers undertook the RAID Advanced course and the remainder enjoyed a week of glorious weather, freediving, yoga and relaxation – a real mix!

Red Sea Freediving Holiday 2019

We arrived in Hurghada on 16th March and were greeted with gorgeous weather (of course!). Our trip consisted of mothers and sons, couples, friends, Go Freediving Club Members and independent travellers – an awesome mix of people from all walks of life and occupations!

We were whisked straight to the Whirlwind and set off for a week of amazing Red Sea freediving. But don’t let me tell you all about it, listen to what everyone else had to say! Find out why they came, what they thought of the trip and if they would recommend it!

Victoria Hatto

I was coming back from a scuba diving holiday and I saw Guillaume Néry on Ted Talks and I just thought, I had to do this. So I looked up a place that is local to us, but they weren’t going to be able to book us into the pool before end of March. I then found this Red Sea Freediving holiday and there were only four places left so I booked on.

Coming on this Red Sea freediving holiday and learning to freedive I have discovered how to reconnect myself and push myself a bit more, a self discovery sort of thing. I really loved working with Renee, it was really nice to have been able to break through the mental barriers of ‘I can’t get down there, it’s really far’.

I just really enjoyed being able to get down. Being able to do some recreational diving and to dive along the wreck, and obviously freediving with the dolphins and seeing the turtle were the highlights of the holiday for me.

The benefits of doing this holiday with Go Freediving are that everything is done for you, you just need to turn up. I really liked the people and how well it was organised. I would recommend this course, because it is a great opportunity to learn to freedive. It’s nice to have the extra time over the week and the one on one time.

I thought it was nice that we got a lot of one on one time with our instructor and it is quite social.

Tracey Howes   

I chose to go on this trip because I have never been on a liveaboard and I wanted to go on one and I also wanted to complete my level 2 RAID Advanced course in warm water. Coming on this Red Sea freediving holiday I have discovered that I am much more relaxed in the water and that my skills have improved dramatically. Mentally I feel more at ease, even if the surface is a bit choppy, underwater I am just happy I know what I have to do now and it just gave me a massive confidence boost.   

Meeting people and the dolphins were amazing but the thing I enjoyed most was how much I progressed. My main reason for coming on this trip was to progress and I feel that I have done that so I am very pleased.

The benefits of the coming on the holiday are that you get to meet people who share your passion for freediving and you get to share the joy and frustrations which is really helpful.

You learn a lot and you have the experience of different instructors who give their take on different environments and how they have dealt with challenges so you are constantly learning and improving.

I loved the social aspect of the trip, it was lovely, I have met some amazing people and I will definitely see some of them after the trip.  

I am a massive fan of the Yoga Nidra it’s helped me so much in my competition dives. It’s the perfect way to end the day because it puts you in the right frame of mind to sleep and then the morning yoga wakes you up and enriches you and helps you feel ready for the day. It helps for the stretching which is really important.

On the last day I managed to crack through quite a lot of skills really quickly because my body just felt really good and a lot of that was because of all the yoga and the breath hold practice. I don’t think I would have got through so many skills if it hadn’t been structured that way. The yoga was great, I definitely felt more flexibility in my diaphragm and when I was underwater I just felt a lot more relaxed at depth and the contractions I had were minimal so I felt everything was working the way it was supposed to.

I thought the Frenzel would be more difficult but having the opportunity to do all the exercises with Emma, Pash and Renee, just figuring it out and not overthinking it, just letting your body do it I know I can do it and I am ready to put it into practice.

If you want to improve your freediving in a safe and friendly environment I would absolutely recommend this holiday. It’s a great way to progress in just a few days and to just have fun. It’s not all just work, it’s beautiful weather, amazing locations and for me it has always been about safety first and I just feel safe with Go Freediving all the time.           

Amanda Gore

I booked on this holiday because I have been on it before and I haven’t been Red Sea freediving for about 18 months so I thought it was about time I got back in and had another go. I enjoyed the holiday the last time and I feel safe with Emma and all the safety she has in place. I really enjoyed it all and I have enjoyed the mix of people.

