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The Mental – Part 2
I want to approach this subject indirectly. I want to walk around it before we get to the center, because I am not sure there is a center. We all know that the ideal attitude, to have before a dive, is relaxed confidence. Without relaxation and confidence little can be achieved.
In order to set up the ideal conditions for these vital prerequisites for a deep dive or competition several things have to be in place; if any of these pieces are not in place the dive is already compromised.
Lets list them , and deal with their relative importance in the overall picture.
CONFIDENCE
Confidence comes in a large part from correct training then believing in your training.
Depth or distance should be approached systematically in small realisable increments. This is very important. If you can go down to 39mts and equalise on the bottom , then you are ready for 40/41 mts. This means you had the mental composure to check at 39 mts that you still had air in your cheeks and could equalise at that depth. Let’s look at the reverse side of the coin: if your last equalisation was at 37 mts or some unknown point and you rode it to 39 mts, how do you know you have the technique for 40/41 ?
Confidence comes from having all the elements in place. It is easy to exhaust our reserves of mental energy/courage by constantly in every practice trying to exceed our last personal best. Confidence comes from knowing we have mastered all the techniques necessary for the dive: equalisation, style, pacing, tactics – when to fill the cheeks, when to go into the glide, and memorisation of competition protocols.
If anything is missing in this equation the result is anxiety / stress. We have all noticed that some days nothing works and others that everything goes effortlessly well, like a well oiled clock, seemingly without any unusual effort on our part. Have you noticed that this tends to happen more often on days where we are without ambition, with a degree of the experimental in our attitude?
MENTAL STRENGTH
A lot of mental strength comes from avoiding the obvious training pitfalls and growing confidence coming from continuous small successes. One of the pitfalls is the “spoilt diver”. The spoilt diver is easy to spot – he takes forever ventilating on the line, he needs just a few more breaths, he needs total silence around him. There is confusion here amongst beginners; interval between deep dives should not be confused with dive preparation. The interval between deep dives is to allow time for the system to reset itself – to out gas CO2, and for the heart beat to return to an acceptable level. A very small part of the pre-dive preparation is actually O2 saturating, a very few breaths and packing will suffice. The rest is how long it takes you to get into the “Zone”, and this is largely habit. If you are interrupted you should be able to snap back into the Zone instantly. Train this, have somebody interrupt you and deal with it without postponing the descent.
During the countdown you should be thinking “when is he going to get this nonsense over with and let me get on with it? I am ready and have been ready for some time”. It should NOT be “the count has reached 7 but I need more air”.
Lets think for a moment of my personal dive hero Haggi Georgos Statti and all those great divers who dived breathold for a living – they dived or their families didn’t eat! They were the epitome of the Unspoilt diver.
ORGANISATION
The objective of good organisation is to avoid testing, as far as possible our mental reserves. It allows us to “let go” and helps to eliminate the unexpected. Detachment is very difficult to achieve in a state of chaos.
Organisation begins for the competitive diver with the selection of competitions he will attend this year. First he must consider his budget. A good General chooses his battle ground. Water temperature wind and wave and current play a part in the selection. The level of competition and dates – “where will I be in my training at this point?”. Time of travel and jet lag. In short is this my best battle ground?
Then there is organisation of my personal equipment and my time, also careful consideration of training and the all important rest days prior to the competition.
Organisation of our time is critical at the event to allow time for our predive routines, visualisation , stretching etc.
SLEEP
This question is not well enough understood. I mean here sleep as distinct from rest. Our records which go back as far as 1992 clearly show a strong relationship between sleep and breathold performance and performance in competition. The benefits of sleep are not clearly understood, we all know that; for instance weight training causes micro tears in the muscle which repair themselves in rest, and thus rest is the essential growth phase.
Sleep revitalises, but more than this for the freediver. When we sleep the brain cycles through 3phases- ? (alpha), ? (theta) and ? (delta). Each cycle lasts about 90 minutes. In the very low alpha /theta phase we get REM sleep , the dreaming sleep associated with the sub conscious mind. This is followed by the delta phase, the unconscious phase associated with the unconscious mind. During the first cycle of sleep we usually have a very brief period of REM measured in seconds and in the last cycle of sleep after 8 hrs and before waking we may experience many minutes of REM.
If you will pardon the metaphor this REM sleep could be seen as the “Evacuation of the mental bowel”. My understanding that in a state of mental constipation, an over loaded sub conscious, we experience stress and a lack of mental vitality an inability to cope. With sufficient sleep the opposite occurs, empowerment, vitality and relaxed confidence.
