Here is a thorough review of what you can expect from Amancay from very beginning to the very point where you become addictive to freediving...
1. Email contact: after I googled freediving in Mexico and read a few lines about it, I stumbled upon Amancay's website with clear description of all courses, recommended accommodation, and their personal stories that drew my attention. After sending an email to check the courses availability, I got a reply from Lucre within 3 hours! Nicely explaining me that it's a bit dumb idea to take Level 1,2,3 within a few weeks, but recommending to take the level 1 followed with some training that might bring us to level 2 in a few weeks. After we had short conversations to arrange my arrival and dates and all was set so easily within a few lines of email.
2. Personal contact: Here I was, heading to the downtown to check out their freediving shop and suddenly I stumbled upon their cozy office with 2 smiling people (Lucre & Fede) in there, welcoming me with open arms.. And basically that's it. Since then, I was in their good, careful, caring hands and that could be all you need to know ;), so you can stop reading here or check a few more details below..
After chatting for a while, I got registered to the course, got online and offline course material and headed to my place excited to spend more time with the Lucre and Fede that I just met in the shop.
3. Training: We basically started off by holding our breath as we would normally do and check the time.. Then we were going through the needed theory, did very nice relaxation breathing session and tried to attempt the same breath hold while being on steroids from the fresh, new knowledge, that maybe should have been taught already in basic school! Voala, we did twice the time as compared to our first breath. I think the only thing why we managed that was to listen to Lu's calming, relaxing voice while making us prepare and relaxed during the sessions. Suddenly we were not in a shop and listening to the street noise entering from the outside, but Lu took us to some freaking happy places, that made everything so smooth and natural. All good, then let's try in the pool. What? Why a stinky pool when we have a fresh, private, crystal blue cenote half an hour driving. So ye, we arrived to one of the most purest cenote with a small opening and deep as fcuk. Still, we did thorough stretching, put our neoprene on and tested the sweet water for the first time with stunning, ever going column of light entering the cenote and showing us the way we probably gonna head soon. The session with the gals were always the same pleasant time, so I can sum it up shortly. We always got familiar with the water and depth during some warm-up dives and then tried to work on our technique of diving or equalization step by step, so the progress we were doing came so natural, without doubting a single dive, even though did not know we would be ever capable of diving for so long or so deep. After the first session, I was just so confident in my new instructors that every other session was just a blast and my initial fear that naturally came was gone! The more we hung with Lu and Fede, the more I new about my body and got great tips for training outside of water to get even more comfortable and now I am at the point that I became addicted to it so that it is hard to be without it for a few days and also it's hard to stop thanking to the gals for their continuous effort, nice personality, and friendship inside and outside of the water. Even tough Cande left just after I arrived, so we had almost no time to hang and dive, I feel she is always present in the stories or jokes around the shop or in the water...
4. Sandwiches: Dunno why, but the sandwiches after the first time are just so delicious and the sandwich time is always nice end after a great diving session.
5. Side notes: having 2 briliant experienced instructors at reach improves the learning curve so much and it's a luxury to have it at Amancay is priceless. Shame that Cande has left the shop for her another adventure, so we shared only one dive that was just perfect, but it still feels as she is present through all the stories and memories about her. The places that they take you to are just breath taking, either already at the opening of the cenote or at depth and also they are usually quiet ones not explored by tourists too much, so you can fully relax and concentrate on the beaty under the water. read more