Why I became a PFI Instructor
Submitted by PFI Instructor, Steven Hood
A friend and I stepped into Sub Surface Progression, a dive shop in Fort Bragg to rent gear for our adventure. He was taking me abalone diving for the first time. Physically, I was struggling to squeeze into a tight-fitting wetsuit in an equally cramped changing room. Mentally, I was obsessing about what being eaten by a great white shark would feel like. This was going to be an exercise in courage! I pumped up and got ready to charge the water. I told myself I was going to succeed in my battle to get in the ocean and grab an abalone from the depths.
Yes, I did have the opportunity to face some fears out there. However, I also found something that I was not expecting. While floating at the surface I had an interaction with a blue rockfish; I saw him and he saw me. After that, I wanted to get back in the ocean as soon as possible. I ended up finding another friend of the family that was into diving so I would have someone to go out with. I was establishing a relationship with the underwater world and a new part of myself. Every time I left the water, I could not wait to go back.
I would not go alone, so I was limited to days when my dive partner’s schedule aligned with mine. I needed to find more partners. I live in NorCal where freedivers are in limited supply. To make things more difficult, the small community seemed closed and tight-knit. My dive partner suggested I take a PFI freediving class, telling me I would be far more likely to obtain partners if I were a trained dive buddy instead of just a liability for people who were willing to take me along. I learned so much from that class, from how to dive safely to how to be a safety for another diver. I learned how the human body has all of these built-in adaptations that help you with freediving that I never heard about. Yes, I also learned how to go deeper than ever before. Most importantly I learned about the significant role of relaxation and that my attitude of getting pumped and charging the water could not have been more backward. I remember the feeling of my first 60 foot deep dive. The weight of 3 atmospheres of water pushing down on me was a sensation I’d never felt before. My buddy list quickly grew from one to a handful of dive partners. I was also much calmer and more confident in the water.
Fast forward a few years and a couple more freediving classes. I was bored with grabbing snails and became interested in chasing fish. Along the Sonoma County coastline, most people hunt groundfish species. Rockfish, cabezon, and lingcod are excellent eating, and I am grateful to be able to go harvest them within a 45-minute drive from my house. But my ambition gnawed at me again, and after doing all that training I yearned for something even more challenging along with a change of scenery. I turned my sights to Southern California and joined a multi-day charter on the Peace Dive Boat.
We headed to Cortez Bank, a massive seamount about 100 miles offshore from San Diego. The ocean conditions were incredible, providing nearly 100 feet of beautiful visibility. Floating above the depths, I could see nothing but perfect, blue water in every direction. On one of my drops, I leveled off at about 45 feet and was schooled by a dozen bluefin tuna. They flew through the water around me like rugby ball shaped missiles. A well-placed shot lead to a fight like I had never experienced before, and after the battle I was proudly holding my first pelagic fish, a 35-pound bluefin tuna. It’s also a claim to fame that I got it with a two-band AB Biller speargun!
A big fish is not all I found out there while doing hundreds of dives over the course of a few days. I swam through thick, labyrinth-like kelp forests, felt hypnotized by endless blue water, and descended along the kelp stalks deep down to the reef beneath. I was able to check out of the surface world I have always known and enter an entirely different dimension. During those moments, everything going on back on land no longer existed. For however long I can hold my breath, I get to be free.
I am still chasing that feeling in my diving today. It does not matter if I’m in the pool with a buddy doing dynamic training, on a dive line out at one of the local lakes hitting new depths, spending time with new divers or in the ocean shooting fish or videos. Last year I even got certified to start teaching those same PFI classes so I could share with others what I have found down there. I dive to see things I’ve never seen, feel things I’ve never felt, and be someone I’ve never been. I absolutely love being down there! Next to my family, it is absolutely the best part of my life. If someone invites you to go freediving, be careful, you might find more than you were looking for.