World freediving champion Tanya Streeter talks about her lifelong love: the sea.

Years before Tanya Streeter would set a new freediving world record with a 525 feet dive in one breath, she spent her childhood snorkelling in the shallow waters of Seven Mile Beach. She loved how the light would bounce off the sand and light up the coral. Since deep water was nearby, there were always turtles, rays, small sharks and eels lurking about. When she was 10, she was freediving 50 to 60 feet to the bottom of Eden Rock, famous for its mysterious underwater caverns. Today, she’s a champion freediver who’s travelled the globe to use her talents. We spoke with her about extreme diving, world records and becoming a mother.
Growing up you loved being in the water. What was it like leaving Cayman to go to the U.K. for boarding school? 
Two hours before my flight would leave I would be underwater. I would lay on the bottom — down about 20 feet — just looking around, listening and committing it all to memory, because I would be going to England and about 16 weeks of rain and freezing cold temperatures. On the beach, my mum would be screaming at me that I was going to miss my plane if I didn’t get out of the water.

During your competitive freediving career, from 1998 to 2005, you broke 10 world records, including the world record you still hold: 525 feet in one breath. How did you get started in competitive freediving? 
It really started in 1997. I was 25, living in Grand Cayman and working as the social secretary for the Governor. One weekend I joined some of my friends for a half-day freediving clinic taught by well-known freediver Pipin Ferreras. After a short while I did a dive of about 100 feet. Later, Ferreras called me from the Miami airport to convince me to train with him to break the American constant weight record –– 175 feet — about twice the depth I had dived that morning. I laughed; I thought he was mad.

After three months of training I broke the record. Four months after that, I dove 370 feet to break the world record in no limit diving. And it just kept going from there.

After you started breaking records, you got quite a bit of U.S. media attention, which must have been a shock for someone who grew up on a small island. Do you have any funny stories about the early days of being a celebrity?
I have never told anyone about this, but in the early days of my career I was getting a lot of U.S. media exposure. I did [the Late Show with David] Letterman. I did Vogue. I had just done a dive and there were pictures of me in a bathing suit. Then Playboyapproached me to do a photo shoot. [Laughs.] They wanted to take it to a whole other level of undress. They offered me so much money. But I couldn’t do that and expect to hold my head up. I have always been choosy about the projects I have done.

A couple years ago, you went to Antarctica as part of an 11-person team to test scuba diving equipment in cold water. What was it like diving in those Antarctic conditions?
The average temperature outside is -33 Fahrenheit. The ice is 20 feet thick and they cut this hole in the ice with a giant corkscrew. We had a hut covering the hole where we would start our dive and that was pretty warm at 50 degrees.

I am wearing a warm dry suit and a hood and everything is fine. Then, to get into the water I had to slide 20 feet through this tunnel of slush. Once my face and head hit the water it’s so cold. It’s like a frozen hacksaw banging against my head.

It is pitch black because there is 20 feet of ice on top of you and there is no light coming through whatsoever.

The whole idea that you are going into this crazy, cold, alien environment to push the regulators to failure — that just goes against the grain. I was a total safety freak who never had an accident while freediving [competitively] or had any safety issues at all. It was a big switch for consciousness and control.

Even with a dry suit, you must have been pretty cold diving in that Antarctic water.
We were diving about 30-40 minutes and my fingers and toes were painfully cold. Halfway through the dive I started getting creative. I would stretch out my hands in a skydiving position to get warm air to rise to my fingertips. The rest of the team used to tease me about pulling a Peter Pan flying position.

By the time I started to exit the water, everything from my elbows and knees down were painfully cold. As soon as my face hit that warmer air [in the hut] my blood started perfusing back to my skin. It was like being slapped in the face with a sledgehammer. My lips felt like they were on fire. Then as I warmed up, the same thing happened to my toes and feet. When that started happening I was crying ‘When is this going to stop? When is this going to stop?’ I thought my hands and fingers were going to explode. It was so terribly painful.

The most courageous thing I did on that entire trip was get back in the water on the second dive. That is what we did, twice a day, every day, for 10 days. It was hardcore.

For a few years, you were a presenter for a BBC documentary where you dove with a mother humpback whale and her calf. What was that experience like?
Humpback whales are the consummate freedivers. They are these huge magnificent animals and have evolved into absolute perfection. The mother whale was enormous and I felt insignificant in her presence. The mother allowed me into her private world. Her calf was curious about me. I swam with them for a couple magical hours.

It was amazing to shoot that film and interact with them as much as we did.

During that same BBC documentary series you also got to dive or swim with dolphins, tiger sharks, marine iguana and sea lions. Do you have any tips on how to interact with marine life?
As a diver, you need to respect your position in whatever situation is unfolding. It is amazing to be underwater, to see animals interacting together and if they choose to interact with you, that is absolutely fantastic. But you take what you are given when you are in the water.

With whales and dolphins, there are very strict guidelines. You should never approach the same group of animals more than twice. If you approach them once and they move off and you approach them again and they move off again — that’s it. They are giving you a very clear sign that they don’t want to play today.

For sharks, respect is a huge issue. They don’t want to be messed with or provoked. You are there to look, to quietly keep your hands tucked in and watch. And it is all plenty beautiful enough if that is all you do. You don’t need to be disturbing animals in any way or reaching out to touch them.

Now that you have stopped freediving competitively, do you have any projects in the offing? 
Being a mum is my main project now, but I do have a few projects on the go. I still have my finger in the TV pie, though it is hard for me to leave [my daughter] Tilly to go shoot something. On the other hand, I really do love it. There is something about the sea for me that is a joy and it’s in my blood. If I get offered an opportunity to make a great film that makes people fall in love with the ocean and want to protect it, then I may have to just suck it up and do it.

You live in Texas and come back to Cayman a few times a year to see your family. Does Cayman still feel the same when you come back?
Cayman is the place where my roots are… where my family is. I do feel like I am coming home every time. And it’s always hard to leave.

Your daughter Tilly is nearly 3 years old. Do you think she will be a freediver like her mother? 
She is definitely a water baby. She is already swimming 10 feet to the bottom of the pool. But she is this flaming redhead with really pale skin. It already breaks my heart that she has freckles so I would like to see her do something that will protect her skin, like become a ballerina. But she will do whatever she wants to do.

What are some of your favourite spots to dive when you come back home to Cayman?
I love anywhere off the wall, North Side and East End. I love deep water because it is a completely different experience. You are disappearing into the deep. It’s so deep blue, just magical.The rocks and the formation coral — it’s gorgeous. I just as equally love going off Cemetery Reef where it’s shallow and [sandy] and the light is bouncing off the sand and it lights up everything so beautifully.

When you come back to Cayman, do you still use the specialized wetsuit and other gear? 
When I am home I will sometimes get up an hour earlier than everybody else and go to Smith’s Cove. I will wear just a mask and a swimsuit. I don’t need the fins, the snorkel, the wetsuit or the weights. I like to do what I did when I was a kid… lay on the bottom of the sea and take it all in for a while and be free of it all. I think I will melt the first time I see my daughter do that. And she will. I am pretty sure she will.

Source: caymanairwaysmagazine.com