Daegu freediving school for beginners: AIDA1 course at N&N Freediving

I'd wanted to try a beginner freediving course for ages, and when I heard there was a place in Daegu offering it, I went and gave it a shot. Bottom line: it was SO much fun that now I want to go all the way through AIDA 2 and 3 too ~

Since earlier this year I've been going to early-morning swim lessons as a new hobby before work, but even though I can swim, I get a bit of fear(?) in the ocean where my feet can't touch the bottom, so I got interested in freediving as a way to overcome that. Turns out a lot of people who can't swim well are actually the ones drawn to freediving??

Freediving vs scuba diving: what's the difference?

The instructor explained this during the Daegu freediving intro course too — simply put, freediving means holding your breath and not breathing at all, while scuba diving means wearing an oxygen tank on your back and breathing continuously.

Something I was curious about: freedivers seem to have something in their mouth attached to their mask when they go under — does it do anything? Turns out no. That mouthpiece thing doesn't do anything at all; you just take it out when you enter the water and hold your breath. Freedivers are seriously amazing.........

Where the Daegu lessons take place: Pass9 Diving Pool in Gumi

N&N Freediving's practice site is Pass9 in Gumi. Apparently there isn't a single diving pool within Daegu city right now. No wonder — every Daegu freediving school seems to send students to either Gumi's Pass9 or Miryang. There used to be a pool at Duryu Swimming Pool, but it's currently under construction.

Anyway, I booked my Daegu freediving lesson through N&N Freediving. I showed up at Pass9 in Buksam at my reserved time! Pass9 is only about a 5-minute drive from Buksam Station on the Daegyeong Line, so if you don't have your own gear, it's easy to get there from Daegu by train.

Pass9 pool entry fee and gear rental costs

Even with the lesson booked, the pool entry fee and gear rental were separate. The pool ran 4 time slots a day, each 2 hours 30 minutes long. Since weekends cost ₩5,000 more, I prepaid ₩35,000 for pool entry plus ₩5,000 for gear rental (mask, fins, wetsuit).

At the gear room I picked up the fins, wetsuit, and snorkel mask I'd arranged in advance! I thought freediving masks would be different, but they turned out to be exactly the same as regular masks you'd use at the beach — I probably could've just brought my own from home.

What you learn in the AIDA1 beginner course at N&N Freediving

First, the group starts with stretching for safety before the lesson. N&N Freediving is a certified freediving education organization approved by the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries, so it seems like a great place for beginners to start from the intro course. There's also an excellent professional instructor who used to judge national team selection trials, and they teach at a pace beginners can easily follow.

Breathing technique and the static hold: 1 minute on my first try

Once you start the AIDA1 intro course, you first learn basic breathing techniques. Classes are kept small so we could focus, and after relaxing the body, putting on the mask, doing prep breaths, and taking in as much air as possible, we practiced holding our breath. This is apparently called a static hold — maybe it's my lung capacity even though I swim regularly ^^ or maybe I was just nervous, but I could only hold for 1 minute lol

Ta-da ~ the friend I went with held for 2 whole minutes. They say it varies by person, but the average is around 1 minute.

Finning practice in the 5m pool

After the breathing prep, we moved on to finning practice. I wear fins every day at swim lessons too, so this wasn't hard.

The teaching pace was tailored enough that even non-swimmers could keep up, and with safety as the top priority, it felt totally low-pressure even for someone trying freediving for the first time. My takeaway: to hold your breath well in freediving, peace of mind seems to matter most haha. If you're psychologically stressed, fear makes you unable to hold your breath even when you physically could.

Once we slowly got the hang of breathing and finning, we did a round trip touching the 5m floor and coming back — up to this point, nothing felt difficult at all.

Equalizing, the hardest part of AIDA1

Now for the most important thing in freediving, equalizing ^_^ It varies by person, but my ears started hurting at just 2m down. Apparently equalizing is the part most people struggle with most when starting freediving anyway.

Even though the instructor kindly taught me one-on-one, I just couldn't manage equalizing while descending head-first, but when I wrapped the line around my legs and descended in a seated position, I somehow succeeded. I was slower than my friend, but the instructor explained things as simply as possible, so I learned a lot even on day one of freediving.

Descending this way made it much easier. Now that I've learned how to equalize, I'll be able to dive down and pick up turban shells next time I go to the beach.

Can you get underwater photos at Pass9 Diving Pool?

Once you've adjusted a bit, the instructor pulls out a camera and has you try underwater poses lol. At this point, wetsuits and fins don't photograph well, so we took them off briefly for the shots. The instructor carries two professional underwater cameras, so you can end up with several great shots during a Daegu freediving lesson.

Is N&N Freediving's beginner course doable for office workers?

I worried the lesson fee might be expensive, but it's reasonably priced compared to other schools, with a systematic path from beginner through certification and even instructor courses — I'd especially recommend it to anyone starting with the AIDA1 intro course. It was only a 3-hour lesson in one day, but maybe because I love water?? it was so much fun, and I kept thinking, why did time go by so fast.

It's a verified school with liability insurance in case of accidents, and lessons can be scheduled on weekdays as well as weekends, so I'd recommend it to office workers too.

The pool at Gumi's Pass9 where I took the intro course went down to 3m, 5m, and 8m — sadly, my friend made it to the mirror section below 5m but I didn't, so ^^ no mirror photo of me. So here's my friend's photo instead.

N&N Freediving tours, regular training and the diving club

N&N Freediving also charters a 45-seat bus for tours or trips to other sites, so you don't have to drive far on your own and can go together, cutting down on the physical strain. I can't even imagine how fun it would be to make this a hobby and visit a new spot every month....... I want to go again.

N&N also keeps offering free regular training after the course ends so your skills don't decline, and they run a club so that people who come alone can quickly make friends — plenty of chances to bond and connect with new dive buddies.

Even someone who really can't swim well could take on this Daegu freediving course solo — N&N Freediving. It was only one day of the beginner course, but the systematic teaching and satisfying lesson made my fear of going deep underwater fade a little, and I feel like I found a new kind of joy — this was a genuinely fun and honest review. I'm sure I'll go again, so I even got the certificate issued. Until next time ㅜㅜ