The dolphins were the highlight of the week for me. I was between a pair of them and they just look you in the eye and it was just awesome and I will remember it forever.  

The benefits of doing a freediving holiday with Go Freediving is that it is safe, it is relaxed and there is a bit of something for everybody. The yoga nidra was really lovely and on the last night it was windy and you could see the moon and I was all cosy and it was really nice. The food was very good and even though I don’t eat red meat there was plenty of chicken and fish for me.  

I would recommend this as a holiday, and I will be going on it again! It is also brilliant for people who want to do courses as well. By the end of the week you can really see how the course students have gone on leaps and bounds!

Carol Samms    

I have never swum or seen the Red Sea before. I have seen lots of other seas like the Caribbean, the Atlantic and the Pacific in many different places and I wanted to see the Red Sea. So geographical curiosity brought me here – and I loved the thought of being on a boat for a week. That’s what made me decide to come on this holiday. The boat has been brilliant and I love the sea.

Coming on this trip I have discovered that I can do a 3 minute and 3 second static and I have been down to 12.4 metres. I set myself a goal of getting to 12 metres so I achieved that and it was brilliant!

I love this holiday because I just love being in the water, I feel alive in the water. The highlight for me was when we did our freedives on the third day at Marsa Bareika and the water was like glass – it was beautiful and just fabulous. Snorkelling was also amazing for all sorts of reasons.

Safety and the management of the trip overseen by Emma is just superb and the students are very supportive of each other. There are so many benefits of going on this trip. I really enjoyed having Cassie as a dive buddy as well.

I would recommend this Red Sea freediving holiday because it is the ideal environment to progress at freediving. If you do it every day you get better everyday and it doesn’t matter if you get a few skills or none of the skills it is a personal journey and I am delighted that I have taken part in developing my personal journey.

Cassie Fletcher   

I like freediving and I wanted to complete my certification so going to the Red Sea freediving was a nice excuse to get away and experience a different type of holiday. As a member of the Go Freediving club, it just made sense to do some intense diving in a nice environment like the Red Sea.

This trip has made me way more in tune with my diving habits – what I need to work on and what my strengths are. I have new confidence levels! Before, 10 metres seemed like an occasional thing but now I look at 10 -12 metres and know I can do that. I even managed to do some hands free equalising which is amazing! It’s changed how I feel and how I see myself and my diving. I have a far better picture on equalisation, marine life, currents and tides, and everything relevant to freediving.   

The morning yoga was a really nice way to start the day and I really, really enjoyed it. I also really liked the Yoga Nidra it was just a nice way to end the day.

The benefits of doing this holiday with Go Freediving is that it is really well organised and you know what is needed when and where, and you know it is going to be a benefit in terms of diving because you are going to learn a lot and you are in good hands.

I would definitely recommend this Red Sea Freediving holiday it has been an amazing week, the crew has been amazing the food was amazing (and I didn’t have to do any washing up!). The whole general feel of it has been relaxed and is very balanced and I want to come back next year. The dolphins were incredible!

Mary Ledlie

I have done some freediving before and I have tried to the AIDA course a few times but couldn’t equalise head first and pass the course so I wanted to come on the trip to do something that was fun and different. Mandy has been on the trip before and recommended it and said it is really fun.

I have discovered on this trip that I am capable of things I didn’t think I was, and I discovered Yoga Nidra. I found it really interesting and I wanted try it and it has been amazing – I really enjoyed it a lot!

The highlight of the trip was passing my RAID freediving course because before I was at the point where I thought I was going to stop freediving because I just couldn’t do it.

But I did it!

I have always had problems equalising head down and all the workshops on board the boat have been really useful and I don’t know what happened but something must have clicked because after that I could equalise.

Also all the different instructors had different suggestions and advice and it was really good to try different things and it worked in the end cause now I can equalise!

