5 ways Free Fest ticked all the boxes for me:
There is something so relaxing being underwater. The sounds are muted and you descend into a new vibrant world...
Free Fest Tshirt I designed for myself to remember the trip
To focus on my dives and enjoy the my first Free Fest I didn’t take my underwater camera. I’ve drawn the encounters from my memory and reignited the connection with my younger self, experiencing the sea and recording it with a sketch. It’s been a lovely way to etch the moments into my memory
1. Exploring unknown sites and discovering new opportunities
Free Fest has been running for 20 years so the organisers have a keen understanding of the dive sites, choosing sites that have the best conditions for the day in Cornwall’s changeable microclimate. The intricate ruggedness of the Cornish coastline still hides secluded secrets prefect for a groups of adventure seeking sea lovers. There is always opportunity to discover more sites...
During the week we spoke to a Cafe owner who described a
dive site near our morning site at Maenporth (an idyllic shallow bay with
shallow accessible wrecks). So we set off trekking all our kit to a new location taking
in gorgeous views of the winding coastal path, passing farmland and green
fringed paths, strewn with stones, fruiting bramble bushes and intense red
flashes of Cornish wildflowers. There is something so satisfying about travelling
down the path less trodden, when you don’t know where you’ll end up... after
travelling up and down we arrived at a secluded beach. The wide expanse had a
rocky perimeter with rocks decorated with white striations reminiscent of
Falmouth’s grey shipyard.
The beach was enveloped in seaweed which gave a salty tang to the light sea breeze. With the receding tide the rocks beckoned to be explored. This was once of my favourite sites of the week, with bright sunshine and low tide we could explore greater depths and I experienced gullies for the first time. I exhaled three times and took a lung full of air, descending quietly below the surface to the seafloor. I traced the edge of the coast underneath the interlocking rocks and was immersed in a utopia of seaweed gently wafting in the swell of the waves.
Arrival at Bream Cove
Another great discovery in 2025 was a tiny swim through a
Free Fest participant found while diving for an explore. The instructor and
seniors tested the size, “Oooh thats small, let’s try it” and after successful surface
deemed it safe, “Let’s do it!” . Diving down into a murkier sandy bottom the rocks
seemed barely big enough. The light shone through and I went for it. My nervous
energy meant I didn’t keep my stomach to the sand and I had to shimmy out for
fear of getting stuck. Even when a dive “goes wrong” the mental stability is
what we train for. After surfacing after the “imperfect” dive and elevated
heart rate, I realised it had been ok and I had overcome the challenge. I dove
it again and kept my stomach to the sand and I actually had plenty of space,
enjoying my smallest swim through with added mental strength for the next
challenge. What a find!
2. Getting Closer to UK Marine Life
As a marine biologist my main freediving objective is
getting more time with wildlife at depth. Our dive for Thursday started with a
hike from a Natural Trust car park surrounded by farmland and coastal meadows. Our
destination was a coastal crag named “Seal Island"...a prominent
collection of black rocks shrouded in morning mist. As soon as we arrived and laid
our kit out, some curious residents peered out at us. We kitted up on the jet black
rocks as yesterdays swell reminded us it was still around. We swam into the bay
and split up into smaller groups. Seals are curious and I donned my snorkel to
keep watch for longer and spot the elusive silver shadow. A caught my breath,
was that silver blur a seal? I sang gently into my snorkel, replicating the wavering song of the seals I’ve heard on the
beaches in Norfolk. Out of the shadows the blur became a silver bullet shaped
seal, with a curious gaze and long snout. After seeing so many brown and gold
coloured seals on the shore and above us on the rocks at other sites, I finally
saw the reason for the “grey seal” name. It looked like it was made of silver!
It looked at us unsurely , I held my breath in anticipation.
I kept singing and it came closer, intrigued by the noisy long limbed seal at
the surface wearing a yellow snorkel. Me! I took a deep breath and dived, careful
to get level with it while remaining at a distance. Still unsure, it
disappeared just out of site. I surfaced and kept singing... once again it came
to investigate, tilting its head as if to say “What are you saying”.
My sketch of singing to a seal, a memorable encounter...
Another Free Fest diver dove down and the seal swam in parallel with him before swapping direction, a ying and a yang underwater. Remaining distant from the group I kept being visited by seals curious about my song. One of them arrived, emerging over a light coloured rock fringed with kelp, effortlessly navigating the marine environment. We swam in parallel I remained on the surface and we explored the edge of the submerged rocks together. I was so mesmerised I didn’t realise how far I had travelled with my companion into a fast current and I had to leave my new friend and return to safer waters. As we all exited the site, our new seal friends watched us go from the same position they saw us kit up from. Almost saying goodbye to us until next time...
