How to Accidentally Set a Freediving World Record with Tanya Streeter, and Liveaboard Top Tips with Girls That Scuba Founder Sarah Richards

SPEAKER_02 0:13

Welcome to the Deeper Blue Podcast, your weekly guides to everything that is happening around the world underwater. My name is Stephen Whelan. I'm the founder of DeeperBlue.com, the world's most popular diving website. Every week, the Deeper Blue Podcast covers everything that's happening in the scuba diving, freediving, diving travel, and ocean advocates world. So join us as we explore the Deeper Blue. Welcome everyone, episode seven of the Deeper Blue Podcast. Coming up, we'll have the latest weekly news from around the world underwater. Then we have an interview with Tanya Streeter, a world record champion freediver who specializes in the more extreme versions of freediving by using a sled in no limits and variable weight. She also held the overall men's and women's no limits world record with a depth of 525 feet, that's 160 metres, which is still the current women's world record. She then has gone on to be a mother, TV personality, and environmentalist. She talks to us about some of her pioneering freedive and world records, including setting one by accident, and how she developed her deep connection to the ocean, living as a child in the Cayman Islands before moving to boarding school here in the UK. Then we hear from Sarah Richard, founder of the world's largest female energy community, The Incredible Girls That Scuba, and co-host here at the Deep Lee Podcast. She gives us three tips on how to make the most of being on a live board. And then finally, we have Rob Mackins on his best dive ever. Now, let's catch up with what's been going on around the world underwater this week. First up, some incredibly sad conservation news this week, as it's announced that sharks are functionally extinct on 20% of the world's reefs. Though many people find them intimidating, menacing, or just plain scary, I certainly know a few non-diving friends who would be happy to hear that there's less sharks out there. Sharks are vital to the health of our world's oceans. These often misunderstood creatures are found in just about every ocean habitat around the globe, but their populations are plummeting. Indeed, the true extent of their decline is not really fully known. What we do know is that 73 million sharks are hunted and killed every year. That's 200,000 a day. And this is mainly just for their fins. Every time I read or hear this number, I still find it an utterly staggering amount and almost impossible to get my head around. Especially since I've had the honour of diving with a great many number of sharks, including 50 bull and reef sharks at one time in Fiji a few years ago, and I have to say it was one of the most incredible, humbling, and relaxing experiences I've ever done. So, to better understand the level of shark disappearance across the tropical coastal reefs, an international team of scientists conducted a landmark study under the Global FinPrint Organization. Their findings that have been published in the journal Nature reveal that sharks are virtually absent from many of the world's coral reefs. Of the 371 reefs surveyed in 58 countries, sharks were not observed on nearly 20%, suggesting a widespread decline that has gone undocumented on this scale until now. So no matter what you think or feel about sharks, they are incredibly important to our oceans, and I implore you to educate yourself about the plight of sharks through organisations like Project Aware, Bite Back Shark and Marine Conservation, and the Shark Stewards. In case you haven't had enough of COVID-related content in your life, C2G2 Productions has released a short pandemic-themed film titled The Mirage A Pandemic Dream. I watched the film, which is about five minutes long during the week, and there are some breathtaking, inspiring scenes, both underwater in the desert, that seem to be blended together. Overall, the film reminds me of the dream sequence that the character Jacques had in the Luc Besson film The Big Blue. The creator of the film said it was inspired by the long, dry period the filmmakers experienced whilst in lockdown, where they spent a lot of time hiking and filming in the desert. They started to notice similarities between the desert landscapes and some marine landscapes. Such similarities were there that the filmmakers joked they must be experiencing a mirage, hence the inspiration for the name of the film. The film itself is dedicated to all those who've succumbed to COVID-19 and is available on Vimeo to watch. The diving agencies are all investing time and producing new, exciting online tools to help you with planning your next diving adventure. This time it's Scuba Schools International, or SSI as it's known, with their My Dive Guide. It's got some great features, including information on 14,000 dive sites worldwide, of which 2,500 of those contain detailed information from divers who've logged details in their My SSI app. As to be expected, they also have the information of all the location of SSI training centers and events being held locally. Ever important in the current climate is a COVID-19 travel map showing the latest pandemic information, any local restrictions, and the latest guidance information from Divers Alert Network. We're also hearing more from liverboards as they're