And here let me venture into the realm of conjecture. Another very important process is at work in diving – we experience Ischemia and Reperfusion (blood shift). This process produces a flooding of the system with ROS (free radicals), which causes post dive exhaustion. Our main defense is NO (nitric oxide), the most powerful anti oxidant known. My belief is that our reserves of NO are mainly replenished during sleep; all observations points to this.
SOME OF THE PITFALLS
Do not create unnecessary expectations by ourselves or others.
Don’t have rituals or mental crutches; don’t have lucky pieces of equipment.
In competition avoid careless social contact – it’s a waste of energy, and a chance remark runs the risk of striking the wrong chord.
Never compare yourself to others; this is your journey, and yours alone.
If all that we have discussed is in place, everything happens in a state of effortless, detachment and confidence – it is obviously a contradiction to concentrate on concentrating!!
Jake Davies boards Ghazala Explorer for an unforgettable Red Sea diving experience…
Overnight, the wind picked up, making the planned morning dive a bit bumpy on the Zodiacs to the drop point on Thomas Reef. There, we would dive along the reef before descending through the canyon and then passing under the arch before ascending the wall with a gentle drift. The site provided great encounters with more pelagic species, including shoals of large barracuda, tuna, and bigeye trevally.
Once back on the boat, it was time to get everything tied down again as we would head back south. This time, with the wind behind us, heading to Ras Mohammed to dive Jackfish Alley for another great gentle drift wall dive before then heading up the coast towards the Gulf of Suez to moor up at the wreck of the Thistlegorm. This being the highlight wreck dive of the trip and for many onboard, including myself, it was the first time diving this iconic wreck. I had heard so much about the wreck from friends, and globally, this is a must on any diver’s list. Fortunately for us, there was only one other boat at the site, which was a rarity. A great briefing was delivered by Ahmed, who provided a detailed background about the wreck’s history along with all the required safety information as the currents and visibility at the site can be variable.
Kitting up, there was a lot of excitement on deck before entering the water and heading down the shoreline. Descending to the wreck, there was a light northerly current which reduced the visibility, making it feel more like the conditions that can be found off the Welsh coast. At 10m from the bottom, the outline of the wreck appeared as we reached the area of the wreck which had been bombed, as our mooring line was attached to part of the propeller shaft. Arriving on deck, instantly everywhere you looked there were many of the supplies which the ship was carrying, including Bren Carrier tanks and projectiles that instantly stood out.
We headed around the exterior, taking a look at the large propeller and guns mounted on deck before entering the wreck on the port side to take a look in the holds. It was incredible to see all the trucks, Norton 16H, and BSA motorcycles still perfectly stacked within, providing a real snapshot in time.
Overall, we had four dives on the Thistlegorm, where for all of the dives we were the only group in the water, and at times, there were just three of us on the whole wreck, which made it even more special, especially knowing that most days the wreck has hundreds of divers. Along with the history of the wreck, there was plenty of marine life on the wreck and around, from big green turtles to batfish, along with shoals of mackerel being hunted by trevally. Some unforgettable dives.
The final leg of the trip saw us cross back over the Suez Canal to the Gobal Islands where we planned to stay the night and do three dives at the Dolphin House for the potential of sharing the dive with dolphins. The site, which included a channel that was teeming with reef fish, especially large numbers of goatfish that swam in large shoals along the edge of the reef. These were nice relaxing dives to end the week. Unfortunately, the dolphins didn’t show up, which was okay as like all marine life they are difficult to predict and you can’t guarantee what’s going to be seen. With the last dive complete, we headed back to port for the final night where it was time to clean all the kit and pack before the departure flight the next day.
The whole week from start to finish on Ghazala Explorer was amazing; the boat had all the facilities you need for a comfortable week aboard. The crew were always there to help throughout the day and the chefs providing top quality food which was required after every dive. The itinerary providing some of the best diving with a nice mixture of wreck and reef dives. I would recommend the trip to anyone, whether it’s your first Red Sea liveaboard in the Red Sea or you’re revisiting. Hopefully, it’s not too long before I head back to explore more of the Red Sea onboard Ghazala Explorer.
To find out more about the Northern Red Sea reef and wrecks itineraries aboard Ghazala Explorer, or to book, contact Scuba Travel now:
Email: dive@scubatravel.com
Tel: +44 (0)1483 411590
Photos: Jake Davies / Avalon.Red
Jake Davies boards Ghazala Explorer for an unforgettable Red Sea diving experience…
The second day’s diving was a day full of wreck diving at Abu Nuhas, which included the Chrisoula K, Carnatic, and Ghiannis D. The first dive of the day was onto the Chrisoula K, also known as the wreck of tiles. The 98m vessel remains largely intact where she was loaded with tiles which can be seen throughout the hold. The stern sits at 26m and the bow just below the surface. One of the highlights of the wreck is heading inside and seeing the workroom where the machinery used for cutting the tiles are perfectly intact. The bow provided some relaxing scenery as the bright sunlight highlighted the colours of the soft coral reef and the many reef fish.
