Belize Freediving Workshop and Snorkeling Tour | Turneffe Island Resort

Upon arrival in Belize City, meet your driver and transfer to Fort George Hotel for check-in. You can spend the day relaxing and enjoying the hotel facilities before meeting your tour leader, Emma, and fellow tour members for dinner in a nearby restaurant.

After a hotel buffet breakfast, we check out and store our luggage at the hotel and depart for a guided tour to Altun Ha- one of the most sacred Mayan ruins in the country.

Upon return to the hotel, we will have lunch and then walk across the road to the marina, where we board a speed boat for the 2-hour journey to Turneffe Island Resort. Once everyone has settled in, there’ll be a group dinner and an orientation.

Each day will start with tea or coffee delivered to our bungalows, followed by breakfast in the dining room.

Most mornings, Emma will host optional breathing optimisation sessions on the resort’s pier, overlooking the sunrise.

Around 9 am, we board our private boats and head to one of the many snorkel sites in the area, most within a 5 – 10 minute boat ride. We’ll spend 60 – 90 minutes in the water for each snorkel session/in-water freediving lesson. You will be divided up into smaller groups, each of which will have its own private snorkel guide and snorkel boat. These guides are experts of the reef, and will not only be pointing out the not-so-obvious creatures, but also looking after your safety.

After the morning session, we’ll return to the resort for a delicious hot lunch before heading out around 2.30 pm for the second session of the day. Afterwards, there is plenty of time to relax and enjoy the facilities before meeting poolside at around 6 pm for h’ors d’oeuvres, followed by a chef-prepared 3-course dinner in the dining room.

The food at the resort is fantastic. Besides the three mouthwatering hot meals served daily, there are all-day snacks available in the dining room and hors d’oeuvres served poolside every evening. One evening we’ll enjoy a beach BBQ, another traditional Belizean fare. Dietary requirements can be catered to with advance notice.

On some evenings after dinner, there will be a Yoga Nidra session hosted beneath the magical night sky, which will be the final touch in putting you in that restful state before climbing into your comfortable beds for a solid night’s sleep.

One day, when the weather looks best, we’ll spend a full day out on a snorkeling trip, with a packed lunch, to the Great Blue Hole, Half Moon Caye, and Long Caye.

The resort has a gym, pool, paddleboards, kayaks, and Hobie Cat, all of which are available for use at our leisure.

After an early breakfast, the group leaves this little island paradise and returns to the mainland. Here, you can wait at the Radisson until it is time to be transferred back to the airport for our departing flights.

Freediving Instruction Outline

Emma Farrell will be running snorkel skills and freediving sessions throughout the week.

She will split the tour group into smaller groups and rotate through the groups ensuring everyone has at least two pool and two open-water (ocean) sessions with her during the tour. Those not with Emma at a particular time, will be reef snorkeling with local guides- there will be two guided boat snorkel sessions offered per day to the beautiful reefs. This means everyone gets to have freediving instruction and lots of reef snorkeling time. The group rotation ensures that each group has the opportunity to work with Emma for the same amount of time.

The lessons are optional. If you prefer to only participate in a few of them, you are welcome to do so, and then join the reef snorkelers for other sessions.

For the first session, the focus will be on correct breathing, relaxation techniques, weighting, and safety for freediving and for taking photos underwater and exploring the reefs. This will take place in both the swimming pool and on the reefs. Emma will look at each individual’s equalization, body positioning, finning, and duck diving technique. She will teach correct breathing both before and after a dive, as well as techniques for relaxation in the water. All open water (ocean) sessions will take place in shallow waters of 6 – 8m depth.

Once everyone has had an opportunity to learn the fundamentals of freediving over the first few days, the remainder of the time spent with Emma will be working on your own individual goals and dealing with the various challenges you’re facing. While this is a group freediving workshop, the way it’s broken down into smaller groups, with all the participants rotating turns working with Emma on a one-on-one basis, there is ample time for you to get that personal attention you need to really hone your freediving skills.

In addition, throughout the week, Emma will offer masterclasses on breathing optimization and stretching, equalization, and sinus massage. She will also host various talks about freediving for interested parties on most evenings. Everything is optional, if you prefer to laze by the pool with a book or have a cocktail at the bar, you are welcome to do so.

Please note that this workshop is about improving your confidence and skill, and does not result in a freediving certification. It provides a casual and relaxed environment to build useful skills, without any pressure to achieve certain milestones. Each person’s goals and needs differ and Emma will address these individually.