PJ Dunick

PJ and I first met about one month ago – we had heard about each other for a couple of years, but the trips never coincided.  In November we spent countless hours in the water together and did a lot of freediving.  PJ was extremely gentle with animals and one of the best shark divers that I have met – not to mention an avid freediver…the tank would come off whenever he had a chance.

Above water he was an extremely kind and positive person – he radiated good vibes.  PJ will be greatly missed by many.  Thoughts are with his family and the Dolphin Dream crew.

Rest Easy…

For donations to the family please go to: http://www.gofundme.com/pj-com 

From Wolf:

“PJ was a wonderful and very sensitive young man. I have met him only once, during a recent trip to Tiger Beach, and I was most intrigued by the way he handled the tiger sharks - he was instinctively respectful of the animals, and I could see right away that he genuinely loved them.  

Those who knew him well will miss him sorely.  I reach out to his parents to offer them my solidarity as a father and grand-father. I cannot imagine a tragedy more painful and devastating than the loss of a child”

William Winram - New World Record 145 meters

While this may come a little late - I just saw the video below - William Winram achieved a new world record in variable weight (complete story here).  I first met William in 2008 while diving in South Africa with Tiger Sharks.  At that point my old man was in his late 60s and putting in more water time than anyone I knew - he could easily be in the water 9 hours without flinching.  I will always remember William saying - when I "grow-up" I want to be like your dad, have the energy and the passion.

It seems like William is doing just that - by no means a young buck - William continues to push the limits all while being humble.  I always liked William for those reasons, he is a good person and his mind and heart are in the right place.  Since 2008, William has also become a strong advocate for sharks.

New Video - freediving with sharks

Finally was able to put together the video of my last shark dive with friend and U/W photographer Raul Boesel Jr.  Enjoy!

Freediving with Sharks

Last November I had the opportunity to go back to the Bahamas to freedive with my old man - something I have come to cherish particularly since overcoming his third cancer.  While we do not always talk that much (snorkel in mouth) - we definitely know what is going on in our minds.


The visibility and conditions were not always perfect -but the time we were able to spend in the water was just that - perfect.  I hope to have captured some of those moments in the video below.  By no means is this a short film / documentary - just memories that run over and over in our heads.





All video shot with GoPro while freediving.  Photo credit Wolf with Caribbean Reef Shark: Michel Lonfat

Tuna Tuna Tuna

One of my very good friends and dive partner in Miami recently came back from an undisclosed location in Central America, spearing yellow fin tuna.  While this year's trip was not as successful as the last - sashimi was served.  He told me that he has never seen so much life and so many big animals.  The video from this years trip is still being edited, but below is a peek of what was seen last year... bait-balls, dolphin, sharks, turtles, tuna, and did I mention tuna.

Shame it was not the regular crew - then I could have joined ;)

Enjoy the video...

Jack Kearns Classic 2010

Every year (three so far) the South Florida Freediving club organizes the Jack Kearns Classic spearfishing competition.  This December I went out with friends Manuel Menendez, Manny Chica, and Eddie Aixala armed with a Nikonos and video camera.  Conditions were beyond horrible and visibility was minimal, making taking pictures or video impossible.  But the bad weather did not stop Manny and Manuel from taking first and second prize in the men's gun division individual and team.  I spent most of the time on the boat giving directions to the captain (Eddie) as he was having difficulties dealing with the currents, waves, and vegan sandwiches (all an inside joke, he did fine).  We all did have our wet-suits on to deal with the cold and rain.  While the weather was not cooperating, having good company and laughs made up for it.


The same week of the competition, Manuel was featured in the Miami Herald on a story about lobstering - read here (not sure why he did not take the team ;) ).  We go out often to catch stones crabs and lobster while in season - undisclosed location.  Catching and eating your own food just makes it always taste so much better.

Nery & Gautier: World Class Freediving at its Best.

Guillaume Nery and Julie Gautier

This has gotta be the best freediving video clip I have ever seen.

Congratulations to both Guillaume Nery and Julie Gautier!!

Accompany Guillaume on his free fall into the blue abyss:

A Birthday to Remember

Day after diving (Wolf and Felix).  Photo by Mike Ellis

Little did I know that this would be my only post for the first week of the trip - unfortunately we were hit with bad weather that made for horrible conditions.  The captain had mentioned that in all his years he had never had w full week be completely lost.  This was partly in thanks to tropical depression Ida.  