coming back online after taking some time out over lockdown. Mexico-based Nautilus Diver Ventures have announced this week that the company is now back diving after their vessel, the Nautilus Bellamy, came out of dry dock on the 8th of July. In addition to the ship being overhauled, the crew receive extensive training in the latest COVID-19 protocols and processes to ensure that diving is conducted to the highest safety standards. Whilst we're pleased to hear that things like Liverpools are opening up for trips, as I think our gills are all getting a little bit dried out. I'm hearing that a lot of people are still very wary about getting into an enclosed space with a group of strangers, especially if they need to get on a plane first to get to that destination. Although one thing to note is that we aren't hearing any major outbreaks from people flying in planes, so at least that is something positive during this difficult time. Unfortunately, all this uncertainty makes planning for trips difficult, and I know that Liverpool companies are doing everything they can to help calm people's fears. Onto something that I'm not really sure what to think about. There's a new product that's been announced this week, aimed at keeping divers and snorkelers safe in COVID-19. It's called the Snorkelin. The new device provides protection for mouthpieces on both regulator second stages and snorkels. It's a protective sleeve made from FDA-approved silicone that's placed over the mouthpieces of rental gear to create a replaceable barrier between users. According to the inventor, it all started when they were on vacation together as a family, and they were ready to share the magic of scuba diving and snorkeling together. And as they gave their children the rented snorkels, they asked each other, is this snorkel mouthpiece hygienic? And they instantly came up with the idea of the snorkeleon. I have to be honest, the reaction on social media and myself has been very mixed. Most people just understand why you need yet another piece of plastic, especially when we're not really sure how it actually protects you, because you still need to handle the regulators and snorkels to put the snorkeleon on. Personally, I think I'd prefer to use the approach that good to dive, the ocean-friendly equipment disinfectant created jointly by the diver medic and fourth element uses. Wouldn't you really rather have your equipment properly disinfected rather than relying on yet another piece of plastic to protect you potentially badly? The US National Marine Fisheries Service has been looking into the status of the dwarf seahorse. This species of seahorse, which interestingly holds the Guinness World record for the world's slowest moving fish, with a top speed of about five feet or 1.5 meters per hour, is often found in the Bahamas and parts of the United States and is currently threatened due to habitat loss. The agency conducted a twelve-month survey and has determined that the dwarf seahorse should not be listed as an endangered species. In a notice published this week, they said that while the species has declined in abundance, it still occupies its historical range and population trends indicate subpopulations are stable or increasing in most locations. Hence they've included that the dwarf seahorse is not currently in danger of extinction and is not likely to become so in the foreseeable future, which is all good news. It's not often that freediving gets a story in that glossy magazine that is sports illustrated. And usually when it is, it's because someone has died. However, not this so this time. She talks about freediving, and when she brings it to life using a quote that says, This is not driven by adrenaline. You have to be actually on the opposite side of your feelings. You have to be in a very relaxed mode, almost meditative state in which you're not thinking aloud. Which I think all free divers in our audience can relate to. Why not go and check out one of her Instagram posts as well as the PBS special where Yabra is featured, and you can check that out on deeperblue.com. Finally, I know it's with an incredible dedicated community like DeeperBlue has. I'm sure there are a number of people who might be interested in this next story and job. The Divers Alert Network has announced that it's looking for a medic for an immediate start. The position is full-time, based in office at Dan's Global Headquarters in Durham, North Carolina in the US. The job requires significant time interfacing with the public by phone or email, and I suppose there's no getting away from those ubiquitous Zoom calls discussing the various health and safety issues. Also, the successful candidates will be expected to meticulously document the inquiries and conduct follow-ups. To qualify a position, you must be a qualified EMT nurse or paramedic, and obviously be passionate about scuba diving and diver safety. To apply for the job, head to the careers page at diversalertnetwork.org. That's it for the news this week. Remember, you can catch up on all the latest news and happenings around the world underwater by heading to deeperblue.com or checking us out on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter. And finally, if you like what you heard, please subscribe, like, or comment wherever you hear your podcasts. Based on comments and subscribes really do make a difference.

