💭 I’ll be honest—talking about my limitations isn’t my favourite thing. Especially when it involves something as risky as deep spearfishing.
Having said that, I’m going to try and build some wisdom into this around safety and decision making so if you take some tips from this please ALSO take the safety advice.
Recently I got to spend a weekend diving with Tim McDonald and Tom Sandstrom on a remote island way offshore. It was awesome partly because both of these guys are way better than me and it was an opportunity to learn.
Tom is a good bit better than I am and Tim is an order of magnitude better than both of us. Image below explains😉
We spent a lot of time diving deeper water than I usually spear in and as I don’t usually like to throw numbers out there, I’m going to lay out why I don’t before I do.
🤿 Why I Don’t Share My Dive Depths Online
When young, relatively inexperienced guys and gals watch YouTube, a portion of them will try to emulate the people they see. When I observe the depth counter and time keeping metrics overlaid on YouTube footage, I can just hear a young person say, “Wow, he’s at 34m.” or “OMG, she’s been down for 02:15”. I admire these divers too and their capability is amazing BUT
❗❗The PROBLEM is…
There is a 24 year old bloke on the Gold Coast who thinks that he can do it tomorrow and….
….💀 5 Reasons Young Divers Are at Higher Risk
🧠 Underdeveloped Risk Assessment: The prefrontal cortex, responsible for decision-making and impulse control, isn’t fully developed in young males, leading to riskier choices.
🔥 Thrill-Seeking Tendencies: Higher levels of testosterone and dopamine sensitivity can increase the desire for excitement, novelty, and adrenaline-fueled experiences.
👬 Peer Pressure & Social Identity: Young males often feel pressure to prove themselves or gain respect among peers, which can push them into dangerous behaviors.
🦸♂️ Perceived Invincibility: Many young men believe they are less likely to be harmed or are “tough enough” to handle extreme situations, reducing caution.
📉 Lack of Experience: With limited exposure to consequences and less time spent in the water, they may not recognize subtle warning signs or know how to react appropriately in critical moments.
⚠️ The Real Dangers of Deep Spearfishing
Diving relatively deep and long may be physiologically possible for you. You may also have the confidence and the opportunity to do it BUT:
It’s extremely likely that you won’t have the experience (read time in water) and self awareness to carry out deep spearfishing safely yet.
The other things that take time are physiological adaptation: YOUR BODY takes time to adapt to pressure. When you dive relatively deep, relatively quickly, you are at heightened risk of trachea and lung squeeze, deep water blackout, pulmonary oedema, shallow water blackout and other decision making inhibiting factors such as narcosis. These factors are just scratching the surface on risks with depth.
📖 Anyway, here’s what actually happened…
The first spot we dived came up to 22m. These kinds of depths would usually be deeper reef spots in a normal days diving for me but with Tim and Tom, we were diving much deeper.
I am a freediving instructor and have touched down at 40m on a line and I’ve been diving for more than a decade but spearfishing in 25-30m is usually not comfortable for me. I know this because I lose relaxation, have trouble with my ears clearing easily and I will start to get an uncomfortable feeling from the pressure in my chest. These issues it turns out are fairly common but do need to be understood.
Some of the drops I did were beyond 25m and I felt calm, had some time there to hunt and didn’t feel uncomfortable but this was definitely not every dive. In fact probably less than 50% of the dives felt comfortable so I did head up much earlier. As a rule: If I feel uncomfortable, I listen to my body. Pretty sure that 15 years ago I wouldn’t have done this.
📷@benrennie_ captured me mid-dive spearfishing a little deeper
📉 What Made Me Uncomfortable Diving Deeper
1. Poor equalizing on the way down prior to target depth: I was too infrequent and often started craning up to try and spot the fish. This made it harder to clear my ears because it pinches/restricts my Eustachion tubes. As I left it too long between EQ’s, I then had to more forcefully clear – not good for EQ or staying relaxed.
2. Poor breathe up: a breathe up when you are experienced isn’t modified breathing involving some magic breathing techniques (*I’m not sure we should even call it a breathe-up). It’s 100% about relaxation and I dived often without waiting to become fully relaxed. This was possibly my biggest issue. I noticed that Tim was far more disciplined on most of his drops and stayed on the surface longer and seemed more intentional about becoming relaxed than I was. Spearfishing is not freediving but if you are diving past 30m, you better be relaxed otherwise it’s not going to be pretty.
3. Chest inflexibility: This one is a hot button issue for many but honestly a limber, flexible and open chest is a winner for carrying more fuel down with you and feeling better when you do hit a depth where it becomes difficult to shift air around for equalizing (Freedivers call this Residual Volume or RV).
🔧 My Plan to Improve at Depth
*I am not an expert, I am sharing my experience and what I am learning right now so please don’t emulate me – 💬 Got your own tips, training ideas or questions? Drop a comment below—I’d love to learn from you or help if you’re earlier on the journey.
1. EQ Tool and Exercises: If you have tight, sticky or difficult Eustachian tubes, you have probably already done this. I teach students to do it! problem is, I have gotten away with my EQ until this deeper mode of spearfishing. I think I need to work on the elasticity of my Eustachian tubes. I already know an exercise popularized by Adam Stern. You simply do a series of 5 equalization’s on dry land and this increases pliability over time with regular practice. Basically your 1st EQ is at 25% effort, 2nd EQ 50% effort, 3rd EQ 75% effort, 4th EQ 100% effort (not blowing a fufu valve and hurting myself) and the 5th EQ 100% but hold the positive pressure for a bit longer. I’m also going to play with an EQ tool like this one and balloons every now and again.
2. Breathe-up Process: I am going to revisit a relaxation technique for spearos popularized by Luke Potts. Essentially you assign a numeric value to how relaxed you are: 10: I’m surrounded by sharks, severely hypoxic and my mates missing right through to 1: I’m literally about to fall asleep. As you can imagine diving anywhere from a 1-3 is perfect but honestly, I dive and have dived anywhere up to and including a 9. With Tim and Tom, I was often diving at a 4-5 level of relaxation and I was operating a little deeper, I should have spent a little more time relaxing. If you are all about improving breath-hold for spearfishing, then learn to relax.
3. Stretching and Diving Deeper more: Sounds counter intuitive but your body adapts. It’s just important that you do it gradually. I’m going to dive deeper when I have the right people and conditions and adapt slowly. I’ve also started doing some stretching during breathwork but there are a bunch of risks so I’m taking it super easy. I also started doing wonka tables and am considering some FRC laps in the pool but these have to be done with a trained buddy and I wouldn’t mind some expert advice (time to visit the Brisbane Bullsharks again!).
Conclusion
Diving deep isn’t just about numbers—it’s about knowing your body, respecting your limits, and learning from every drop. Sharing this experience isn’t about flexing; it’s about offering an honest account of where I’m at, what I’m working on, and the reality that even with over a decade in the water, there’s still plenty to learn. If you’re chasing depth, don’t chase it recklessly. Build the foundation—relaxation, equalization, technique, mindset—and surround yourself with people who raise the bar while keeping it safe. The ocean has a way of humbling even the most confident diver. So take your time, stay curious, and remember that the best divers aren’t the deepest—they’re the ones who come home.
🎧 Like this kind of deep-dive? Check out the Noob Spearo Podcast or subscribe to the Floater newsletter for more lessons from the deep.