The vast, unruly farm of my childhood instilled in me a love of wilderness. Of wild open spaces, joy in solitude and peace in the loud silence of nature. In the murky dams and rivers we did swim, and dream of being mermaids, but it was an abstract idea of a place less known. Discovering freediving in my early 20s in Sweden was fluke not design. A quick conversation with a colleague: 

‘Do you like water?’
‘Yes, sure I do.’
‘Have you tried freediving?’
‘What’s that..?’ 

The next weekend I found myself in a fjord, icy cold and not crystal clear, taking deep breaths and kicking down. Down to a ledge where my lungs felt compressed, my heart rate slowed down and my thoughts dwindled to naught. It was like coming home. Back then, over 20 years ago, freediving was not a well known or very professional sport. In fact, instructors were hard to find and it was more a sort of apprenticeship situation if you really wanted to learn. Which I did. Long, dark northern days became brighter as I swam up and down a swimming pool, testing my limits, learning about oxygen, hypoxia, lung expansion and limits. 

I started competing and found reward in observing my body adapt, what felt impossible became possible and 30 metres became 60 deep, three minutes became six. Hot summers in Dahab in Egypt, diving deep in the notorious blue hole, discovering coral, bright fish and other freedivers. As the daughter of a horse whisperer, I was magnetically drawn to dolphin, whale, shark and manta meetings. Now that I know my body in water, what can I know about the other bodies in the water? 

My first dolphin experience off the coast of Mozambique changed me forever. A teeming pod of spinner dolphins choosing to play, eye to eye and fin to fin, babies, grannies and pushy teenagers. A tangle of flukes, bubbles, clicks and me. “This,” I thought, “this matters.” An ocean alive, safe and loved. Slowly my day job of social political documentary filmmaking started morphing into conservation stories. My love for my country expanded beyond the land and her people into the sea and our connection to her. 

Starting I AM WATER in 2010 was the start of a long journey, longer than I expected. Harder than any record I’ve ever broken. More rewarding than any metre or minute. Working with under-resourced communities around Cape Town, our inspirational team of over 25 coaches today host thousands of Grade 7 students every year on our two-day Ocean Guardians Workshops. Combining yoga and mindfulness with snorkelling, rocky shore exploration, beach cleanups and more, we take our young participants on a personal journey meeting the ocean, oftentimes for the very first time. Seeing young eyes open underwater for the first time, a connection forged.