Freediving in November

Jemeluk Bay drops from the beach to moorings set between 20 and 50 meters, so the deep line is a swim rather than a boat charter. That is unusual. Most freediving destinations put you on a boat before you see any depth. Three schools sit within a few hundred meters of each other on the same black-sand strip, teaching Molchanovs, AIDA and SSI, so you can switch systems or find a different coach without changing towns. The water is warm enough to train in a 3mm suit all year, and the same bay works for a first breath-hold and for a 40 meter constant weight attempt. Tulamben and the Liberty wreck are about 30 minutes up the coast for a day off the line.

The Blue Hole at Dahab is the world's most famous freediving training site, a 110m-deep shaft accessible from shore, zero current, flat surface conditions, and 25-30m visibility year-round. An entire global community of freedivers has made Dahab their extended base: two-week stays are the norm, not the exception. Multiple AIDA and Molchanovs schools operate on the Mashraba waterfront, the cost of living is extremely low by any standard, and the daily rhythm of dive, eat, rest, repeat is embedded in the town's culture. This is the destination for when serious progression is the priority. Note: the Blue Hole arch at 56m has a poor safety record, approached gradually by experienced freedivers only.

The channel between Trawangan, Meno and Air drops past 150 meters within a 10 to 15 minute boat ride, so the Gilis offer real depth without a long transit. One of the first dedicated freediving schools in Indonesia is on Trawangan and trains through instructor level; Gili Air, quieter and 15 minutes away by boat, holds two more. The islands ban motor vehicles entirely, which makes the whole place walkable and unusually calm for a training block. Water sits near 28C and October and November are the window the operators themselves name.

Panagsama's reef wall starts a short swim from the beach and drops well past training depth, so shore-entry line work is the norm rather than the exception. The sardine shoal sits in the shallows off the same beach year round, dense enough to blot out the light, and it is one of very few places where somebody on their first session sees something genuinely rare. The dedicated school here has taught since 2013 and runs instructor and AIDA judge training, which is unusual for a town this size. Costs are among the lowest of any serious freediving destination.

Dauin and nearby Apo Island are the established anchor of Asian freediving. AIDA and Molchanovs schools here teach full programs from beginner pool work through advanced depth training, and the local community has accumulated a depth of experience rarely found outside of Dahab. Apo Island, a marine sanctuary 30 minutes by boat, offers pristine reef walls that make depth training sessions genuinely beautiful rather than purely technical. The combination of serious institutional infrastructure, warm clear water, and a real local freediving community makes Dauin the most complete school destination in Asia for freedivers who want genuine progression.

Aqaba sits at the head of a narrow gulf, which means it stays flat when the open Red Sea is not, and the training site is about 10 minutes from shore rather than an hour offshore. Water holds 24 to 25C in November and 22 to 23C in December, warm enough to keep training through a winter when the Mediterranean and the Atlantic have shut down. Both schools operate year round. The other reason to come is that a freediving trip here pairs with Petra and Wadi Rum inside a single week, which is not true of anywhere else in this set.

Bonaire sits outside the hurricane belt, which is the single fact that makes it a November and December freediving destination when much of the Caribbean is not. The lee coast is a continuous shore-entry reef, water sits near 28C with visibility to 30 meters, and the island supports four independent freediving schools, an unusual density for somewhere this small. One of them runs a permanently moored sea platform, so line training does not depend on a boat schedule. November and December also book more easily than the January through March crush.

The Gulf of Tadjoura holds one of the most dependable whale shark aggregations anywhere, and you meet these fish on their terms, by snorkel rather than tank. Every year from about November to February, juvenile whale sharks, the largest fish in the sea, crowd into the shallow, plankton-heavy water off Arta beach and Ras Eiro at the western end of the gulf, close to shore and close to the surface. No diving experience is needed. Boats leave from Djibouti City, and once a shark is spotted you slip quietly into the water and fin alongside a five to seven meter animal as it feeds, which is the whole point of coming. The gulf is a flooded branch of the Afar rift, where the seabed is still pulling apart, and the same warm water holds dolphins, turtles and coral, so a morning afloat rarely delivers only one species.

La Paz is not a depth destination and should not be treated as one. Los Islotes bottoms out around 30 meters and the sea lion colony works in the top 10, so what you come for is the animals: several hundred California sea lions that approach freedivers, plus whale sharks in the bay once the regulated season opens. November is the last month of the local teaching window and the last of the sea lion tour season, which makes it the one month where instruction, sea lions and early whale sharks all overlap.