Following breakfast, we then headed to the next wreck, which was the Carnatic. The Carnatic is an 89.9m sail steamer vessel that was built in Britain back in 1862. She ran aground on the reef back in 1869 and remains at 27m. At the time, she was carrying a range of items, including 40,000 sterling in gold. An impressive wreck where much of the superstructure remains, and the two large masts lay on the seafloor. The wooden ribs of the hull provide structures for lots of soft corals, and into the stern section, the light beams through, bouncing off the large shoals of glass fish that can be found using the structure as shelter from the larger predators that are found outside of the wreck.
The final wreck at Abu Nuhas was the Ghiannis D, originally called ‘Shoyo Maru,’ which was 99.5m long and built in Japan back in 1969 before becoming a Greek-registered cargo ship in 1980. The ship then ran aground on the reef on April 19th, 1983, and now sits at the bottom at a depth of 27m. Heading down the line, the stern of the ship remains in good condition compared to the rest of the hull. The highlight of the wreck, though, is heading into the stern section and down the flights of stairs to enter the engine room, which remains in good condition and is definitely worth exploring. After exploring the interior section of the ship, we then headed over to see the rest of the superstructure, where it’s particularly interesting to see the large table corals that have grown at the bow relatively quickly considering the date the ship sank. After surfacing and enjoying some afternoon snacks, we made sure everything was strapped down and secured as we would be heading north and crossing the Gulf of Suez, where the winds were still creating plenty of chop.
The next morning, it was a short hop to Ras Mohammed Nature Reserve for the next couple of days of diving. The 6am wake-up call came along with the briefing for the first site we would be diving, which was Shark & Yolanda. The low current conditions allowed us to start the dive at Anemone City, where we would drift along the steep, coral-filled wall. These dives involved drifts, as mooring in Ras Mohammed wasn’t allowed to protect the reefs. As a dive site, Shark & Yolanda is well-known and historically had a lot of sharks, but unfortunately not so many in recent years, especially not so early in the season. However, there was always a chance when looking out into the blue.
The gentle drift took us along the steep walls of the site, with plenty of anemone fish to be seen and a huge variety of corals. It wasn’t long into the dive before we were accompanied by a hawksbill turtle, who drifted with us between the two atolls before parting ways. Between the two reefs, the shallow patch with parts of coral heads surrounded by sand provided the chance to see a few blue-spotted stingrays that were mainly resting underneath the corals and are always a pleasure to see. With this being the morning dive, the early sunlight lit up the walls, providing tranquil moments. Looking out into the blue, there was very little to be seen, but a small shoal of batfish shimmering underneath the sunlight was a moment to capture as we watched them swim by as they watched us.
Towards the end of the dive, we stopped at the wreck of the Jolanda where the seafloor was scattered with toilets from the containers it was carrying. This provided a unique site to make a safety stop, which was also accompanied by a large barracuda slowly swimming by, along with a hawksbill turtle calmly swimming over the reef as the sun rays danced in the distance.
For the next dive, we headed north to the Strait of Tiran to explore the reefs situated between Tiran Island and Sharm El Sheik, which were named after the British divers who had found them. We started on Jackson before heading to Gordons Reef, where we also did the night dive. All the atolls at these sites provided stunning, bustling coral reefs close to the surface and steep walls to swim along, which always provided the opportunity to keep an eye out for some of the larger species that can be seen in the blue. Midwater around Jackson Reef was filled with red-toothed triggerfish and shoals of banner fish, which at times were so dense that you couldn’t see into the blue. Moments went by peacefully as we enjoyed the slow drift above the reef, watching these shoals swim around under the mid-afternoon sun.
The night dive at Gordon’s Reef was mainly among the stacks of corals surrounded by sand, which was great to explore under the darkness. After some time circling the corals, we came across what we were really hoping to find, and that was an octopus hunting on the reef. We spent the majority of the dive just watching it crawl among the reef, blending into its changing surroundings through changes in colour and skin texture. It’s always so fascinating and captivating to watch these incredibly intelligent animals, in awe of their ability to carry out these physical changes to perfectly blend into the reef. Before we knew it, it was time to head back to the boat to enjoy a well-deserved tasty dinner prepared by the talented chefs onboard.
Check in for the 3rd and final part of this series from Jake tomorrow!
To find out more about the Northern Red Sea reef and wrecks itineraries aboard Ghazala Explorer, or to book, contact Scuba Travel now:
Email: dive@scubatravel.com
Tel: +44 (0)1483 411590
Photos: Jake Davies / Avalon.Red
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