The benefits of the trip are that Red Sea freediving is great, the course and the instructors are great and the people on the course are great and everyone just got on and the group atmosphere has been lovely.

The location is really nice and I got to see some really nice coral reefs.

I have never been on a liveaboard before so I was really nervous about that, not knowing what it would be like but it has been really good and with lots of people it’s been lovely.

The food was fresh and really good, it’s been amazing.   

I would 100% recommend this trip because it is really fun and the freediving is amazing.     

Suzi Green

I said to myself that I am going to learn something scary this year so it was between freediving and skiing. Skiing meant possible broken bones! So, I went for freediving and I found this liveaboard holiday, which was the only freediving liveaboard that I could find.

I wanted a liveaboard because I have been on a few scuba liveaboards and because I am on my own I don’t have so much time and I quite like the immersive thing that you get when you are with the same people everyday, it’s just a different experience.  

I wanted scary and it was scary – something very basic such as not breathing is scary! I wanted a spiritual aspect and I got that. The highlight for me was the mood of the whole thing and it was a good group of people which was great. Seeing the progression each day making really significant progress each day and the recreational diving was great. The dolphins were amazing.

The standard of training, the standard of safety and the good group of people are three benefits of doing this trip with Go Freediving. For all these reasons I would definitely recommend this holiday.

Emily Kennard

I have been meaning to get back into freediving for a really long time and when I heard Go Freediving had this trip it was serendipity!  I have known Emma a really long time and I knew that Emma was the only person I wanted to go to for Red Sea freediving.

I have discovered that I can still do it and despite all the things that have happened in the meantime my body is still up to it and that my passion for freediving hasn’t diminished. It has been really amazing and I have learned a lot about myself and my body and that if you really love something you should keep doing it.

I loved a lot of different things but the camaraderie amongst like minded people was great and everyone got on really well so it was really lovely. The marine life was great but at the top of the list is how great the instructors are and how well they worked together.

The instructors on the team are amazing and they have all got amazing strengths in different areas.

Like Zoe is the clearest most eloquent and when she talks you just feel like you understand and can do anything.

Renee is so inspiring, and Pash knows everything about marine life and really fun.

Emma is just amazing doing all the yoga and amazing teaching and keeping everyone safe.

Between all the instructors they had all bases covered and I don’t think I would have been able to do my static without Zoe as she just kept me calm and focused.   

The benefits of doing this Red Sea Freediving holiday is the expertise. You just feel safe and guided the whole time and for people that are really interested in learning to freedive the instructors feed off that so the more you are interested and the more you are performing they are always there cheering you on while also looking after the people that are struggling. They bring people up with you and they just work as a unit teaching and inspiring.

The yoga was really brilliant, the yoga nidra must have been really good because I don’t remember much of it because I fell asleep! But you really need the yoga when you are in the water all day, you need to stretch out and relax.   

I recommend this holiday for all the reasons above and the Red Sea is just a great location to do freediving because you get to see some great stuff. You get to see marine mammals, incredible wrecks and the coral reefs are just beautiful. Not only are you in great company with great, amazing instructors but you also have access to some of the most amazing dive sites in the world so it is a very attractive holiday.

Simon Squires        

I never thought that doing something like this would ever happen in my life. I have seen it on tv but just never thought the opportunity would ever come up for me to do something like this then, there happened to be a freediving school, on my doorstep, that ran one!

The biggest thing I have discovered, because I have done the first RAID course with Emma, was the confidence I have.

I have more comfort down to the maximum levels you are allowed so that will definitely help in my future freediving and have developed confidence in unknown waters – which is great.

I liked the people most as these trips attract a certain soul.

The crew have been absolutely amazing and they couldn’t do enough for you. I would definitely come again!

The benefits of the Red Sea Freediving trip are the people and the instructors are amazing and the safety. The food was outstanding. I would recommend this trip because it gives you everything you need.

Jack Law

I wanted to spend a week where I could do as much freediving as I wanted. I didn’t get much chance to freedive last year so I wanted some time to do that. It was more of a refresher in freediving for me and I also wanted to see some really nice coral, fish and some marine life.

