Author: Jenna Tanner

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girls who freedive

girls freediving

Above photo by Danielle Eakins

We’ve all seen the images on Instagram of the hot girl freediving in a bikini.  Maybe you are that girl. Maybe you’re not and maybe you muttered under your breath something like, “I bet she can’t even dive past 10 meters…”

Awhile back I was scrolling through Instagram and noticed that PADI posted a picture of a girl getting out of the water in SCUBA gear. She was very pretty. There was nothing else remarkable about the photo. Not a lot of skin. Not a suggestive pose. But somehow this image triggered a pretty strong response among PADI’s social media followers. Many of the comments expressed disappointment that PADI would post the photo. A few of the comments picked the girl apart for wearing makeup and not having her hair tied back. They accused PADI of not picturing ACTUAL women divers because real female divers don’t look like that. 

I don’t understand what a REAL diver is supposed to look like.

So I studied the picture intently trying to pinpoint what it was that was so wrong about it. She had SCUBA gear on. Her mask was on. Nothing seemed out of place. The only real issue that people seemed to have with the photo was that she was pretty.

Photo by Nick Fuist

I hesitate to post many pictures from days that are too warm for a wetsuit because I worry people will think those same thoughts about me. That I’m not a real diver. I don’t want to invite people to pick me apart. And when I do post a photo of me diving in a bikini I worry that I’m losing respect among some people in my community.

But what is it about seeing an image of a girl diving in a bikini that triggers us to the point that we insult her?

Here in Hawai’i there’s no shortage of cute girls getting their pictures taken underwater. I’ve been told so-and-so IG model with hundreds of freediving photos and tens of thousands of followers can’t even dive that deep. Would we say that about someone else? Would we critique them so harshly for their capabilities if they weren’t hot?

I don’t think so.

What if it stems from insecurities that many of us have? We see someone getting likes and follows on social media. We decide this is because they’re attractive and therefore, undeserved. Next we assign negative qualities to that person in order to feel better about ourselves. This picture of the gorgeous human makes me feel insecure and instead of turning inward to recognize that I have something (poor body image, low self esteem, etc.) to work through, I focus outward on this other person in a negative way.

I’m guilty of doing this, too.

As I continue to grow and “do the work” on myself I have started to recognize why these negative thoughts come up and I’ll try to shut them down right away.

None of us should care what someone else chooses to wear, in or out of the water. If someone wants to post a diving photo with their butt front and center, hell yeah! Post that booty pic! At the end of the day, I just want people to dive. The more people we have in the ocean, the more ocean lovers we create.

I’m super interested in what everyone else thinks about this topic. Please comment below, send me a message, or DM me on Instagram.

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spicy pickled carrots

garlic cloves

If this recipe looks familiar, it’s either because I’ve posted about it on my Instagram or because I adapted it from a recipe in Thug Kitchen’s first cookbook (which by the way, may be my favorite cookbook ever). I LOVE spicy things and I LOVE carrots. I love carrots so much I’ve been musing about getting a carrot tattoo for years. 

These can be eaten with tacos, burritos, black bean soup, lentils and rice… really anything that you’d like to add a spicy, crunchy kick to. If you’re like me, you will eat them straight out of the jar while you’re staring into the fridge wondering what to make yourself for dinner. 

jar of spicy pickled carrots

I tweaked the recipe in order to fit into two mason jars instead of one large jar. By tripling the recipe, I made a big batch of this and gave away to friends as a homemade holiday gift last year. 

Ingredients: 

  • 5 medium size carrots
  • 3 jalapenos
  • 1 1/4 cup distilled white vinegar
  • ½ cup apple cider vinegar* (see note below)
  • 1 ½ teaspoon dried oregano
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
  • ½ teaspoon ground pepper
  • ½ cup slivered onion (white, red, yellow whatever you’ve got)
  • 2 cloves garlic, smashed
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  1. Cut the carrots and jalapenos into coins. If you cut them at an angle they’ll look really pretty in the jar
  2. In a saucepan, bring everything but the carrots and jalapenos to a boil. Now add the carrots and jalapenos and simmer until they are crisp-tender, about 3-5 minutes. Turn off the heat. 
  3. The original recipe says to pour into a large jar but I found it easier to spoon into my jars. 
  4. Let sit atleast 8 hours before serving. Will keep for atleast 3 weeks in the fridge. 