With my inner nature nerd fulfilled, during most of the week. The last dive of the
trip gave me a taste of scientific curiosity. My fascination of the sea and UK
marine life fostered a love of the ocean which has served me throughout my personal
and professional life. As I was passing over the luscious kelp forest I noticed
a group of wrasse in suspended animation. With the rest of the world around me
was moving with the waves, this was a stark contrast. The wrasse were completely
still, fins open and at a 45degree angle...
My sketch of the wrasse cleaning station...
I recognised this behaviour from turtle or large groupers at a cleaning station that feels quite familiar from ocean documentaries on our TV screens. Could these wrasse be waiting to be cleaned, a cleaning station in the UK?! I froze in place and saw a small cleaner wrasse with a black pot on its tail nibble at the massive wrasse’s dorsal fin. In this moment I realised it was a cleaning station and I was reminded that even though I have studied and worked with the ocean across the last 14 years, the ocean can still surprise, inspire and maintain my scientific interest. It reignites the same curiosity in my younger self. It reminds me of its beauty every.single.time...
3. Challenging yourself to find a new "possible"
On the first day of Freefest the swell paired with high tide
was quite pronounced and the group swam out to a large rock surrounded by deep
water. Everyone was immediately invited to complete the swim through. I uttered
the words ”I’d never do a swim through, that’s not the sort of freediving I am
interested in!". How wrong I was going to be by the end of the week...
I have always been a confident duck-diver and I have been practising
breath holds (indirectly), exploring underneath ledges for elusive wildlife.
During a dive to Porthkerris I challenged myself. I have been lucky enough to
see Octopus in the Mediterranean, so the chance to see this creature in the UK
was a real treat. This secretive shape shifter was wedged deep underneath a
rocky ledge fairly deep down. I took my breath and dove allowing my heavy thoughts
to take me down equalising on the way. I reached for the ledge and peered over. This is a great trick when wanting to observe
a shy creature without disturbing them, like peering from behind a tree in a woodland.
My sketch of an Octopus in the UK, deep under a rocky shelf in Porthkerris...
There, wedged at the back of a crevice, with a starfish inadvertently standing guard at the entrance, was an Octopus! I was happy that I was able to clear my ears to give my eyes this image to commit to memory.
After exploring gullies successfully at our new site near Maenporth on a previous day, we returned to the newly discovered site at high tide. The dive started with a swim through! With a thick layer rock blocking the surface, the only way was through! I took my breath and dove to the bottom. When I arrived there was a single orb of light guiding me in the gloom. I aimed for it and finned steadily to reach the aperture which opened out. I surface, I did my first swim through! I actually loved finding the light to swim towards and decided to go through again. The instructors encouraged me to take it slower and enjoy it, so on this dive, I took a look around and saw the small chasms of clean rock (no seaweed), these small pockets of darkness were eerie and quiet.
The rest of the week I took opportunities to complete swim
throughs when I could. The variety at different sites meant often the small
pocket of light I swam towards was open, or lined with kelp and wildlife. Juvenile
pollock and wrasse were surprised to have a human at their level, meaning some
unique face to face encounters. In some gullies there were also crevices hiding
unexpected residents. Like a pair of edible crabs in an embrace, velvet
swimming crabs and one wrasse wedged in, covered in external parasites! During a swim through a gulley I saw a massive
lobster which provided a great end to the dive that day!
My sketch of the gulley at Bream Cove, finding a hidden lobster and being face to face with wrasse...
4. Exploring unique landscapes above and below the waves
The variety of the Cornish coastline meant the landscape above the water could also be explored. At St Agnes we kitted up and walked on to the beach down the slipway traveling left into the water swimming towards to the large cliff top. We exited the water and walked through a pitch black cave. The acoustics were amazing with the echo reverberating across the open chasm and I couldn’t resist signing. Nature’s church roof and corridors provided a perfect clear amplification. We climbed through intricate tunnels by torchlight and rejoined the sea through a channel using the force of the waves to help us into open water. After our dive we snorkelled back through an open gate of rock where waves and undertows took us back to the sloping beach. Experiencing the way that nature has scoured shapes into the land enhanced our dive experience.
One key part of Free Fest is the sense of adventure, every dive site has a hike or challenging access point. One example is called “Victory” I assume because once you’ve navigate the bramble and fern jungle of the coastal slope to the entry point, you can feel victorious and enjoy the gullies and channels in the rock littered shoreline. Discovering long gullies at this site was fantastic.
Navigating down to "Victory" dive site
5. Being part of an adventurous yet caring community
The final part of Free Fest is the caring community that spawns
from diving together, looking out for one another and sharing a campsite. The
camp evenings were filled with chatter around the fire, sessions in the sauna
and chuckling at those trying fire juggling or slack lining.
Helping each other get to the dive entry point...
I was so inspired after taking part I designed a tshirt with all the animals we saw. Bring on next year! Explore No Tanx website to take part. FREE FEST IS OPEN TO ANYONE. JOIN US IN 2026.
