Learn from the most patient instructors in the world
Experience the Magic of Freediving in
XIAOLIUQIU TAIWAN
Testimonials
Why our students love to learn freediving with us in Taiwan?
Thanks Raymond Ko for an amazing journey getting back to freediving! After 1.5yrs of not freediving, I feel awesome, empowered and loving the chill person effect. You provided great guidance throughout the process and I can’t thank you enough 🙏 See ya soon! …
Claudia, Chile
Had an absolute blast with Ray during our level one Freedive course. As beginners with no diving and minimal ocean experience, Ray provided extremely personalized and professional coaching while keeping it fun the entire course.
Meghan, USA
I just did my Wave 1 with Ray,
what a great week.
Ray and Simon were my teachers, both showed great patience and expertise, as well as tailoring lessons around what I could do well or had trouble with. I always felt comfortable.
Mark, Germany
From Finance to Freediving
We are recently being featured in a few of the most popular international media! Ray shared about how freediving changed his life and how he jumped from a 20 years of finance into the embrace of a blue ocean...
Freediving in
Xiaoliuqiu, Taipei & Taichung
Interested in learning the sport of freediving?
Have you wanted to get into freediving in Taiwan? But there always seemed to be something standing in the way ? Then I've got a solution for you.
I'm Ray, a freediving instructor. I love teaching freediving, blogging and making YouTube videos for the international freediving community. I specialize in teaching freedive courses with a lower student ratio. Most certification courses have a student-to-instructor ratio of four-to-one But I take on a maximum of two students on each course. And I'll tell you why that's important a bit later.
SO WHAT'S PREVENTING YOU FROM TAKING THE DIVE?
You can't take any annual leave to take a course?
I designed a freediving course specifically for Taipei residents (can be any city in Taiwan in fact) to be able to participate in a course without taking a single day off. Most complete beginner's courses need four full days, which will require you to take at least two days off.
Just click on the Taipei page on the menu to find out more, but in summary you can certify in 3 steps.
Freedive Story
My Journey To Freedive
Online theory and dry skills - to be done over a video call with instructor.
Confined water session - work on beginner freedive skills in the pool in Taipei like static apnea training.
Open water - Take a Saturday morning Taiwan High Speed Rail to Kaohsiung in the south of Taiwan, take a car or bus to the port of Donggang where you'll take one of the many boats to Xiaoliuqiu Island where you'll learn to dive to new depths in one of Taiwan's beautiful tropical waters renowned for its year-round diving and who knows, you might get to take a photo with a sea turtle (90%+ chance).
"...you can get here in 4-5 hours from Taipei door to door..."
Xiaoliuqiu Island, you can get here in 4-5 hours from Taipei door to door or nearly the same time as getting through the iconic French freediving film The Big Blue. Much easier to get to than Orchid Island or Green Island and they don't even have year-round diving there. If you leave on an 7am train, you'll arrive on the island at about 11:30am.
None of the freediving courses fit your schedule?
No issue with me. A typical freedive school or instructor only offers courses on fixed dates. But since I teach such a low student to instructor ratio, I can be extremely flexible with dates for courses not to mention getting more personalized coaching.
Kinda scared cuz of Jaws or open ocean?
I got you there too. I know going out into the open ocean and diving to a depth you've never reached before on a breath-hold can be daunting.
Traditional freediving courses you would have 3 other fellow freediving students with you on your course with only one instructor.
You could feel you're falling behind them, which could add to the anxiety of being out in the ocean.
Because my course will at most have one other student who
probably shares the same feelings as you do, the pace of the course will match your comfort level and the coaching will also be
according to your comfort level. We can add on extra ocean sessions to your package if you feel you need more than the usual 3 sessions in the open water.
Everyone has a different path to learning and training freediving and every instructor should recognize this, but sometimes that's not the case.
I thrive to be as flexible and patient as an instructor I can to accommodate you on this journey into the wonderful world of freediving.
Every instructor loves to have easy students who pass with flying colors but I also embrace challenges because I know ultimately it will make me into a better instructor.
Don't want to travel far to take a freedive class?
Orchid Island and Green Island in Taiwan are no doubt incredible options as part of Taiwan's beautiful tropical waters but they require long travel times which makes other countries like Philippines a better option. But other countries are not an option during these pandemic times. Other places to consider are Kenting National Park and Divecube in Taichung. Kenting National Park is a great option to learn freediving but its more spread out and travelling around can be no great fun at all.
"...flying into Kaohsiung Airport gets you about an hour away from Xiao Liuqiu Island."
Divecube can be a good place to take freediving courses but there currently no English-speaking instructors that run courses there. Green Island and Orchid Island also have no resident English-speaking freedive instructor.
Learning freediving in Xiaoliuqiu Island, is ideal because its fast and easy to get to while also being a small island you won't be spending a lot of time travelling between places.
