Dominica was supposed to host a world-class dive contest. Instead, it hosted a hurricane. To say Jonathan Sunnex’s life has taken a few unexpected turns is a bit of an understatement. How else would a Kiwi from Ngaruawahia, New Zealand come to be living on the little bay of Soufriere, in one of the least-known islands in the Lesser Antilles? But that question was hardly at the forefront of his mind while he sat at the airport in Miami – stranded thanks to a little storm called Hurricane Maria.   The entire Caribbean and much of the southeastern United States had a tense hurricane season – first Hurricane Irma barreled its way across multiple islands, then just five days later Hurricane Maria sprung up in its wake. While Dominica dodged a major hit with Irma, Maria was another story. The island suffered a direct hit – and almost three months later, much of Dominica still is without power or running water.     The fact that it was a pretty big wrench in the works of Sunnex’s biggest project of the year – the Blue Element Freedive competition – was essentially an afterthought. For Jonathan and girlfriend Sofia Gómez, it was a tense two-week wait in Miami, wondering if when they returned home they’d find their dive school – and their home – still standing.   “We were in Roatan for the World Championships,” says Sunnex. “We wanted to get back early to prep for Blue Element. It was scheduled for the 11th – 17th of October, but Maria hit at the end of September. It went from tropical storm to category 5 in just a few hours.”   At first he was hopeful the event could still go on – but as reports came in about the damage done to the island, expectations were quickly lowered. “We were really hoping our dive platform was still there,” he said. “Communication with people onsite was impossible.” But one of the first things he did? He set up a GoFundMe and reached out to the free dive community – hoping to raise a €1,000 of donations for food, water and other supplies. They ended up hitting their goal, and even bettering it – raising $26,000. The highlight moment? Jonathan – whose long, flowing hair had been growing for ten years – got on Facebook Live and shaved his head and cut off his beard, raising $700 in just twenty minutes.   With the bounty of the successful fundraiser ready to share with the island, he started making his way home – but it wasn’t a straight shot. “I flew to Martinique, and just started picking up supplies – water, chainsaws, literally thousands of dollars’ worth of food – whatever we thought we could fit on a boat,” says Johnny. “Then I hitched a ride with Piwi Croisieres Calypso over to Dominica.”     When he arrived on the island, he was ‘mostly speechless’. "The island is the greenest tropical forest – super dense bush – it looked more like a firestorm hit it,” he says. "No foliage. Bark ripped off of trees. No green left. It was a dry dusty desert. Piles of debris. Giant trees on the beaches, debris two meters high.” The damage to their home was real – the house/school was flooded, and the platform had been dislodged and blown to shore. They lost their competition rope, worth about $1500 – although it was later recovered, and they hope to repair it.   Without a doubt, the competition was off – so Sunnex and the competitors already on the island diverted their attention to clean-up and aid, cleaning beaches, roads and helping repair the island’s infrastructure.   There’s still much to be done – but Sunnex is confident the Blue Element freediving contest will return next year – and probably not during hurricane season. “The conditions here are impeccable,” he says. “Calm and flat, no current, water’s warm, perfect.”   Want to pitch in and help Dominica? See the Blue Element GoFundMe page here. 

Who are you and where are you from? My name is Saeed Rashid, I live on the south coast of England in the town of Bournemouth, 20-minute walk from what I think is one of the best sandy beaches in England. Where do you dive? I travel a lot and mostly to Asia and like most people in Europe, the Red Sea, which is really above all over places my underwater playground. But I also try and get a few dives in at home, I have a local pier in Swange, Dorset that is a great place to chill out in the shallows with my camera What inspires you in the underwater world? I know it sounds a cliché, but just being underwater inspires me, finding a cool little critter that I’ve never seen before inspires me, helping others to capture their dives in a photograph inspires me. I love seeing the work of other photographers of places and things I’ve never seen and imagining the excitement they had at the time of taking them. How would you describe your photography style? I’m not sure I have a style, if I do it is in constant flux and changing all the time. I just try and capture each image as I see it Is there a story you wish to tell with your images? When I’m teaching underwater photography I try to get my students to think of themselves as not photographers but as storytellers. There is also a story to tell, however big or small. You also teach photography. Can you tell us a bit about that? I have a day job in which among many other things I teaching photojournalism at Bournemouth University. But I’m also very fortunate to be able to travel and teach underwater photography in amazing locations. I work with a couple of UK travel agents (Oonas Divers, Ultimate Diving and The Scuba Place) where I take small groups away to some wonderful destinations such as Indonesia, Philippines and Egypt and help them with their own photographic skills. I teach all levels, it’s great seeing those that are both completely new start to understand the basics and I’m able to get them to banish the blues of their images and as well as those that are pushing their skills further and producing amazing imagery. The best feeling in the world is when one of my own students teaches me something I never knew before, that really is great. And where to follow your adventures? I have a website focusvisuals.com that I try to keep as updated as possible. I’m also all over social media: www.facebook.com/focusvisuals/ www.instagram.com/saeedrashid01/ www.twitter.com/saeedrashid Follow @suuntodive on Instagram