Nov. 10, 2009
This will be a birthday that I will always remember – today was the first time that my dad and I got back in the water to dive with sharks.  Could not have asked or wished for anything better.  Our trip to The Bahamas was delayed by one day – wind was blowing hard and waves in the Gulfstream were too big to take the boat out.   Eventually conditions allowed us to make the trip across …


The afternoon was spent getting everyone acclimated with the water, gear, and four lemons – we stayed in the water until early evening.  What stuck out the most today was seeing my old man’s yellow snorkel on the surface – it has pretty much become synonymous to any diving memories I have of him.


Onboard is a nice and diverse group of people – some we knew from before and others new.  

I have also been able to reconnect with my cousin Dinah whom I had not seen in about 15 years – she made the trip from London with her boyfriend, Nick. Meeting both was a true highlight for us Leanders.


Looking forward to the next two weeks of diving among sea wolves… 

National Geographic, Three Freedivers, a World Record and White Sharks

Photo credit: Ryan McInnis

About three weeks ago I was in Amsterdam and able to connect with some old friends.  One of those being Claudio, a good friend and freediver from Brazil who now lives in Boston.  During the summer he ventures the cold waters of Rhode Island to dive and spear - I tried it once and after 10 mins I had enough.  Of course during our meet we spoke about freediving and he mentioned that he was actively participating on the spearo discussion board: http://www.spearboard.com/.


I usually tend to stay away from these boards - they are too charged with guys looking for the next big kill.  However, the story he forwarded intrigued me.


Three freedivers were on a trip together with National Geographic filming a documentary about white shark cognition.  During the three weeks, apparently they were able to have several interaction with them and even spear tuna (of which one may even be a world record) in their presence at depths of 100ft.  The sharks were described as curious yet cautions and "It seemed like the smaller sharks with scars all over them were the ones who always wanted a taste, and were more sketchy to be in the water with, whereas the bigger ones were more cautious and mellow."

Photo credit: Ryan McInnis

From reading the board it also came to my attention that one of the freedivers and cameramen was Ryan McInnis, who we all remember from the Tiger Shark killing debacle.  Hope he is doing better things these days.

Freediving in 1981

I was looking through some files and came across this video (that we actually converted from SUPER 8 - have a lot of footage) of my father and myself freediving in Sharm el-Sheikh, Israel. In those days I was still not able or willing to use a snorkel and my movements were anything but relaxing, talking about being shark bait...nevertheless, I was already in love with the Sea...

Ocean Men - Extreme Dive

Felix L. freediving with Lemon Sharks
Photo by Fiona Ayerst

One of the best ocean documentaries that I have seen is "Ocean Men - Extreme Dive" by Bob Talbot featuring freedivers Pipin Ferreras and Umberto Pelizzari. The movie tells the story of each and marks the clear differences in style - Pipin was all about power while Umberto was elegance - both attain records (at the time) in different disciplines.

The cinematography is absolutely phenomenal coupled with a great musical score - all elements make for an exceptional experience. I saw the movie twice at an IMAX theater - wish I could get my hands on a DVD - although it seems like it was never released.

I will never forget the last words spoken in the movie:

"A true diver knows that the essence of freediving is not to challenge others but to dive deep within himself and for a few precious moments become one with the sea"

Becoming one...
Photo by: Fiona Ayerst

If you do not freedive - you will never understand the quote above - but anyone that does will know exactly what it means...and in becoming one with the sea you will respect, love, and yearn for it.

Carlos Eyles - Waterman

Any freediver / spear-fisher should know of Carlos Eyles - he is old school and really one of the first of few to venture into what now is called blue-water hunting. He was part of a tribe, a select few that dove in the Sea of Cortez in the 1960s.

As with most people of that generation, they were drawn to the sea to hunt - but they always had a deep respect for the Ocean and a real code of ethics that so many have lost today.

As Carlos Eyles became older, he eventually switched the spear gun for a camera (sounds like a familiar story - come to think of it, he even looks like my old man)...I am sure once in a while he still gets his own dinner.

Eyles wrote several books about his experience - most excellent reads, beautifully written - anyone with any draw to the ocean will relate immediately to his work.

As I was telling my friend Nico about him he told me that there was a movie coming out about him: Waterman. Below is the trailer - it is definitely worth a watch.

