Under the ice
Parley founder Cyrill Gutsch meets free diver Guillaume Néry to talk about the magic of underwater exploration on a single breath
All photos: Greg Lecoeur
Guillaume Néry is a conservationist and World Champion free diver who explores the ocean by walking, running, free-falling and climbing through the underwater world. Able to hold his breath for seven minutes, he uses this freedom to connect to the deep and encounter the creatures who live there in total silence, as equals and fellow ocean dwellers. We recently welcomed Guillaume to our network as a Parley Ambassador and supported his epic expedition to Antarctica – sailing from Chile across the Drake Passage to dive amid the ice, capture the frozen continent’s wildlife from a new perspective and collect samples for Parley’s scientific network.
“When I'm completely surrounded by water, I feel connected to everything and alone. And it feels like the water ought to store some knowledge, data, or be a medium for communication.”
– Guillaume Néry
Q & A
Parley founder Cyrill Gutsch in conversation with Guillaume Néry
CG: So you sailed to Antarctica instead of flying in – tell us about the journey.
GN: Sailing from Ushuaia to Antarctica was supposed to be five days, but because we had to go step by step, wait for a good window to leave, and because we had to go back after the first attempt, it took us three weeks. It's a long journey, but it gives you another scale of time. It’s a very good way to approach and feel Antarctica. Of course, we could take a plane and be there within two hours, but with sailing you feel how strong the sea is when you are stuck on a boat in the middle of the Drake passage. I mean, you feel at peace because you have to. You use the wind, adjust the sails, and that's it. And when we finally saw icebergs, it was incredible. You feel small.
How did you prepare for this trip?
I've done several under-the-ice dives, and that was the best way to get ready. The other thing, which was scary but exciting, was the encounter with the leopard seal. For that, I don't know if you can really prepare. I spoke with a few other divers who knew their behavior, but I wanted to make my own opinion about it.
Can you tell us about that meeting?
It was one of the most incredible animal wildlife encounters in my life, because yes, the leopard seal is a very big predator – three or four metres long. But with this kind of animal, you have to believe your mind and listen to your intuition and instincts, because at the end, when you are face to face with an animal like that, is we are both animals. Deep inside of us, we have an intuition and an instinct. The first time I went in the water, all the fear just disappeared…
And you connected to a total different energy.
Exactly. It's completely different. You really find a kind of the wild side of your soul, and as soon as I went in the water, I could just feel everything. We don't need to talk with the animal. There is a body language, and you see the movement, you see the eyes, and you understand within a second if the animal is curious, is scared, is accepting you, is wondering about you. And it's just so natural. It's so natural that it was amazing, because I could really enjoy every single moment. The female leopard seal, I spent one hour with her, but it was incredible because it was kind of a dance with her. She was shy at the beginning and then came coming closer and closer, and very, very soft movement, very peaceful face, no aggressivity at all, and it was hard not to cuddle her. Of course, I know we never should do that, but…
But you had this instinct, you really wanted to cuddle?
Yeah, this feeling. They are very cute, but also in an instant they could take you and do whatever they want with you. But I didn't feel that at all. When we left, she stayed around the boat, almost sadly. But we were so cold that we had to go back.
Did you see her again?
No, because this happened close to the end of the trip. But we had other crazy encounters with penguins, with whales, with other seals like crabeater seals, and other special species living down there, like Weddell seals. Each of the encounter was amazing. But of course, the main goal for us was to meet the leopard seal, so at the end, this is the first thing I want to share.
Do you think that free diving makes this kind of encounter more special?
Yes – when you're a free diver, you have a special body language compared to a scuba diver. Scuba diver is breathing, has bubbles, has no freedom of movement, while as a free diver I have to have very smooth movements and have no bubbles, I'm silent, I'm quiet. So they're feeling a completely different energy, and there is a lot of curiosity and going around, and for the leopard seal going around me and getting closer to my face, having small head movements, kind of testing me, but very, very gentle. I think it was a way to know, to understand, "Who is this guy? He's holding his breath, like me." But very, very crazy.
So how long can you stay underwater?
Normally, when I dive I'm playing around and can stay around three minutes. If I'm not moving at the surface I can hold my breath between seven, eight minutes. In Antarctica, it was around one or two minutes because we were cold and losing energy.
And when you dive, you enter a specific mental state?
Yes. This mindset starts with the breathing – on the boat before going down or in between dives. It's an adjustment of the breathing and being conscious of the breathing. This slows the metabolism and lets you be more at peace in the water. Finding that deep state of calm is what matters.
Do you get scared?
I think fear is natural and part of the life. Fear just has to stay in its place. And that's the reason why I never escape from the fear before the dive. I try to face it. If I approach it that way, the fear vanishes when I start going down. But if I try to escape the fear when I'm still at the surface, I'm sure it will come back. That wouldn’t be good.
How deep do you go?
My deepest is 126 meters.
And how long does that take? Can you describe it?
It takes three minutes more or less. So… first of all, before the dive, I decide how deep I want to go. I'm diving along the rope, which is measured, so I don't have to make a decision during the dive. My mindset is just to get to the end of the rope and come back up.
I jump in and spend 5-to-10 minutes laying in the water, trying to breathe and slow my metabolism. It's like the beginning of the meditation. I hear the countdown from my team. Two minutes, one, thirty seconds… At that moment, I'm only focused on the breathing. I'm becoming a breath. The idea is to enter a hibernation zone where my body's slowing down, and I'm ready. When the countdown reaches zero, and I start the dive, I enter a new world. As soon as I leave the surface, I cross a border and all my sensations change.
A moment before, I could hear people around me and the waves. My face was touching air. But within a second, I'm surrounded by water, so the touch is different. I see only blue. It's a bit darker. I can hear only the sound of the sea. And I don't breathe, so I have no smell or taste. Then I start swimming down. I focus only on being efficient. I’m swimming like a dolphin. Otherwise, the dive will be too long. At the same time, I’m trying to find a good balance between technique, being relaxed inside and trying to conserve energy. That's the reason why I'm so calm before the dive.
After 20 or 30 meters, I feel the pressure squeezing my body, and my body becomes heavier… I start free falling. I can keep on diving without any movement. The surface is far behind me, and I'm flying in the water. It’s fantastic. In some places there is a sudden water temperature change called the Thermocline, where it drops from 27° to 14°. It's a shock, but I love it because it's like a door to the depths is opening.
Obviously, the bottom is somewhere, and the surface is somewhere, and there’s a coast somewhere. But with my senses, I experience a glimpse of infinity. And then I come back up. I need to swim hard to go back, but I still have to stay in energy-saving mode. It feels fast even though it takes one-and-a-half minutes to get back. I also don't think about when I’ll get back to the surface.
Wow. It feels that you are able to stretch minutes into hours, or lose track of time. Do you also feel connected to the water or other beings?
It's strange because on one hand I feel alone, but on the other, I feel like water is a link between humans and all life. Life on earth is possible because of water and the oceans. When I'm completely surrounded by water, I feel connected to everything and alone. And it feels like the water ought to store some knowledge, data, or be a medium for communication. That's how I feel.
What was it that you took home from your animal encounters and this whole trip?
I felt that Antarctica is maybe the last untouched place on this planet. When I came back, I felt happy and grateful that I was able to witness that and share it with people. I also felt that humans have nothing to do there, that we should leave this place without us, because it's so wild and remote. I felt grateful and guilty at the same time. Because in a way, everything we love and admire, we damage.
Visit our IGTV Channel to hear about Guillaume’s sampling mission for Parley,
and see more incredible images and films on his YouTube Channel and Instagram
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