I have discovered that my ears are an issue and I need to figure out a way to keep my ears healthy. I want to be a better diver so I need to push myself to be better at it. Although when I saw the dolphins I just had to dive and it was amazing!

I have enjoyed the people and I have got along well with everyone. It has been really nice and relaxing.

I enjoyed the morning yoga and I also enjoyed the morning dives.

I get a cramp in my foot when I dive and I found that doing the yoga beforehand postponed that quite a bit so that is something I need to work on back home.

I struggle with sleep sometimes and with my Go Freediving club membership I got the free yoga nidra so I think I might give it a try back home because it is quite calming.

I thought the food was excellent and there was plenty of it. Diving really takes it out of you so having something warm and nice and healthy to come back to, I thought was really brilliant. I think the instructors did an amazing job taking groups out and a big thank you to them for sacrificing a bit of their holiday to help people dive a better.  

Mark Karasick

I chose Go Freediving holiday because I have trained with Go Freediving and I knew what to expect. I knew it would be a great, well planned, safe trip and we will be seeing some amazing things. When ever you go abroad there are always question marks, but whenever you travel with Go Freediving you know you will always be safe and well looked after.

I discovered that all my expectations were satisfied, I was met with a beautiful boat that is well looked after with a crew that is fantastic, obviously Go Freediving chose them for all those reasons. We were looked after perfectly without exception.

There were a lot of highlights for me, watching all the people on the trip and how they came together as a group. They were being trained through the week and I was watching their progress and their pleasure and a lot of people coming out of their shells and by the end of the week they didn’t want it to end. Having been trained by Emma I was assisting so I did some lovely dives with the instructors who are all absolutely fantastic!

The first benefit if you are a trained freediver from Go Freediving you know what to expect and you know that safety is first and foremost. If you are a beginner freediver you don’t get better training than with Go Freediving. The trip is a total and utter escape and I personally feel so spoilt and well looked after it is really going to be difficult to go back to the daily slog after being here.

I would recommend this holiday without hesitation, I have nothing negative to say, everyone’s needs are nurtured and even ones with difficult parameters are met with a smile.The food was fantastic everyday, we managed to see some dolphins up close and I just enjoyed the momentary communion with these extraordinary creatures.

Sarah Drake

I always wanted to learn to freedive ever since I went to university. I went on my first diving trip just after I had qualified and we went on a summer camping trip up to Cornwall and the last day of diving was diving was the first time I experienced freediving. It’s taken me 21 years to get on it! Emily and I decided together to go on the trip together and because she knows Emma we wanted to come and learn to freedive with her.

I was really nervous and I know how Emma tricked me into going deeper and it worked so I need to learn to do it myself! I have also learned to overcome my fear. The best part of the week for me was the dolphins because it is something that I have never experienced. Being able to swim with dolphins was on my bucket list so it is so cool that we have done that!

I am really pleased that I completed the skills because I didn’t think I would and I think it is a good thing that I have because now I know that I can do this! I have done it, so it will encourage me to carry on with it. I am going to go to Vobster Quay and have fun and to keep practising.

I enjoyed the sunshine and the people. It was a really inclusive group and I liked that we are in this enclosed environment because you have to socialise and eat together and chat together and everyone is really friendly and I have met new friends that have interests in common. I loved the yoga Nidra, just loved it. I knew I loved it but it was just a great way to end each day.

The benefits are that everyone is really friendly and a lot of people come on their own so it is really nice that everyone feels included. Also, the level of teaching and the safety, I think the safety is really important. I think it is really nice that we can go home now and continue on with the Go Freediving club. Now that I know everyone it won’t be as scary and I will join the club and will make the effort to go down on the weekend or rock up at Vobster knowing that I know people and the standard of teaching. I would definitely recommend the trip as it give you time to learn the skills over a week in the sunshine with less pressure and with a nice lovely group.

