The Eighth Wonder of Freediving
Posted By Emma Farrell on 6 April 2007
Midway through the trip we took three days off from our sea training to appear at the Dive Middle East Exhibition, held alongside the Dubai International Boat Show. This was a great opportunity to meet some of the diving centres and manufacturers and also to showcase the skills of Sara, the current Dubai ladies freediving champion… We changed into our wetsuits in a nearby hotel, and then walked in the midday sun past seemingly every stand at the entire Boat Show, our eyes firmly fixed at the horizon and trying to ignore the gaping mouths.
Back at DMEX they had prepared a stand by the water for us, along with a sound system. The crowds had gathered, including the press and TV crews, which was a little daunting. Nerves vanished when I got going, though, and I talked about freediving and breathing, with Sara as the ‘demonstration model’, before moving into the water for Sara to do some breath holds. Paul, the owner of Divers Down, held the microphone for me when I was in the water, and Sara pulled off her breath holds with complete ease and astonishment from the crowd, who we later discovered contained none other than Sheikh Mohammed himself…
When we were not staying at the Divers Down Guest room, we were given the run of a private villa that belonged to one of our students. This was in the nearby town of Qidfa, and gave us the opportunity to see some local Emirati life. The villa had a goat, chickens, turkeys, guinea fowls, and a manservant! Situated right on the beach, we were cooked the most incredible curries while we watched men in traditional white robes racing horses along the shore line, fishermen pulling their nets in by hand and scores of beat-up 4x4s. We were also lucky to see part of a local wedding, held outdoors and entirely male. They danced in formation for hours to the beat of a drum, throwing long sticks and antique guns into the air.
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