Freediving with new friends

Nico ascending - Photo by: Felix Leander

Recently I wrote about the new Ocean community called Oceanminds - since then I have met one of the co-founders, Nico Danan and have had the pleasure to dive with him. I have just returned from a marathon of a trip (business related) and really needed some downtime - literally.

Three weeks ago, Nico and I had dinner and decided to start pool training on a regular basis and of course diving in the ocean as well. So - sticking to our words, Saturday we had a great pool session (I realized how out of shape I am) and Sunday we went to Key Largo. While the ocean was rough (Nico decided to chum the water a bit), the visibility was amazing - must have been at least 100ft. Scott Hannon also joined us on the trip - coincidentally I also "met" Scott on Facebook.

Like Nico, Scott is also a great freediver and definitely shares the love for the ocean. At the very least we could still hit 65ft without any problems (considering that all of us have been inactive for at least 5 months). Besides the diving, we had some great conversations - I was intrigued by Scott's motorcycle track stories (those guys are nuts) - while Scott thought that I was nuts to be diving with Tigers - I guess it is all relevant.

Anyway - happy to have made some new friends that are "oceanminded"...check out some photos.

Some things get better as they age....

..... cognac, pu-ehr tea, certain cheeses, wines, rare books, very few men (Sean Connery) - and in my case: diving.

I have been free-diving for more than 53 years, and I can tell you that it is getting better and better, very unfortunately unlike other passions... :-).

People often ask me what it is that keeps me in the water while I am aging myself like an old piece of Roquefort.

Simple: Sharks.

And of all the sharks I have dived with, it is Galeocerdo Cuvier, the tiger shark that I have become addicted to, in a very literal sense of the word.

Tiger sharks rule!!

I cannot do without them anymore, and as far as I am concerned, there is no cure against this disease - thank God!

Even if there were an anti-shark remedy, to feel healthy I would have to keep this disease from 'healing'.

The clarity of the Bahamian Sea at Tiger Beach is just stunning.
(Photo: Wolfgang Leander, 2008)
Click on image to enlarge

So, that is the reason I will dive only in two places in the future: Tiger Beach and Aliwal Shoal - both destinations are famous for their tiger sharks.

No more coral reefs, no more Galapagos, no more Red Sea, or other exotic dive spots - just Tiger Beach and Aliwal Shoal. And perhaps the most southern tip of South Africa for Great Whites - THAT I owe to myself... :-)

I know that for me shark diving can only get better in these two places...

Diver and Tiger in Aliwal Shoal - darker waters full of mystery....
(Photo: Felix Leander, 2008)
Click on image to enlarge

PS: Much to my chagrin, both in the Bahamas and in South Africa tiger sharks are not fully protected. Tiger sharks are being fished in the Bahamas by so-called 'sport' anglers, and in South Africa, the tigers are not safe from humans either.

During the last couple of months many tiger sharks were killed entangled in the infamous shark nets along the coast south of Durban that have no raison d'etre whatsoever other than killing inoffensive sharks.

Hanli Prinsloo: "I am Water"

Hanli Prinsloo in her element

Photo: Roger Horrocks

When I saw Hanli diving for the first time, I was almost awestruck - I have never seen a human blending so gracefully with the liquid element. Hanli was gliding, floating, flowing in the water.

Have you ever dreamt about a diving angel? No? OK, but you have seen seals or dolphins, right? Well, then all you have to imagine now is a beautiful young woman swimming like a seal or a dolphin. THAT is Hanlin in the water - when she dives she IS water....

Only true mermaids can sleep on the bottom of the ocean....

Photo: Annelie Pompe

A few blogs ago I wrote that my South African friends of Blue Wilderness, Gail and Mark Addison, will introduce Shark Freediving courses in Umkomaas / Scottburgh. In all humility, that idea was mine. I told the Addisons last year that they should make 'Freediving with Sharks' one of their specialties. It was not hard to convince them; Mark is a freediver himself.

Freediving with sharks allows you to interact with these intelligent and responsive creatures in a way you will never experience as a scuba diver.

Hanli playing with one of the beautiful striped girls of Aliwal Shoal

Photo: Roger Horrocks

What I did not know then was: Who could teach scuba tourists the joys of freediving professionally in the shortest time possible? But that was not my problem. Gail and Mark would have to find an adequate person to run the courses. When I heard that they were lucky enough to engage Hanli Prinsloo, I felt like exclaiming: "Guys, you've got the best and most passionate freediving instructor in Africa, not just South Africa!!"