Christine Woburn

My journey to coming on this holiday began four years ago. I am a very anxious snorkeler but there is a bit of a daredevil in me. My friend persuaded me to scuba dive and after few years of that we went to the Birmingham dive show because we thought we would look cool buying gear there, and maybe meet a bloke or two, but we never did! And then I spotted the Go Freediving stand and I thought that freediving looked rather interesting. I was just attracted to it for some reason. I managed to chat to Emma at the show and I won a 50% discount off a course so it was always on my mind and then life got busy so I could never really fit it in, but I always wanted to try it. So I persuaded my son Alex to come on the trip and do it with me.

On this trip I discovered that I do want to pursue it. Seeing the other freedivers go down has been amazing. It has been more difficult for me for various reasons, but I am very excited to continue learning. My first scuba attempt was a disaster but I progressed  slowly which I am going to do with freediving as well. I plan to come down to Vobster in the summer. The times I went down and when I saw Alex going down I decided I wanted to be a mermaid too.

Freediving with the dolphins has to be a highlight for me. I couldn’t keep up with the rest of the group so Pash asked if I would like to go and see the nearby reef.  

Pash decided to do a duck dive and as she came up 3 dolphins came to us! They were so calm. Pash managed to dive face to face with one and the other two were just playing. It was lovely because we were just there minding our own business and they just came to us.

The benefits of this trip is the safety. I had a lot of questions and I was very nervous. The caring approach, the safety approach, even at the airport was caring, and the teaching was patient with complete beginners.

I would definitely recommend the course for all the above reasons and also because I have physical problems, for anybody that has something similar, then definitely I would also recommend it.

Alex Woburn

It was actually my Mum that talked me into it, the funny thing is I wasn’t really interested in learning freediving and I didn’t really know much about the trip, just mum told me I am going to love it and it is going to be so good.

I actually said to my mum that I wish she hadn’t booked me on the course because I just wanted to come and snorkel. And then the night before we came I went on the website and read everything and researched Go Freediving and I was like, ‘this sounds amazing!!!’ and I just got so excited about it. So yes, it was mum that talked me into it and I am so glad that she did because it has been so good and absolutely amazing!!

I have discovered that just being able to take my love of snorkelling to the next level and being able to actually swim underwater with the marine life and on the reefs and just build my confidence in myself has just been really, really cool.

I have quite a few favorite things, but I really loved learning the skills. I loved static and dynamic, and even though I was more nervous going down the line I really loved it. One of the highlights was doing recreational and putting all that we had learned into practice. My mum was laughing at me because I was doing deep dives next to the coral reef and she said I just looked like I was having so much fun. I never would have been able to do that if it wasn’t for the skills I had learned so that that really special and amazing and then having the chance to do it again with the dolphins.

To me it was more about wanting to enhance that absolute love of snorkelling and being in the ocean and being able to interact with the marine life more so I think the first benefit of coming on a freediving holiday with you is if someone wants to take snorkeling the next level, it really does take it to the next level which is so fantastic. It just gives you so much more confidence in the water, I had no idea I could hold my breath for 1 min 30. If anyone wants to try it, it is really calm and they will be in good hands. It was just so lovely and everyone was so amazing to my mum and it was so sweet and I just really loved that.

The yoga nidra was completely amazing, I have never tried it before and it was so amazing and just a great experience I am gutted I didn’t do it the first few nights but I am so glad that I got to experience it. Honestly it was so fantastic and relaxing and I had never done anything like that so it was really cool.     

I would definitely recommend this Red Sea Freediving holiday because it is just amazing and I have just had the best time. It just enhances everything and also you may just discover a skill that you didn’t think you had and you actually do. The whole holiday is really good and it has a really nice balance, the first few days are hardcore with the skills and then in the second half you actually get to use those skills and that just worked for me and I just can’t wait to get down to Vobster.

If you fancy joining us for our next trip, we’ve just announced our 2020 dates here

Spaces are already getting snapped up, so if you want to book with a deposit, hurry up – the Red Sea is waiting for you!

Learn to freedive with Go Freediving