SPEAKER_06 9:54

Hi, I'm Alex Rose, science editor of Ocean Geographic and founder of Blue Ring. And you're listening to the Deeper Blue Podcast.

SPEAKER_03 10:13

Welcome back to the Deeper Blue Podcast. And today we have an interview with Tanya Streeter, who is a mother, an environmentalist, a TV personality, and a freediver, not necessarily in that order. Tanya, thanks for being on the show. Thank you for having me. Can you tell us a little bit about your history with freediving? Because I think there's a lot of people who know who you are and kind of the amazing things you've done. But for some people that might not know that, can you talk us a little through of what you did back in the day?

SPEAKER_05 10:38

I totally anticipate. It was a million years ago. Well, a couple decades ago, I was a pretty active free diver and broke 10 world records and really I've evolved from an active freediver into more television work, which has led me to my real passion as an environmentalist. Kind of how I would define myself now, a mom who cares a great deal about her children and the ocean, which was effectively taught to me through my sport of freediving back in the day. So I started freediving in 97. I was born and raised in the Cayman Islands, and obviously I didn't realize, but I was doing it my whole life. I just considered myself a snorkeler. And I guess retrospectively I could see that I was snorkeling a little deeper than a lot of the kids. And then it back in 97, I had some friends who would spearfish and I'd go out with them and they taught me a pretty good free diver. And I was like, what is that? And they said, you're doing it. And I started training. And in 98, I think I did maybe three world records, four world records in 98, and then 98, 99, all the way through to my last world record, which was 2005, I guess. You know, I was pretty active with competitions, but in those days, you know, what freedivers today won't understand is in those days there really were not that many competitions. There certainly weren't national and local and kind of regional stuff. There was worlds. And if you could get there financially always sponsorship, then you were lucky. So it was all much more small scale. And my events, the world records were were much more event-oriented. It was not normal to set world records in competition. And, you know, for better or worse, despite the fact that I set world records in in all of the disciplines, apart from static and dynamic. I did do one dynamic in offense by accident once in a in a heat. But I I was I specialized in the ocean stuff. And my best known one is the No Limits 260 meters, which still stands today. And back then it got a lot of PR because I had great, great sponsors. It was kind of the first time that women had beaten men, and it was had a fantastic publicity team behind me as well as my safety team. And it just, you know, was in the right time at the right place, doing the right thing. And, you know, I feel like every time my somebody gives me any accolade for a no limits record, I'm like, oh, but you do know that's not real freediving. Real free diving is, you know, with a mask and fins and going up and down a line under your own power. So just for the f the freedivers who are listening, don't worry. I don't consider it's all that great. But you know, it exposed the sport a little more and helped bring it to the forefront. And then in there, around about 2004, I started to transition more into television with a free diving series for the BBC, which was every bit as challenging as going physically deep. Because, you know, you go very emotionally and mentally deep when you suddenly change careers like that and are so exposed and vulnerable on camera. So that kicked my butt for a little while, but um and then uh, you know, and then some people may be aware of the film that I made a few years ago, which is still doing very well and really important in this day and age, which is a plastic ocean, which is, you know, obviously about plastic pollution in the ocean. And that was a real game changer for me, career-wise, you know, personally, family-wise, health-wise, everything.

SPEAKER_03 13:54

Can I just go back to did you did I understand you said you set a world record by accident?

SPEAKER_05 14:01

Oh, I did, yeah. Well, so I never, I don't, I don't like swimming pools. I didn't really like training in the pools. Then I it was 2005. We were doing world championships in in Switzerland. So I was training in Nice and then went up to Switzerland to do the pool part. And it was cold, and I saw everybody warming up in the pool. And I'd never warmed up for freediving, doing anything other than you know, holding your breath and whatever. And I thought, oh, maybe I'll go for a jog around the pool and just warm up my muscles a bit because I had these heats and there was a heat in the dynamic, no fins. And so I I did that. And I swear that's what got me to where warming up, I think, was the difference. I'd never done that before. And I jumped in in my heat, and uh my previous best until then, I think, was like 75 meters, which post listeners are rolling their eyes out. They do that in their sleep now, but back in the day. And so I remember that I was in my heat and I turned at 100 meters, and I'm like thinking, this is amazing. Like, how am I doing so? What? So I pretty much I pushed off the wall, did a couple strokes, and came right up and I had done 113. And I think at the time the record was 100, I can't even remember. I think it was Natalia who had that. And I remember looking over, and my husband was like clapping and looking at me, like, why did you stop? You're not even tired. Like, why did you stop when I looked everyone was like, I don't know this. So not only was it my sort of accidental world record, it was also the one that I held for the shortest amount of time because 15 minutes later, Natalia got in the pool for her heat and just, you know, did 125, like it was no big effort. So I laugh about that to this day.

SPEAKER_03 15:31

So that's a little bit of who you are, and I appreciate you sharing that. And for you, it's just the way you lived your life. But for someone like me, it's just an amazing sense of accomplishment, some of the stuff you've done. But what a lot of people connect people that listen to this show is they also have a deep connection just to being in the water in some way, whether it's scuba diving or free diving, whether it's with marine life or challenging themselves or personal connection to being underwater. Could you share one story with us that really sticks with you, some moment underwater that really connect with?

