Abdel Rahman Abdeen (Instagram A/c: abdeenabod) is a 22-year-old free diver who is from Aqaba city, Red sea.
Freed diving was his passion since childhood, and that’s why he took also a scuba rescue diver course, a navy lifeguard course, an emergency first response course, and a course about marine life: coral reef resilience and coral restoration. He started working as a scuba diver guide and rescue diver in a local diving center in Aqaba. After that he learned about commercial diving, fixing, and cutting underwater in this same center for 5 years and he is still workings there. Various underwater ads for Roya tv are done by Abdel, an underwater military museum ad, and some ads related to underwater restaurants.
Q.) What is underwater life all about?
Abdel: Underwater is a very different world than you can ever imagine, it has beautiful fish coral, where you will find marine life everywhere and more importantly you will never feel bored. With every drive, you will see and learn something new. You can say it’s my life, my office, and my home.
Q.) Why did you choose your career as a freediver?
Abdel: Because it’s very close to nature and the primal way to contact the sea at the same time. You challenge yourself to get more skill-oriented and it lets you discover new places in the sea. A freediver can dive and go to any place in the sea.
Q.) What is freediving and how is it different from scuba diving?
Abdel: Freediving is without breathing gear, you just need one breath in your lungs to dive, and a lot of relaxation. One will see the underworld in a very different way, unlike scuba diving.
Scuba diving: diving with air-breathing gear.
Q.) Share your first-time experience when you went underwater and what you saw.
Abdel: My first experience was unpredictable because watching the underwater world was something new for me. I was so excited and happy to swim, enjoying the peaceful place which is unique and different from this world of people. Marine life is quiet and beautiful.
Q.) Don’t you feel scared going deep into the sea and meeting the dangerous sea creatures?
Abdel: Not at all there is nothing to fear about going underwater, everything is peaceful down there, even sharks.. yes. Movies give a different look at sharks but it’s totally different, shark attacks happen when people swim in bad water conditions like unclear water. I hope one day to see one of them.
Q.) What is the scope of freediving in Jordan?
Abdel: Here in Jordan scuba diving is very popular and we have a lot of centers. But not many people know about freediving, and that is why I plan to hopefully, open the first diving center soon.
Q.) What difficulties did you face in building your career?
Abdel: Freediving is not as easy as it looks, there are many techniques that need lots of training and time to perfect.
Q.) You have started your career at such a young age. How do you feel when people appreciate your work?
Abdel: It makes me feel so happy, their words motivate me to move forward to the next level, and to do something different every time such as collecting new stuff from the underwater to show the outer world how amazing this life is. I am thankful to everybody who supports me.
Q.) Do you have any advice for the people who want to start a career in freediving?
Abdel: Go and discover the underwater world, it is a lot of fun, and always stay on the safe side.
