Freediving in San Blas: your school aboard a sailing catamaran
Published March 21, 2025 · Updated September 8, 2026
In San Blas, you can learn and practise freediving while living at sea aboard a sailing catamaran. With Ikigai, the boat is both your home and your school: you share your days with the instructor, dive straight from the stern and continue your journey among the Caribbean islands of this idyllic archipelago, with no more than six guests aboard.
Your wish to freedive can be the very reason for the trip. Sailing adds another dimension: making the sea your home for a few days, discovering different places and having time to focus on your practice while enjoying the journey.
A floating home and school
For training at depths of up to 15 metres, most sessions take place directly from Ikigai’s stern. Our floating home and school will already be above the practice site: you prepare your equipment on board and enter the water.
For sessions deeper than 15 metres and down to 35 metres, we usually take the dinghy to a dive site a short distance from the catamaran. The boat remains our base, while the dinghy gives us access to the sites chosen for training.
This is one of the distinctive things about freediving in San Blas with Ikigai: the school travels with us. The place where you sleep, eat and relax is also where you prepare for your next experience in the water.
Attention and calm: the benefits of learning in small groups
Living aboard with your instructor allows learning to continue beyond each session. A question that comes up during a dive can become a conversation back on board; a technique can be revisited at your own pace between sessions.
Your experience and what you would like to explore shape the training. You might be trying freediving for the first time, or spending your stay continuing your training and refining your skills. The small group makes room for a close working relationship, questions and individual attention.
One of the advantages of learning to freedive in San Blas is being able to put your new skills into practice straight away. Relaxation, equalisation and controlled movement become part of exploring the archipelago’s seabed and coral reefs. Learning extends beyond exercises on the line to dives among the reefs with your instructor, within your abilities and with respect for the marine environment.
Our freediving page introduces the training options and our approach to teaching. Here in San Blas, that training becomes part of a journey shared at sea.
Yoga, meditation and pranayama are part of life aboard
We practise yoga, meditation and pranayama on board as a central part of the Ikigai experience. Movement, awareness and breathwork open our days and complement our freediving practice.
Between dives
Out of the water, there is sailing between islands, sharing meals in the cockpit and the simple pleasure of stopping to watch the sea. Snorkelling and kayaking offer other ways to explore the water; when the itinerary allows, a jungle hike takes the journey onto trails through the tropical forest. The deck becomes a place to practise, read or rest.
Your travel companion can share life aboard while enjoying different interests. Freediving finds its place within a wider experience of movement, exploration and celebrating life.
Your next freediving experience in San Blas
Tell us about your experience and what you would like to learn: a first introduction, a course or a few days devoted to getting back into practice. From there, we can plan your training during your stay aboard.
See our freediving page for the courses available, and our San Blas season for dates, cabins and details about joining us. Courses take place during your stay and carry a separate fee in addition to the cost of your time aboard. Get in touch to talk about the trip.