Tell us a bit about your dive history. I was a free diver and still am a free diver. I was lucky enough to meet the legendary Umberto Pelizzari, and not long after joined his entourage for trainings, travels and world records. I began to free dive professionally myself in the early 2000s, and my career took me to underwater all over the world. But in 2005 tragedy struck when my best friend died during a dive. What happened next? After that, I stepped back from competitive diving and began to work more as a trainer and safety diver. I continued my studies in the medical field, and then eventually I began to put my medical competence to use as a free diver. Tell us more. I work very specifically with breathing and breathing technique, with the goals of improving performance and reducing recovery times. Essentially, we’re helping athletes increase their oxygen supply, and teaching their muscles to work better without oxygen. We work specifically with the diaphragm to have more oxygen. Then next is to be master of your breath. To be more conscious about have more air. Mike Maric working with Trek Segafredo pro cycling team (©Trek-Segafredo) To be more conscious? That sounds like a mind game… Absolutely. Science shows us it’s not physical, but mental – apnea technique is really important, but we also know mental is really important! My students really learn how to improve the mental conditions and discover new limits inside of themselves! And now your work includes lots of people who don’t dive and don’t intend to. Everyone in the world can benefit from better breathing techniques! Over the last few years I’ve been working with many athletes from different disciplines – beginning with triathletes, but now including martial arts masters, fencers, and more. I’ve even helped an oncologist who uses the techniques with his cancer patients. How do you help a world champion in fencing? The first goal in fencing or karate is to relax before the performance – reduce the stress and lower the heartbeat. The second is to reduce the recovery time. In fencing, for instance, world Paolo Pizzo is going full-speed for 30 seconds, then rest. During that rest time he moves his shoulders, breathes in a specific way, and recovers very quickly. The first time he did that, a lot of people wondered what he was doing – but it works. How do you use your Suunto? The Spartan is an extremely important tool for me – I use it to see breath frequency and heart rate. Medically educated forensic scientist Mike Maric has taken what he’s learned from free diving and applied it to a multitude of other sports. How can you help amateur athletes? There are for sure some simple exercises to be conscious about your breathing. When I ask people ‘how do you breath?’ they don’t know! They know about shoes and running, they know about eating, they know about supplements! But they don’t know how they breath! We need to breath not with the chest, but with the diaphragm! But you need to practice continuously – the basics, about eight minutes each day. That’s enough time to improve over six weeks – although it’s different for each athlete. No yoga. Ha! I don’t do yoga. I back up medically sound advice with scientific evidence. Better breathing can improve your mental condition, increase performance, and decrease stress. That’s science! For more info on Mike Maric's work visit mikemaric.com

Diving was something I’d always done. As a kid, while swimming, I spent more time beneath the surface than above it. But my free dive obsession really started with a SCUBA diving trip in Egypt. During that trip I actually was snorkeling with a friend, and trying to get our depth gauge as deep as we could. Which is a stupid thing to do, by the way. But I was having so much fun, I took a course in freediving… and haven’t been dry since. My best was good enough for a Dutch National Record. With fins to 60m, without to 55m, and free immersion to 65m. But I was a very average free diver during the time I was competing. At the time, 2011, the 55m was top 20. It’s nowhere near that anymore. I’ve had seals kiss my camera Last year, here in Cornwall, we were swimming with seals. Really shy in the beginning, but after a while, one was interested in my fins. Then he got close enough to my camera dome that his whiskers touched it. That was an interaction where you feel someone looking back at you. I get in the water with a different mindset than the diver. We both dive, but they have to go within themselves – all I do is look outside of myself. I look at them, the environment, the light. The same actions with completely opposite goals. Safety dives helped me train. At every comp, I did safety dives. There is a diver at depth and 30m. And because I did a lot of that, I knew I had a lot of stamina to do repeated dives. The deep guys go to 100m but do it once. The safety guys – and me – go to 30m, but we do it all day long. I’m definitely, absolutely doing more work than the guys diving I’m just not going as deep. I have to swim to 15m, see the diver, swim around him, get in front, crane your neck – and it’s a bad position. They’re going for maximum depth efficiency, I’m going for bursts of speed to get my shot. Totally inefficient as far as diving goes. I don’t become a better free diver by being a free dive photographer. I love Will Trubridge I met him first in 2007, but it took me till 2012 to work with him. Now we’re actually friends. He can be a bit shy. It took until I found out he had a wicked sense of humor for us to become friends. It’s nice to work with him – he’s a good delegator who tells you what he wants or expects, and he’s really clear about what he can do. At Vertical Blue, I do fifty dives a day Mostly hanging out between 10 – 20m. That’s my office, ten to twenty meters deep. That’s a depth where the light is still good, the background is good, and it’s easily achievable –I can do it on repeat all day long. My dream dive is The Arch in the Blue Hole in Dahab It’s an opening in a natural reef. The arch is at 58m, and then there’s a 30m overhang, then you have to go back up. To do the arch, with a camera, that would be spectacular. All images © Daan Verhoeven / Vertical Blue Read also 7 tips to help you make amazing diving videos and 10 tips to help you take amazing underwater photos Learn more about Vertical Blue