*The original recipe calls for distilled white vinegar and apple cider vinegar but I’ve run low on both in the past and substituted rice vinegar to make up what I was short and it turned out fine. Just don’t get too crazy and try to use balsamic or something. Red wine vinegar might work instead of apple cider vinegar, too. Try it out and let me know.

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anti-inflammatory beet fried rice

Recipe adapted from Yup, it’s Vegan

I’m a huge believer in using diet as a means to improve our mental and physical well-being. And I love to eat so whatever food I’m adding for its nutritional benefit needs to taste good if I’m going to give it a recurring role in my meals. This beet fried rice recipe tastes great AND can help you improve your athletic performance. Additionally, it’s full of anti-inflammatory ingredients that can aid in your freediving equalization. In my experience, equalization is the number one issue that beginner freedivers struggle with. If I can eat something that will make it easier for me to dive deeper, I’m all in.

I LOVE fried rice and was so excited to try out this recipe. While looking for a recipe to tweak, I knew I wanted to find something that already contained beets. They have such an earthy flavor, I worried the flavor profile would be off if I just substituted beets for something else in a dish. This recipe had beets plus other healthy ingredients with anti-inflammatory properties, yay! I tweaked it a bit from the original and substituted for ingredients I already had. 

Picture of diced beets

Why Beets?

Beets have lots of vitamins and minerals and are low in calories and fat. But the main reason I’ve been on the hunt for new beetroot recipes: Beets can improve athletic performance. And especially interesting for freedivers, beets enable us to extract more energy from the oxygen in our bodies. This is because beets have nitrates which your body can convert into nitric oxide.

In the book, How Not to Die, Dr. Greger explains that nitric oxide “signals the muscle fibers within the walls of your arteries to relax, allowing them to open up and for more blood to flow.” Nitric oxide is naturally produced in your body but free radicals can get in the way of normal nitric oxide production. This means eating antioxidant rich foods is important but you can also eat nitrates to help your arteries dilate normally and to improve performance. For best results, consume 2-3 hours before training or competing.

recipe ingredients

Many of the other ingredients in this stir fry have health benefits as well:

  • Broccoli is one of the best sources of sulforaphane, an antioxidant with powerful anti-inflammatory effects.
  • Turmeric contains a powerful anti-inflammatory compound called curcumin. Eating black pepper with turmeric can significantly enhance the absorption of curcumin.
  • Ginger is high in gingerol, a substance with powerful anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties.

Would you like more oxygenating or anti-inflammatory recipes that are designed to help you improve your freediving performance? Comment below or send me a message to let me know what you think.

stir fry

Beet Fried Rice Recipe:

For the stir fry:

  • 2 tablespoons grapeseed oil
  • 2 medium sized beets peeled and finely diced
  • 1 inch ginger peeled and minced
  • 2 cloves garlic minced
  • 1 tsp ground cumin
  • ½ tsp ground turmeric
  • ½ tablespoon curry powder
  • ¼ tsp ground black pepper
  • 1 crown broccoli cut into florets
  • 1 carrot diced
  • ½ onion sliced into half moons
  • 1 bunch beet greens and stems chopped
  • 3 cups cooked brown rice (cooked the day before and chilled overnight is preferred)

For the sauce:

  • Juice from one orange
  • Juice from one lime
  • ¼ cup tamari or soy sauce

Instructions:

  1. Heat the oil in a large, wide pan or wok over medium-high heat. Add the diced beets and cook stirring frequently until the beets start to soften, about 5 minutes. Next, add the ginger and garlic and cook for about 1 minute. 
  2. Add the spices and cook stirring constantly for about 2-3 minutes. 
  3. Add your vegetables to the pan. Continue to stir frequently for about 4-5 minutes or until the vegetables have turned bright in color. If you still have room in your pan add the cooked rice, stir to heat throughout and go to step 4. If you are out of room in your pan (like me) transfer your vegetable stir fry to a bowl. Add a little more oil to the pan and add the cooked rice. I like to smash the rice down on the bottom of the pan to make my rice a little crispy. Leave the rice smashed down for a couple of minutes without touching it. Add the vegetables back to the pan on top of the rice. 
  4. Now you’re ready for the sauce – squeeze your orange and lime juice right into the pan and add your tamari or soy sauce and stir, stir, stir to combine. 
  5. Serve warm, garnished with chopped green onion, cilantro, sesame seeds, hot sauce, lime wedges, or whatever you like on a stir fry. 
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does the world need another blogger?

