Four Aquatic Adventures, And One Of Your Own

I'm a water person. Give me a reef and a mask and I'm happy for hours. Most of my clients are the same, and almost none of them have heard of freediving: Diving on a single breath, with no tanks, no bubbles, and nothing between you and the sea.

So when I met Costa Michailidis and his team, I listened closely. Costa learned to freedive from Martin Stepanek, the 13-time world champion, and his team designs private underwater adventures for people exactly like my clients: People who love snorkeling and want to go further.

What won me over is how seriously they take safety. Every adventure includes the FII Level 1 Freediver certification, two days of training embedded into your vacation, and the certification is recognized worldwide. There is a dedicated safety diver on every dive, every group is small and private, and instructors who speak Mandarin are available.

Costa likes to say that you were born with an aquatic superpower. Every human has a diving reflex that slows the heart and saves oxygen the moment your face meets cool water, and most people never find out. Here are five ways to find yours.

Manta Rays In Hawaii

Off the Kona coast, manta rays the size of a small car come to the reef to be cleaned by tiny fish. You take a breath, glide down, and hold still while one passes an arm's length away, eye to eye.

After sunset it changes completely. Lights in the water draw the plankton, the plankton draws the mantas, and they swim in large arching barrel rolls as if in a performance (watch our mantas on video).

• WhereKona, on the Big Island of Hawaii
• WhenYear round

The Kelp Forest Of California

An hour off the coast of Los Angeles, Catalina Island is ringed by giant kelp that grows from the sea floor to the surface, taller than a house. Sunlight comes down through it like light through stained glass. You fall slowly between the stalks with bright orange garibaldi all around, then rise through the canopy into the sun.

You can find sea lions, cormorants, giant grouper, and more in the kelp forests, or they might find you.

• WhereCatalina Island, California
• WhenLate summer and fall, for the clearest water
• Your GuideAndrew James Ferris, FII instructor trainer and freediving photographer

Manatees In Florida

Every winter, Florida's manatees leave the cooling Gulf for the warm crystal clear springs. Manatees are some of the friendliest, most social wildlife you can swim with, as long as you're gentle, careful, and let them decide how to interact with you. We've even gotten a manatee hug on video.

Costa calls it the best first wildlife encounter there is, so it is where I am starting. This February I am joining his team in the springs, and I will tell you everything when I am back!

• WhereThe crystal clear Florida Springs
• WhenDecember to March

A Greek Island Liveaboard

Eight days on a private catamaran through the Cyclades: Santorini, Anafi, the quiet Lesser Cyclades, and Amorgos, where the deep blue cliffs of the film The Big Blue were shot. Islands you can only reach by boat, and water clear to 100 feet.

Along the way you dive for real gemstones in a treasure chest on the sea floor, and a jeweler in Santorini sets what you find into a piece to wear for life. You learn to catch octopus the traditional way, and on the last night a chef cooks it for you at sunset. Martin Stepanek himself can join on request, so you get freediving lessons from a world champion.

• WhereSantorini, Anafi, the Lesser Cyclades, and Amorgos
• WhenSummer into early fall
• AboardA private catamaran with its captain and crew

Bespoke, Anywhere In The World

The fifth adventure is the one designed around you. Costa's team works with freediving professionals on six continents, so if it happens in, on, or under the sea, they can very likely make it happen.

Swim with whale sharks off Mahé in the Seychelles, or with mantas at Nosy Be in Madagascar, on a journey through the Vanilla Islands. Dive for pearls the way the Ama of Japan have for two thousand years. Drift with whale sharks and mantas in the Maldives, or explore the shipwrecks and coral gardens of the Bahamas and Bermuda. Tell me the dream, and we will build the adventure around it.