It was with pure excitement that the budding candidates joined me early on a sunny November Thursday morning at Queenscliff harbour, for what could be the first ever Freediving Instructor course held in Victoria. Descending upon the beautiful, ornate and charming town of Queenscliff on the Bellarine Peninsula about 90 minutes drive from Melbourne, the coffee was hot, fresh and brimming with energy.

Ahead lay four intensive days of training in the classroom, pool, and open water to work towards the ambition of becoming a PADI Freediver Instructor.

I achieved a life goal and became a freedive instructor – Jake Janson, President Geelong Freediving Club

When: November 2025 (Four days)

Grade: PADI Freediver Instructor (Level 1)

Candidates: Jake, Jordan, Christine

Requirements: Demonstrate teaching skills, safety practices, 20m constant weight dive, rescue from 15m depth, 50m dynamic swim, 2’30” static

Program: Daily classroom sessions, multiple pool training sessions and open water dives

Victoria has to be one of the more challenging places in the world to freedive. The cold waters of the Southern Ocean sweep in from Antarctica, meeting the coastal waters east and west of the entrance to Port Phillip Bay, widely known as the most dangerous body of water to navigate in the southern hemisphere, commonly named The Rip, or the Port Phillip Heads.

The sea temperatures vary between 9c – 21c throughout the year, and the water is often rough on the surface, with surge and currents prevailing most of the time. The best days of the year with no wind, very little swell and clear visibility maybe you could count on one hand. So when you learn to freedive in these waters, you have to have a pretty strong arsenal of skills, experience and capabilities that make you a strong and adaptable freediver.

To then become a proficient freediving instructor, you need to have these strong foundations in place as a freediver, for the art of teaching students in these wild waters takes a new mentality, a deep local understanding, and the ability to guide new enthusiastic freedivers towards enjoyment, considering the vast array of conditions you’re presented with.

And so it was a joy to welcome my long-time freediving student, Christine and the students Jake and Jordan who have been trained by James Cini of Freedive Geelong (a former student of mine who developed into an instructor and created his own freediving school on the Bellarine Peninsula!).

CHRISTINE

Fell in love with the underwater environment on her first scuba course aged 15. Adores the unique marine life of the southern temperate waters. Loves the mental health aspects of freediving and the feeling of being energised after a dive. Background as a seal and dolphin snorkel guide, commercial skipper, fisheries officer, artist, musician and maths wiz!

Driven to become a freediving instructor as loves watching people grow and develop in the water.

JAKE

A passionate surfer, it was when he wanted to surf bigger waves that Jake got into developing his breath-hold for wave hold downs through freediving. He loves the benefits of the “Ocean Mind” and has coached kids with challenges and disabilities from being unable to swim to surfing in the waves.

Driven to become a freediving instructor to build upon his role as President of Geelong Freedive Club and to share his passion for freediving with others.

JORDAN

A keen snorkeller since he was 10 years old, he discovered freediving through friends and trained with James of Freedive Geelong. He fell in love with the mind management and how the focus of breathing techniques help to concentrate on being in the moment.

He is excited to teach freediving to share knowledge and guide others on their personal journey, just as freediving did for him.

View a selection of images from the course below and see the full gallery of images and videos here.

Situated by the beaches of Queenscliff and nearby to the harbour, despite a very chilly spate of November weather, it was so much fun to share the freediving instructor training with these wonderful people. We enjoyed a spectacular day’s diving in Port Phillip, performing a drift dive to practice the open water line-diving dives and to exercise the teaching skills. Finishing off that session with a fun freedive with the Australian Fur Seals at Popes Eye Marine Park. The days in the pool let us focus on freediving technique training and really bedding down the art of teaching freediving to new students.

The second open water dive day we were met with crazy winds and a daytime temperature struggling to get to 9c. In the freezing conditions, as you do in Victoria, you adapt and find a way to make the training formative and progressive, even if the initial plans go awry. The candidates shone even though it was bitterly cold and awful in the water. But this is what makes a skilful and effective freedive instructor in Victoria. It would be a pleasure to be a new freediving student under any of these new freediving instructors and I have no hesitation in recommending them.

Thanks to Christine, Jake and Jordan for joining me on this historic Melbourne based PADI Freediver Instructor Course, a memorable and wonderful occasion.

Undertook my freedive instructor course with Marlon and he was nothing but the perfect combo of fun and professionalism. You could not ask for a better instructor and waterman. – Jordan Cripps, Freediving Instructor