Photo by Josh Munoz

A question I keep asking myself as I’m putting this website together. I feel a little silly saying that I have a unique perspective that I want to share – but I do. How do I know its unique? Well, as Dr. Seuss said, 

“Today you are You, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is Youer than You.” 

So with that in mind, welcome! 

I’m excited to share everything important to me. The plan is to use this platform for the following: 

  1. Share my love of freediving (number one reason for the blog)
  2. Promote sustainability
  3. Post plant-based recipes (some anti-inflammatory ones to help with freediving)
  4. Open up discussion about topics (some controversial) having to do with all of the above things

If you have discussion ideas, questions you want answered, recipes you think I should post, or want to learn about the freedive classes I teach send me a message either through email or Instagram. I check both of them daily. 

I’m excited to get started!


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how freediving saved me

female freediver

Freediving saved me. 

It’s made me feel powerful, strong, athletic, actually good at something… the opposite of what I had been feeling. For months and months, maybe even years, before my introduction to freediving I was feeling weak, ugly, less than, not skinny enough, not good enough and, after being cheated on by my then-partner, I felt stupid and naive on top of it all. I felt broken. Lucky for me I lived in Hawai’i so I could escape to the ocean. I’d always loved being in the water and the more time I spent shell hunting the more I wanted to push myself further. I had seen photos here and there on Instagram of girls freediving with these long fins. They looked strong, powerful and beautiful. I wanted that. 

After some friends posted about a class they took under Kurt Chambers I decided to take the class, too. Maybe I could learn some tricks, hold my breath longer, buy a GoPro and get some cool underwater pictures that would make me feel good enough again.

I was ready to take my first freedive class.

The class wasn’t very big but boy did I feel like a badass when I had the longest static breath hold in the class (just barely! The only other girl, Chloe, was just a few seconds behind me. Girl Power!) The instructor, Kurt, made some offhand comment to me about my breath hold being pretty good and that was all I needed. I went out to buy some long fins and a real freediving wetsuit, I mean, I had to look the part, right?

A month later I took Kurt’s class again and he asked me if I had ever thought about competing because he was organizing an amateur competition in Kona in a couple of months and he remembered that I had a “monster” (I think that was the word he used) breath hold and I should consider coming. To learn, to improve and to meet new dive buddies. By this time I looked up to Kurt alot, if Kurt thought I belonged at a freedive competition then maybe I should listen to him? I said yes. My life has never been the same. 

That trip to Kona was everything Kurt had promised. I had the opportunity to push myself to deeper depths than I ever thought possible. I learned new techniques and I hit 100 feet for the first time. But the best part wasn’t the diving, it was the people I met. Everyone was so kind and welcoming to me, the newbie. It really helped me put aside my nerves and self conscious thoughts to fully embrace the experience. The people I met there and through other freedive classes and camps are now my best friends. My fellow dive nerds. My people.

Freediving has shown me how to meditate in the ocean.

It’s no wonder many of us find freediving so calming. We spend minutes breathing up, slow and deliberate inhales and exhales. Our Mammalian Dive Response (MDR) kicks in and helps us dive longer by lowering our heart rate. I try to shut off my thoughts and just breathe. Then I dive and as I travel further and further from the surface, the increasing pressure feels like the ocean enveloping me, welcoming me. The experience I have when I’m diving can only be described as flow state. I have found a place that is quiet, where I am completely in the moment. When I am under the surface, diving on just one breath, the thoughts from the world up above are gone. My normal hamster-on-a-wheel-brain; my constantly thinking, judging, worrying mind is clear. It’s just me and the ocean now. 

Photo by Bob Nguyen

Freediving has helped me learn to appreciate my body for the incredible things it is capable of. How can I hate a body that can take me deep into the depths of the ocean and bring me back to the surface safely? The self loathing that, at times, was completely consuming faded. I knew I was bigger than my negative thoughts because I had the mental toughness to dive over a hundred feet deep. If my brain could manage that without a panic attack, I felt like I could manage a lot more on land than I’d previously thought possible. I was right. 

Fast forward a few years and here I am. A new freediving instructor. I am so thankful for this sport, hobby, lifestyle, whatever you want to call it. I want to share it with others. I started teaching because I don’t believe that my experience with freediving is unique. I’d like to show people that they too are capable of feats that they never thought possible. It is such a privilege to introduce others to an activity that has given me so much. 

Freediving has given me self confidence and strength. 

Freediving has given me a community of people I love & who love me. 

Freediving has given me purpose.