SPEAKER_05 16:02

Yeah, I mean, obviously I feel like I have a million, but I come back to one quite a lot when I talk about my connection with the sea, but it's very relevant to me because I was a child and I was a child kind of growing up in a slightly rocky situation. So I would escape to the sea a lot. I would be in the sea whenever I could because it was more peaceful than being inside at home. And there were these rules that I was not allowed to cross the reef. We lived in an apartment block in Grand Cayman, and I wasn't supposed to go over the reef for obvious reasons because I was young, maybe nine. And I remember one day it was just so calm. You couldn't even see the reef, which I think I just manufactured that reason in my head as to why I should go out there. I didn't know where it was, I couldn't see it. And I remember just I mean, to this day it gives me chills. I remember going over the reef and diving down, and it was just one of those absolutely stunningly beautiful moments of connection with the ocean where I didn't know where my skin ended and the water began. And it just blew my mind that you could have the earth gets me so emotional, that you could be so in tune and so connected with something that is so foreign. So many people on this planet have the idea that the ocean is a scary place, and I felt like that it was very much a part of me. And what then went on to transpire in my life is I was then sent off to boarding school, and I would I would seek that connection out, much to my mother's dismay, right before getting on the plane to flight over to England from the Cayman Islands to boarding school as a nine-year-old and ten-year-old, all the way through until I was 18 and beyond university. I would go down to the water and I would lay on the bottom just with my mask, or maybe not even with my mask, and just commune with that part of me that was surrounding me. Because it was just so important, it was so charming and peaceful. And I was telling my friend the other day, who's about to send her kids off to boarding school, like I never cried when I say goodbye to my parents, but when that plane tipped its wings and looked down on the beach, oh, I'd lose it. Couldn't say goodbye to the sea.

SPEAKER_03 18:28

That's a beautiful story, Tanya. Thank you for sharing that with us.

SPEAKER_01 18:52

I'm Hugh Pearson, a wildlife filmmaker who specializes in working at sea. And this is the Deeper Blue Podcast.

SPEAKER_04 19:10

Hey guys, it's Sarah Richard, founder of Girls at Scuba and co-host here at the Deeper Blue Podcast. Today I'm letting you into my top three tips for liveaboard diving. Starting with number one, which is get there first. Get to the dive deck as soon as you can. When everyone is looking around their bedrooms or around the ship, head to the dive deck and set up your gear in one of the first positions, meaning that you will be one of the first in the water and straight into your dive. It's also great to have something bright on your dive gear. A lot of dive gear is the same colour, and it's really nice for the crew and for you to always know which dive gear is yours at the end of each dive. Number two is it's all about the robe. The change in robe, the dressing gown, whatever you call it, having a nice snuggly robe to come up to at the end of every dive is a godsend. It keeps you warm. Get out that wetsuit straight into a warm robe. Trust me, it's a lifesaver. And finally, number three is don't worry about normal people clothes. You will not be wearing clothes. You are gonna spend most of your time when you're not underwater in your bikinis, in your swimwear, in your dive t-shirts, just relaxing around the deck. You do not need any fancy going out wear, you do not even need any shoes. You will take your flip-flops off the moment you arrive, and you're not gonna put them back on until you leave. So avoid the excess baggage. Just put in your dive gear and don't worry about wearing clothes. You're on holiday. That's it for me for now. I'm gonna give you more tips as we go along on this Deeper Blue podcast.

SPEAKER_02 21:02

Finally, every episode we share a story from you, the dive community, where we ask you to tell us about your uh best dive ever.

SPEAKER_00 21:10

Hi, this is Rob Mackins. I'm a reading structure trainer based at Missous Shields in the northeast of England. My best dive ever was on a liverboard in the Red Sea. We were doing a short week itinerary, had a great week, lots of lots of action. But the best part about the week was basically I was diving with my wife at the time, she was a dive buddy, jumped in the water and straight away in front of us, probably 20 metres away, maybe even nearer. Massive, massive whale shark, and basically it follows us throughout the dive, probably bummed into it about five, six times. Absolutely phenomenal. Why that was so spectacular, other than the fact that you don't often see them at Brothers Island, was the fact that uh only a few months earlier I'd been out to the Maldives with my good mate and fellow instructor trainer Pete Black, and I was literally the only person on the whole board who didn't see wheel sharks that week. So it was spectacular to see it on this dive. And and what made it even better was hardly anybody else on my board saw it, so I wasn't very popular. I'm not sure that everybody believed this, but what a great, great dive!

SPEAKER_02 22:18

We'd love to hear your story about diving. So at the end of the show, you'll find out all the info you need to submit your best dive ever. Thanks for listening to the Deeper Blue Podcast. Find out more on all the stories you've heard this week, plus connect to the world's largest online dive community at deeperblue.com. And if you like what you've heard, please subscribe, like, and comment wherever you hear your podcasts. These comments and subscribes really make a difference. Before we go, I want to give a big shout out to Jason Elias, our producer. In case you didn't know, he has an amazing podcast about people who have a deep connection to our world's oceans. Connections strong enough that they've dedicated some part of their lives to being in or working on behalf of the water. Take a listen when you get a moment to Jason's show, the Big Deep Podcast. Every week, we want to hear your stories and share them with the world. So please record and send in your short story of your best dive ever. Keep it brief, no longer than two minutes, please. And in it, tell us your name and location, where you were on the dive, what happened that make it so great, and why it's meant so much to you. You can get that over to us at bestdive ever at deeper blue.com or head to our website podcast.deeperblue dot com forward slash best dive ever. Join us again next week and explore much more of the deeper blue.