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Hi, my name is Cassandra Cooper, I'm a freediving athlete and competitor from British Columbia, Canada, and today we are going to be talking about what it's like to live and train in Dominica.
If you've never been to Dominica before it is located in the French Caribbean and we dive in Soufriere. Soufriere is the southernmost point on the island and that is where the school is located, Blue Element Freediving run by Johnny Sunnex. That's where the Soufriere guest house is and that's where you're gonna do all your freediving.
Traveling to Dominica has actually gotten a lot easier in the last year, because they've now got direct flights from Miami coming in daily so if you're an international traveler it's gonna be really easy to get there. You also once you arrive can ask for a three-month visa and it's about an hour and a half taxi in order to get down to Soufriere, which you can arrange through the guest house, or wherever you're staying.
Soufriere is a fishing village at heart so the lifestyle that you live there is going to be similar to the lifestyle that's been lived there for a long time, it's really relaxed, you're going to be connected a lot with your community, both freediving and the local community that's there, you're going to be able to optimize your training and your health and really reconnect with the outdoors. So if you're looking for those things then Dom is probably the place for you.
Now the reason that so many people come to Dom is because of the conditions. The conditions are some of the best in the world, the platform is located about a five to ten-minute swim from shore, and it has no current, no wave, and we get unlimited depth there. So it's just about what every freediver looks for in a training location.
The school based in Soufriere is called Blue Element, it is run by Johnny Sunnex, it is right on the waterfront and gives you direct access to the platform there. He's got an amazing team of instructors working there year-round, so whether you're interested in training on your own or taking a course, or doing a private coaching session, they also have week-long monthly depth training camps. So if you're interested in doing a camp or whatever you need, they're gonna have every option available.
There are nine active volcanoes on the island which makes it a geothermal hotspot, which means that there are tons of hot springs there. There are also 14 segments on the island for hiking that run all the way from the southern point to the north, so there's lots of hiking to do there, you can do snorkeling, you can freedive on the line, there's spearfishing, kayaking, stand-up paddle boarding, there's just tons of stuff.