Free-diving with Tanya Streeter: The Big Blue experience

Charles Starmer-Smith -

Inspired by the film 'The Big Blue', Charles Starmer-Smith takes the plunge in the Caribbean with the free-diving world record holder Tanya Streeter.

"Just concentrate on my chest," says the blonde-haired, bikini-clad mermaid sitting in front of me. With my wife looking on, I try not to look open-mouthed, but as her diaphragm expands, then her lungs, filling with up to six litres of air, it is difficult not to.

As far as free-diving tutors go, Tanya Streeter – who defied all her male rivals to set some 10 world records and was once described by Sports Illustrated as "the perfect athlete" – takes some beating. And as for places to learn, Amanyara – the luxurious Aman resort on Providenciales in the Turks and Caicos – is not too shabby, either.

It was on this Caribbean island that Tanya set her world record dive of 525ft (160m) on a single gulp of air in 2002 and where, eight years later, she has returned for a fortnight (to coincide with the peak of whale migration season) to teach, talk and inspire the guests.

I have long been captivated by Luc Besson's The Big Blue, the story of two friends who push each other to ever greater free-diving depths – a story told with wonderful underwater cinematography. I think it is the purity and accessibility of the sport that most appeals. From the ancient Greek spear fishermen and pearl divers of the Middle East and Orient to the urinatores, the marine war unit of the Roman Empire, it has always been about you, your lungs and the big blue. Anyone with access to water can have a go.

But I feel privileged to be learning from the best. First, how to use my diaphragm to maximise my lung capacity, for we use only a fraction of our capability; then, how to regulate my breathing and lower my heart rate – Tanya's drops to as little as 10 beats a minute when she dives. I listen intently as she explains how we all have a "mammalian dive reflex", an instinctive response to cold water that triggers a series of protective physiological changes that can help you achieve the above.

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