I have to tell you how I got to know Hanli. I was at the southern tip of South Africa toward the middle of March to freedive with white sharks, but we had the most adverse weather conditions imaginable: rough seas, cold winds, and a visibility that was worse than that of a German flooded gravel pit.

Apart from a brief and intense, and at the same time rather insignificant (well, sort of 'insignificant'...) encounter with a 4 m female white shark, it was an absolutely frustrating week in terms of diving. And I had come all the way from Cochabamba to see, and photograph, whities...... :-(

But as we in the Spanish speaking world say: "No hay bien que por mal no venga" (= There is not bad from which good doesn't come). So, no white sharks, however, I was fortunate to meet Hanli - and that was more than a mere compensation.

After my buddy Roger Horrocks introduced me to Hanli there was an immediate exchange of some basic stuff of the kind you find in the periodic table of elements - don't ask me which ones; all I can tell you is that the chemistry between us was excellent right away! Hanli is a sophisticated, spiritual woman with a truly infectious personality. She radiates a passion for whatever she does that comes from the depth of her soul.

Hanli Prinsloo

Photo: Self-Portait

Now it's my turn to introduce you to Hanli by way of letting her speak in her own words. I requested her to describe how she could make a competent freediver out of you in one day:

I really believe that everybody, whether they consider themselves aquatic or not, can be taught to freedive. It's in your head mainly, your body will follow.

In one or two days, one can significantly increase a person's knowledge about their body an their inherent apneic ability to such a degree, that they will achieve depths and times they never could've imagined.

I have people coming onto my one-day courses loudly proclaiming that they could never hold their breath for more than 30 sec, and by the end of one static session they are comfortably doing between 2 and 5 minutes.

You may never have been deeper than a two meter reef, but with the proper coaching, within a day you could dive to anywhere between 5 and 20 meters.

The human body is beautifully adapted for freediving, for breath-hold, for depth, and once you know this, you will dare to trust it to take you where you've never been before.

Hanli has a fantastic website that is worth reading from the beginning to the end. After going through the pages and the images you will know more about her - but wait until you meet Hanli in person, in Umkomaas, to let her coach you when you feel ready for the very best type of diving in the world: Freediving with tiger sharks!


PS: Click on the images to enlarge them.

Shark Angel

Can you imagine Julie Andersen more angelical than she looks here?

Well, I could - give her aquatic wings and a monofin. She normally dives with tanks - and looks like all scuba divers look in the liquid element - awkward.

Some people convinced Julie during her recent trip to South Africa to go, rather swim, freely. She has not done badly as you can see. All she needs know is some expert training in freediving.

I could see tons of guys out there, freediving world champs included, just dying to teach Julie the art of breath-hold diving. What you can't see in this pic is that Julie looks as hot as a 'real' angel... :-)

The only person I could think of teaching Julie how to freedive well and without any sort of distraction (hahaha!!) is Hanli Prinsloo, a passionate South African freediving champ who is a fully qualified instructor.

More about Hanli soon in this blogspot.

Shark Diving at Blue Wilderness goes Free

Record freediver William Winram dancing Paso Doble with a striped beauty

(Photograph by Felix Leander, 2008)

Mark Addison pioneered Tiger Shark diving in South Africa some 25 years ago, and has since become one of the most experienced and respected shark dive operators world-wide.

Those who have seen Mark in last year's Shark Week program ("Deadly Stripes")* will perhaps recall that he normally freedives with his gentle striped pets. He does so because he has long ago found out that only freedivers can interact with sharks in a truly non-obstructive and close way.

This year, Mark and his charming wife Gail will introduce free-diving courses at their base. Blue Wilderness will thus be the first shark operation on the globe to formally teach scuba divers how to freedive with sharks.

Congratulations, Gail and Mark: That will be yet another pioneering step forward in shark diving!!

Now, the teacher won't be just anyone - the Addisons are lucky to have a world-class freediver to run the courses: Hanli Prinsloo, South African freediving champion.

Not unlike Tanya Streeter, a former world champion, Hanli is a petite, almost fragile looking young woman. But make no mistake: This lady is extremely disciplined and has a will of iron. I have seen her diving once, and could only marvel at her - Hanli is a true mermaid, she moves, rather flows, with a grace and lightness that defies description.

Who should take freediving lessons? Everybody who loves the ocean. All you need is to be in good shape.

