Freediving in Pitsunda (Abkhazia)
Rested in Abkhazia in the summer from July 7 to July 27.2008 with his wife and two sons.
Choosing a place to stay was not easy. As a result, Sochi, Adler and Gelendzhik lost to the unknown land of Abkhazia. I must say right away that it was great, both in terms of relaxation and in terms of my passion for freediving.
First of all, at the stage of preparation, I reviewed a huge amount of information on the Internet. I read a lot of reviews, descriptions and advertisements. I was so charged with information that when I arrived in Pitsunda, the city was completely recognizable, as if I had lived in it for many years.
Of the cities of Abkhazia, the choice fell on Pitsunda as a place with a wonderful climate (however, the same climate is everywhere in Abkhazia), but also as a place where deep places near the coast are quite likely (judging by the topographic map of Pitsunda). As a breath-hold diving enthusiast, I am extremely interested in the sharp bottom drops near the coastline. In this case, you do not have to spend a lot of effort to sail to a place where the depth is sufficient for diving (before Abkhazia, my record was 11 meters, after it became 16.5 meters). The most ideal option (for me) is diving from the shore along the bottom that goes down steeply. In Pitsunda I found amazing beaches in this regard.
From the airport in Adler we got to the border. Customs passed very quickly (the only question was about my depth gauge - this is a rope measured in meters with several plumb lines at the end - the sharp ends of the plumb lines aroused suspicion). After explaining what it is, we ended up in Abkhazia. We got on a minibus and went to Pitsunda.
At first, we planned to immediately arrive at the fish factory area, but we didn’t get there - we were intercepted by the ubiquitous rental agents, whom we took at their word. As a result, we went out right in the city center and rented one of the apartments in a 4-storey building (next to the city administration).
We went to the beach in several ways.
1. - through the forest along the path to the side of the boarding house Pine Grove - this is the closest beach to our house
2. - to the beach of the association of boarding houses "Pitsunda" (basically this is the first building "Bzyb")
3. - several times we went to the beaches of the fish factory and Lidzava (there is an interesting place with rocks that come to the surface of the water at a distance of 100 meters from the shore - a depth of about 6 meters).
The water is warmer. But not transparent. The bottom from the surface is visible only at 3-4 meters. On the beach on the side of Pine Grove there is a terrible rocky shore. It is very painful to step on stones with bare feet. The wife got out of the situation with the help of slippers, which she then held in her hands while swimming. Not very convenient, but there was nothing to do. The situation is better on other beaches.
1. beach on the side of Pine Grove - a depth of 8 meters begins about 60 meters from the shore. Not good
2. Lidzava beach (northern shore of the bay) - where there are shallow underwater rocks. The rocks are 100 meters from the shore and the depth there is only 6 meters. The day is flat.
3. beach in the middle of the bay, between the end of the Pitsunda Reserve and the beginning of Lidzava. The most abrupt bottoming. Already 15 meters from the shore, the depth is about 15 meters. The depth at the end of the fish factory pier, where you can dive from a running start (tested in practice) is 5 meters.
4. Beach of the Bzyb Corps (southern shore of the bay). Great place. Right next to the pier is the first buoy. From the shore 25-30 meters. The depth under the buoy is 14.5 meters, and the bottom goes further down sharply. It was here that my son and I basically dived. It is very easy to swim to the buoy, then a little rest and diving. On a record dive, the son went down under the water, abruptly taking the direction from the buoy to the open sea. I reached 17.5 meters (the measurement was carried out using a Casio MRT-200 depth gauge watch) and did not see the bottom at all, although the water column is visible under water by 7-8 meters. My record is 16.5 meters. At 80 meters from the shore, not far from the pier, there is a platform for divers. According to the maintenance personnel, the depth under the platform is 25 meters.
In one of the dives, a small incident happened to me. I have never heard of such an incident before, so I share my experience with interested people. I dived under the buoy as always. While reaching the bottom (14.5 meters, 15 seconds), it was blown 4 times. At the bottom, before going deeper along the bottom, it was blown 5 times. Naturally, with each purge, part of the air is lost. Therefore, what happened next, I explain the very small volume of air in the lungs. He went along the bottom to a depth of another 1-1.5 meters and measured to measure the depth (this requires the immobility of the watch for 3 seconds). Suddenly, in spite of my desire, my lungs began to push the air out with sharp movements. I could hardly hold my mouth and lips, so as not to exhale the air. There were 3-4 such movements. As a result, I felt flattened in my chest. There was a clear feeling that the lungs were empty and completely without air, and even they were squeezed by heaviness. I clearly felt the weight of many meters of water. Hence the feeling of terror. The first thought was - well, that's all, got stuck, jumped. What to do? I almost panicked, because the situation was incomprehensible and terrible. There was a clear feeling that I could not get to the surface. I just won’t have time to go there, because I don’t have air and my lungs are squeezed. I looked up and saw the sun shining vaguely through 15 meters of water. The surface was so far away! I can't get to her. All these thoughts flashed through in a split second. The next thought was - there is nothing to do, we have to go up, I will have time or I will not have time, anyway there are no other options! I pushed off the bottom and went up sharply, working with all my might with my fins. One flipper almost flew off my foot, and I thought that if it flew off, I would not return for it. Consciousness went to some point in the lower abdomen and watched what was happening from there. Without thoughts and feelings, only knowing the direction - up and up. At a depth of 7-8 meters, the lungs suddenly expanded (the pressure weakened) and only at that moment I realized that the worst was over. And already calmly emerged on the surface.
Perhaps this feeling of squeezing the lungs sooner or later comes for every diver at a certain depth for each and there is nothing wrong with it. You just need to get used to it.
In general, the beach of the Bzyb Corps in Pitsunda is a great place for freediving enthusiasts that do not require any additional equipment.