Do you want to learn freediving in Turks and Caicos? Samantha Kildegaard is your girl. 

Creator of Freedivewithme, Sammy teaches how to experience the water in a different way. You will be able to hold your breath longer and learn how to improve your overall fitness and health while having an amazing interaction with nature. All of it in the magnificent Turks and Caicos water. 

“The Best way to observe a fish is to become a fish” – Jacques Cousteau. 

Absolute peace. Ultimate freedom. Serene silence. Childlike wonder. These are the simple, heartfelt joys that free divers seek. Unencumbered by scuba equipment, these amazing athletes and underwater enthusiasts can silently hover above reefs or dive hundreds of feet deep with just a single breath of air. 

I’ve been a scuba diving instructor for 6 years and, with an experience of over 3500 dives, being underwater is second nature to me. I simply love it. But how is the feeling to reach the ocean’s depths without a tank on the back?

My friend Sammy is the expert so I decided to contact her to improve my freediving skills. This is her story so enough about me – let’s hear it from her:

“I grew up in Argentina surrounded by mountains and rivers. Every summer my family and I would drive to the Atlantic Coast in search of the ocean. Following a family tradition, diving and open water swimming quickly became natural to me.”

In the following years, I started traveling the world teaching scuba diving. But the story does not end here. I was always curious about freediving. It was in the little island of Tioman in Malaysia that I took my first ever freedive lesson, thanks to my dearest friend Stella from Freedive Tioman. Then, everything made sense. I remembered always holding my breath in the bathtub always trying to beat my time, swimming underwater in the pool for hours whenever we went to the summer club, watching documentaries, the famous “The Big Blue” film (Le Grand Blue) and choosing my favorite freedivers to admire. It was in that moment that I realized I loved freediving.

And so it became my quest for training until becoming a freedive instructor thanks to MT Solomons in Baja California, Mexico. It was during my certification that I had the opportunity to take part in the first ever “Big Blue International Freedive Competition” in Espiritu Santo Island, where I set a national record in constant weight. Thanks to this life changing experience, I got to meet and share with some of the best freedivers in the world like Alexey Molchanov, Guilleaume Nery, Tomoka Fukuda, Sofia Gomez Uribe, among others. I realized how special the freediving community was that a year later I travelled to Dominica to be part of the safety team at the “Blue Element International Freedive Competition”, organized by Jonathan Sunnex, renowned safety diver and coach. It was a great experience and it gave me a different perspective of how vital the presence of the safety divers aka guardian angels are during competitions.

Having experienced amazing encounters from tiny little creatures to big mammals like sharks, dolphins, manta rays and whales, I kept diving and teaching to share the love for freediving. Ultimately, to inspire other humans to discover the magic behind this unique discipline and to raise awareness so that they respect and protect our world’s oceans for future generations to come.

Freediving is my way of life. I have always felt a deep bond with the ocean since I was a child and I cannot imagine my life without it. It is through freediving that I connect with my inner self.  As French world champion freediver Guilleaume Nery would say, ”when you stop breathing, you stop thinking…”, it is when I am below the surface that my mind quiets down. This is the moment where I truly experience complete surrender, peace, freedom. I feel like a tiny speck within the entire ocean, I feel I am nobody and everybody at the same time. That exhilarating feeling of  discomfort and peace at the same time is what keeps me going beyond my comfort zone. Freediving is my daily meditation. As I slip into the water, I prepare and take my last breath of air and start my journey into the deep. It is just me and the ocean, nothing else matters. Sensations in my body are urging my lungs to take a breath, I convince my mind that I still have a lot of air left and down I go. I enter into a meditative state, I can barely hear my heartbeat, the cold water in my face, the ocean healing vibes echoing in the deepest of my heart, my soul. And when I am ready, I turn around and reach for the surface. Once out of the water, I take that first full breath of air and feel re born again. I feel relaxed, calm and with a sense of complete happiness translated into a big smile.

Imagine freediving and the sense of joy that brings along. Now picture yourself freediving in the most crystal clear waters of the Caribbean. After diving in different countries across the globe, I was in owe when I first landed in Turks and Caicos Islands. The Caicos waters are amazingly turquoise in color and you can see thousand shades of blue depending on the location and the time of day. I just can’t seem to get enough of this magical island. I feel like, as a mermaid out of a fairy tale, I have been crossing oceans to find the perfect spot. I can say it was the water what enchanted me to stay here and start the freediving school / Freedivewithme. Freediving in Turks and Caicos happens year round and you can even encounter humpback whales during the migration season. From exceptional visibility, unlimited depth to amazing wildlife encounters, from exploring around to melting with the local culture, I feel grateful and blessed to live in this magical island.

And yes I believe in mermaids too…

Curious about Freediving im Turks and Caicos?

Freediving or apnea is the sport of breath hold diving where a diver descends on a single breath of air, without any breathing apparatus. People have practiced freediving for thousands of years mainly for food, for exploration and more recently for sport. Every time you hold your breath and swim underwater you are freediving!

Freediving is both a mental and physical activity. It challenges the body and the mind. It is all about learning to fully relax, let go and embrace the present moment. Anyone can learn to freedive with proper instruction. Freediving helps to control the mind, get over anxiety and build confidence.

Still not sure if freediving is for you? Then come and join me for a Discovery Freedive lesson, your first step to develop solid freediving skills. You will learn the basic freediving principles and will focus on relaxation, breathing and practical breathhold techniques to ultimately and safely achieve a relaxed and joyful dive in the crystal clear waters of the Caribbean.   

You’ll see that there is nothing superhuman about freediving. It’s simply a matter of getting your techniques right to open a whole new dimension underwater and to take your snorkeling skills to the next level.

Join me for a lesson and change your life forever.

©Attimi Photography – Turks and Caicos Photographer