Xiaioliuqiu is officially known as Liuqiu Township but is also known as Lamay, Lambai Island and Little Ryukyu, Even Liuchiu has multiple spellings.
This island has one of the best spots to learn freediving in Taiwan because of year round diving conditions, warm waters and incredible visibility. Pool sessions on the island will be held at the newly opened White Card Free Diving Center with the largest freedive-dedicated pool in Taiwan. Open water sessions are held at Meirendong (Beauty Cave), Dafu or Sanfu depending on conditions.
Moreover, when the world opens and you are coming from other countries, flying into Kaohsiung Airport (KHH) gets you about an hour away from Xiao Liuqiu Island, home to a handful of international freediving school. If you are are looking for other options for English-speaking freediving courses in Taiwan, check out my blog article on it.
I know for scuba diving you need to get qualified, but why freediving?
Apnea diving gets a lot of comparison to scuba. There is no doubt that nearly 100% of all scuba divers have been certified by an instructor from an international association.
Nobody thinks twice before embarking on their journey to becoming a scuba diver to pass a program, pay their certification fee and get their license.
This is because connecting the regulator and BCD to the air tank, controlling your buoyancy and doing decompression stops is not intuitive. You need hands-on instructors to teach you to use these equipments.
Attaining proper freediving education on the other hand, falsely perceived to be optional and there are some people not interested in going through a program to become a certified freediver.
I cannot stress this enough, the safest way to begin is NOT from your friends or internet. The safest way to learn freediving is to find a qualified instructor.
Not sure about investing so much into a freedive course yet?
Attaining your freediving certification is not cheap, that's why I split the program into 3 modules which can all be paid separately.
Module 1
Theory and dry skills which we can do online on Zoom or Google Meets
Module 2
Pool session which can be done in Xiaoliuqiu or Taipei (or any other city in Taiwan in fact, within reason)
Module 3
Open water or ocean session
You can start right away with NT$5,000
for module 1 to learn the theory and dry skills from the comfort of your own home. By the end of this session you will be able to hold your breath for a minute and a half.
So the more you learn the more you will feel comfortable making that investment to continue your journey into freediving and explore this new world.
I Heard Freediving Is Dangerous?
To repeat above, freedivers who've had a formal freediving education can make it a pretty low risk sport, but extremely dangerous when you don't have any formal training.
Most of the fatalities that occurred while freediving are 99% untrained divers. The experienced freedivers who have passed have done so by ignoring safety protocols (like training alone) and when they dive outside their comfortable limits.
Let me use a stupid analogy. I was born and raised in the US, crossing the street was normal, I knew how to read and obey
pedestrian signals and to look both ways before crossing the street. It seems an innate skill to you now, but I assure you it is a skill that took some training from when we were toddlers. When I moved to Shanghai, China in 1995 they were in the midst of a great urban migration from rural areas. Those from a quiet corner of China did not know how to cross the street, they did not know how to obey pedestrian signals and not to look both ways when crossing the street. Thus they would jump out into traffic at the wrong times and many accidents and fatalities occurred.
"...to dive to deeper and deeper depths, a freediver body and mind requires long-term adaptation..."
For freedivers it's a bit the same. If you received no training or coaching from real experts instructor, you are putting your life unnecessarily at risk. Watch my Youtube Video where I critique the technique of the main character of My Octopus Teacher who was clearly an untrained diver. Getting an experienced instructor to advise on the documentary would have been the most professional option instead, perhaps millions of people are putting their lives at risk emulating his awful freediving technique.
When you are training, you should not push your limits, you should not feel uncomfortable. Modern day freediving competition has turned to a race to the deepest in the quickest amount of time possible amongst young competitive athletes trying to break international records.
However, in order to dive to deeper and deeper depths, a freediver body and mind requires long-term adaptation which you will learn in your freediving education with proper coaching and a competent instructor.
What's included in my freedive course?
| 1 | Certification fee | AIDA or Molchanovs |
|---|---|---|
| 2 | Equipment rental | Mask, snorkel, wetsuit, fins, weights and weight belts |
| 3 | Freedive training | 1 Confined Water Training + 3 Open Water Sessions for Depth Training |
| 4 | General fun | Humour will cost extra |
| 5 | Safety first attitude | While you dive into your new underwater world |
| 6 | Discounted coaching fee | After becoming a certified freediver |
| 7 | Fun diving | If time permits |
| 8 | Underwater photograhy | Including 10 professionally edited photos and video montage. |
Beyond the Underwater World
If you are on Facebook, there are two Facebook group would be a valuable resource for you and those are Taiwan Freedivers Syndicate and Xiaoliuqiu for Foreigners. Both groups have a number of instructors as members so can ask any questions regarding this sport. The latter is especially helpful if your Chinese is lacking as much of the best resources on Xiao Liuqiu Island are in Chinese.
For more information, click the button below to schedule a call with me.