I will take a course with Hanli next year, as I am sure she will be able to teach me how to improve my freediving skills by at least 30%, if not more, in no time.

As we say in German: "Man lernt nie aus" (= You never stop learning).


*) I can't hold back: What a completely misleading, utterly sensationalistic title for a documentary about tigers sharks!

Pierre Frolla - the Michael Schumacher of Freediving

Pierre flirting with "Ella"

Photo: Wolfgang Leander (2008)

Click on image

Pierre Frolla was not seven times world champion, only four. That in itself is most remarkable as competitive freediving has got to be one of the toughest disciplines, and largely depends on exceptional physical and mental fitness.

We met Pierre and his buddies (Fred Buyle, William Winram, Jerome Espla and his wife, and Christophe Vyncke) in South Africa recently where they were doing a documentary for the French TV.

I loved being around these guys, very down to earth, very refreshing, very European. Pierre has no inhibitions innocently exhibiting his loulou (= family jewels) in front of girls - I did that, too, in my prime years.... The young man is gregarious and loves to entertain large groups of people, he likes to rigoler, and is just 'foen' to be with.

'Foen'? Well, that is how Pierre, and all Frenchmen, pronounce 'fun'. Now you know how it sounds when Pierre uses the very common and widely known English four letter word --- hahahaha!

Pierre fell in love with the tigers right away, as did all the others. Un coup de foudre - love at first sight. Verry passionate and ssedoective seesse Frrench loevers, just as they are supposed to be. Just look how graceful Pierre moves in front of Ella, our huge tiger Lady, as if to tempt her...

Indeed, Pierre impressed Ella so much that she let him hold on to her dorsal fin once long enough to take him down to 32 m.

Another world record!! Incredible!!! A breath-hold diver reaches a depth of 32 m attached to the fin of a 4,5 m Tiger shark!!

I have seen it - well, not all the trip as in about 15 m Ella and Pierre disappeared into the murky abyss of Aliwal Shoal.

I know that tiger sharks don't eat people - still, I was kinda relieved to see Pierre surfacing after about a minute or so.... :-)

W to the 3rd power

Photo by: Fred Buyle

William Winram (Waterman) – remember that name.

I met William during my South Africa trip – he was part of the group that included Fred Buyle and Pierre Frolla. William and I first exchanged words in the water amongst tiger sharks - to be honest, I had no idea who he was.

Turns out William (like his business card says) is a true Waterman, and oh yeah, a world-class freediver. He is the first man to swim through The Arch, Blue Hole in Dabab, Egypt without fins. Let me put this into perspective: he swan down 60 meters (almost the length of a football field), across 30 meters, and back up 60 meters – in breast stroke. Read that sentence again!

But aside from the competition, William loves the ocean and everything that is in it – particularly sharks. In the water he is completely in his element and his passion shows. It was great fun to share his enthusiasm in the water and on land. One word to describe William: soul. Good to see that people some people do not let things get to their head. Something else about him – he is funny, can tell jokes better than anyone I have ever met.

I may see William again in the Bahamas in November as he prepares for a world record dive – he promised he would spend a few days and teach me how to improve my skills – said I should be hitting 60 meters, that would be pretty far out – or should I say…far down.

Roger Horrocks is a freediving underwater photographer -

- not just an 'underwater photographer'. Roger is passionate about freediving. He is so much of a freediver that he will not under any circumstances put on a tank to take underwater photographs.

Not many underwater photographers are able to produce world-class underwater photographs on one breath of air. Roger does. I can hear the scuba photographers challenging me: Who cares how the picture is being taken? Agreed, in the end, it is the photograph that will be judged. But to know that an underwater image has been taken while freediving definitely gives it another dimension.

When you freedive your photographic equipment becomes an extension of your entire body, not just your eye. And since photographers always hold their breath when they squeeeze the shutter, apnea-diving-photography would almost seem the natural way of photographing underwater. Of course, freediving is more than just holding your breath and swimming underwater. Freediving is rather 'flowing' underwater. Thus, freediving photographers take photographs while they flow underwater....

Contrary to how scuba divers sometimes condescendingly refer to freediving, it is not "topside" diving, it isn't "snorkeling" either - freediving is the most ancient, yet ultimate way of diving. It simply is what a French friend of ours, Jacques Millat, an outstanding freediver of the old school, once called "la vraie joie de la plongee", the true joy of diving...

Look at Roger in these two images - see? That's what freediving is all about: La vraie joie de la plongee....