Diving offers a unique chance for humans to observe marine animals in their native environment. In April we asked you what are your favourite marine animals and why. Based on the three lucky winners sea turtles and sharks are on top of the list!     The three winners are Babak Davoudi from California, Ruben Castro Castillo from Spain and Kimberly Jeffries from Hawaii. Here are their pictures and stories.   Kimberly & hammerhead shark By far the biggest myth people say about sharks is they are mindless, man eating monsters. Nothing could be farther from the truth. These are beautiful, majestic, sentient creatures that actually appreciate and return for affection over and over and over again. Jim Abernethy - Tales by Light - Happy Earth Day everyone 🌏 。 。 。 。 #shark #travel #freedive #rebreather #savesharks #subal #conservation #neverstopexploring #ocean #freediving #yourshotphotographer #oahu #explore #teamcanon #extinction #photo #hawaii #scuba #photooftheday #marine #marineconservation #photography #underwater #padi #galapagos #hammerheadshark #hammerhead #wild #suuntodive #earthday A post shared by Kimberly (@kimberlyswimberly) on Apr 22, 2017 at 11:14am PDT “Hammerhead sharks are among some of the most amazing ocean animals. Their head shape has evolved to act as a hydrofoil underwater and their bodies are capable of extreme maneuverability. They're absolutely beautiful to see moving underwater. Sadly, despite evolution, Scalloped hammerheads are considered endangered, with their population having decreased around 95% in the past thirty years due to over fishing and shark finning.” “This particular photo is of a scalloped hammerhead off Darwin's Arch, Galapagos. Schools of sharks will gather to be cleaned by fish and to find mates. It's beautiful to see untouched nature like that.” “Although this photo was shot in the Galapagos, I'm lucky enough to call Oahu home. We have crystal clear diving all year round and every island in Hawaii has a little different flavor so it's always an adventure in the water.” –Kimberly Jeffries, California, USA   Ruben & angel shark Ruben’s angel shark video (The same video was also shared on Instagram) “I went diving again today and was lucky enough to meet an angel shark. They are fantasic creatures and it’s always good to see them. I think we have to protect them, and the best way to educate and teach people is through videos and images.” “I am from Madrid, Spain, but live in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. Usually I dive in the Canary Islands.” –Ruben Castro Castillo, Gran Canaria, Spain   Babak & sea turtle My favorite dive buddy of all time! Throwback to an amazing experience, diving in #turtlecanyon #Oahu and encountering with many of these giant #seaturtle #honu The average shell length of an adult honu is 3-4 feet and they weigh ~250 pounds, but they can grow to a weight of 500 pounds and their average life span could reach 80 years. #suuntodive #hawaii #scubadiving #paditv A post shared by Babak Davoudi (@babakd) on Apr 20, 2017 at 11:24am PDT  “The picture is from my trip to Hawaii, Oahu, Turtle Canyon dive site, right after I got my open water certification and I was so excited diving in Hawaii. We saw a lot of these huge sea turtles surrounded by small fishes cleaning them. It was my first time seeing turtles that big. They are so calm and the way they swim and glide in the water looks like they are flying. Looking at their faces make me happy and smile. To me they look like ancient and prehistoric creatures.” “I live in Irvine, California and normally dive around here in Catalina Island, Shaw's Cove, Channel Islands and sometimes going on trips to another places. I dove in Dubai, Hawaii (Molokini and Oahu). I'm getting more serious about diving, it's been my dream since I was a child to dive and it became true when I moved here to California.” –Babak Davoudi, California, USA   Congratulations to the winners and thank you for participating and sharing your stories, everyone! The three winners got easy-to-use, nitrox-capable, large-displayed Suunto Zoop Novo dive computers to accompany them on their future adventures.   Main image by Stephen R Woods / Suunto

In its 10th edition this year, the Vertical Blue competition is comprised of three depth disciplines: Constant Weight, Constant No-Fins and Free Immersion (CWT, CNF, FIM respectively). #VB2017 is an AIDA sanctioned event which offers competitors six official dives to challenge themselves to obtain the coveted title of “Champion” at the most elite freediving competition in the world. William’s rival in free immersion, Miguel Lozano of Spain, will also be on hand to conquer new territory, as well as diving legends Davide Carrera & Homar Leuci of Italy. Heating things up for the ladies are world record holder Sayuri Kinoshita of Japan and first-time attendee (but renowned Italian mistress of the deep) Alessia Zecchini. Over the course of the next 10 days freediving fans around the globe can watch the record-breaking battles among the world’s most talented athletes, who are literally pushing the limits on what was once thought impossible for the human body to do. Stay tuned here and via the Suunto Diving + Vertical Blue Facebook pages, the VB event website, Suunto & VB Instagram, the VB Youtube Channel, Trubridge’s Twitter feed as well as the Vertical Blue twitter handle & hashtags #VB2017 and #verticalblue for a live feed from the platform, amazing videos & images and results. Join us as we watch dive history in the making! All images © Daan Verhoeven/Vertical Blue