December is the annual visibility peak on the southern Egyptian Red Sea, routinely 30 to 40 meters and sometimes more. The main operator runs a dedicated freediving station off Marsa Shagra with up to four lines to a maximum of 40 meters, staffed by a full-time AIDA instructor. That is a purpose-built depth setup rather than a scuba center selling a freediving course on the side. The reef here is in better condition than the Hurghada and Sharm coasts because development came later and much of it is low-rise camp rather than resort strip.

The northeast monsoon flips Thailand's two coasts. From November through April the Andaman side is dry and calm while the Gulf, including Koh Tao, turns choppy, which makes Phuket the right side of the country for a November or December course. The main school has taught freediving at Kata since 2008 across AIDA, Molchanovs, SSI and PADI Freediver, caps instruction at three students per instructor, and runs open water at Racha Yai, 30 minutes south by speedboat from Chalong Pier. Water sits at 28 to 30C year round, which is as warm as freediving gets.

Tenerife solves the European winter training problem. While the Mediterranean goes cold from November to April, the Canary Islands sit at 28 degrees north latitude with Atlantic water staying 18-21°C year-round, warm enough for multiple daily training sessions in a 3mm wetsuit. Dedicated freediving schools operate year-round at Los Tarajales and Tabaiba Bay, and the volcanic seafloor creates dramatic drop-offs accessible close to shore. Direct flights from virtually every European capital make it a realistic choice for a five-day training trip in January or February. This is Europe's most practical answer to the question of where to freedive in winter.

Tofo is one of the surest places on earth to freedive alongside whale sharks and reef manta rays. A nutrient-rich upwelling off the Inhambane coast pulls plankton close to shore, and with it a resident population of whale sharks that turns up year-round rather than only on migration. The signature outing is the ocean safari, a small-boat run beyond the break to snorkel and freedive with whale sharks, giant mantas, humpback whales in season, dolphins and turtles. This is breath-hold territory more than tank diving, close to the surface where the megafauna feed and cruise. Operators run apnea courses and guided safaris straight off the beach at Praia do Tofo.

Nowhere else lets you freedive through flooded caves lit by shafts of sunlight one day and drop into open ocean the next. The cenotes around Tulum are freshwater sinkholes carved into limestone, some open to the sky, some fully submerged cave systems with stalactites overhead, and the visibility routinely runs past 30 meters. That clarity plus dead-calm, current-free water makes them one of the most forgiving places on earth to learn breath-hold technique, while the depth and cave features give experienced freedivers something genuinely technical to work with. AIDA schools have set up shop specifically because of this terrain, so instruction here is dense and specialized rather than a side offering bolted onto a dive shop.

Xiaoliuqiu is the easiest place in Taiwan to learn to freedive and one of the surest places anywhere to share the water with wild sea turtles. The island is home to several hundred resident green turtles that graze the sea-grass and coral just off the beaches, so a sighting is close to guaranteed on almost every session, often within a few meters of shore. The water is warm through the year, the entries are calm, and Xiaoliuqiu has the biggest concentration of English-speaking freedive instructors in the country, which is why beginners fly in from across Asia to take a first course here. Schools teach the main international ladders, from a taster dive to multi-level certifications, in small groups, and many fold in breath-work, yoga and recovery around the water time. Being a coral island with no rivers, the visibility stays good, and the same shallows that suit training are a joy just to snorkel with a mask and fins.

The Kona coast falls into thousands of feet of water within a mile or two of shore, which is why Hawaii Island is a freediving and blackwater destination rather than a reef destination. Visibility runs 23 to 30 meters most of the year and water sits near 26C in November. Manta rays feed off the coast at night year round, humpbacks arrive through December, and pelagic encounters are a normal part of a training day rather than a lucky one. Instruction here is FII, which is uncommon outside the United States and worth seeking out if you want that system specifically. This is a small scene: two operators, both FII, both teaching in small groups.

Each winter one of the planet's largest herring aggregations overwinters in the fjords around Skjervoy, and hundreds of orcas and humpbacks follow it in. Norway is the only place on earth with a reliable, legal in-water orca encounter industry, and this is its center: swimmers slip off RIBs in drysuits into 4 to 6 degree water, often under polar-night twilight or aurora, while whale blows echo off the fjord walls. Honesty about the format: this is guided breath-hold snorkeling at the surface, not a freediving course, though several operators run dedicated freediver departures for those who want to duck under. The window is short, strictly seasonal, and utterly unlike anything else in the ocean.

Blue Heron Bridge is a shallow, drift-fed site with extraordinary marine life for its depth, and the Palm Beach corridor is where Florida's freediving and spearfishing scene actually lives.