Page 16 - MidWeek - August 10, 2022

Into The Deep With Enchante Gallardo
AUGUST 10, 2022 MIDWEEK 16
Kurt Chambers never had an interest to visit, let alone live in, Hawai‘i. But, in 2003, when he missed all of the deadlines for graduate school except for
University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa, he found himself on a plane with a one-way ticket to Honolulu.
A native of Galveston, Texas, Chambers grew up fishing on land with a rod and reel, so it was only natural that he
“almost immediately”got into spearfishing.
“Spearfishing is almost exclusively practiced free diving in Hawai‘i, almost not on scuba at all, so it necessitated teaching myself how to free dive pretty quickly,” says Chambers. “Because I have an expansive background and interest in sports, I wandered into what we think of as‘pure’free diving training with no spearfishing involved, just how deep can you dive.”
This led him to his first free diving competition in 2008, which, unbeknownst to him at the time, was the start of a nearly 15-year-and-counting career and quite a few national titles to boot.
“I had gone through all of the free diving courses that had ever been offered within a few years,” Chambers remembers. “In 2009, one of the free diving agencies offered the very first instructor courses here so I quickly jumped into that. It’s been quite a while now that I’ve (taught) free diving and I expect to continue to, as I still really enjoy that.”
Noticing that courses were offered exclusively on the Big Island’s west coast, Chambers pioneered interisland free diving instruction in 2012, offering classes for everyone from Hanalei to Hilo. He says that classes typically happen over an immersive weekend and that students leave his care knowing how to hold their breath for three minutes and dive 60 feet.
Then, in 2015, Chambers established the Kona Depth Challenge, one of Hawai‘i’s only free- diving competitions.
“The main thing that sets it apart from other competitions is that it’s intended to be amateur friendly,” he says. “It’s just a way to make free diving more accessible in Hawai‘i instead of requiring everybody here to flfly very, very far abroad just to get to compete.”
Which is exactly what he does. On top of teaching, Chambers is a globetrotter, most often visiting Southeast Asia to participate in international competitions. At the end of June, he took part in the AIDA Panglao Depth Championship 2022
in the Philippines and came home as the No. 1 male free diver in North America, earning himself two new national titles (constant weight, 109
meters, and constant weight bi-fifins, 100 meters).
“In Hawai‘i, we’re very isolated. We don’t get to see
the European champion come through here and offffer the highest level of instruction that they offffer elsewhere,”he
shares. “I feel like I have to fifigure out a lot of things on my own at the most advanced level, so I feel even more gratifified and validated that my dedication succeeds on a national level.”
Next up, Chambers will be heading east once again to catch the last few competitions in the Philippines before the season is over,
and come November, he plans to host the next Kona Depth Challenge. Those interested can stay up to date by following his Instagram
(@chambersbelow).
For someone who, nearly 20 years prior, didn’t have any interest in
Hawai‘i, it seems that he’s doing just fifine.
PHOTOS COURTESY KURT CHAMBERS
FROM PAGE 13
ternal, and although you’re able to observe outward, you’re analyz- ing all these different feelings and connections with yourself.
title. Since then, diving has taken her around the world to places like Honduras, Dominica, Egypt and Turkey.
“When you’re on scuba and have the tanks, you’re breathing underwater and it’s creating all these bubbles and animals can sense that especially because sounds and everything travel much faster than it does in the air.
Enchante Gallardo is in her element when exploring the depths of the ocean. PHOTO COURTESY NICOLAS WINKLER
“When you meet different peo- ple and see how they’re doing it, they really help out and give you advice, and you take little pieces from each person and you try those out and utilize that to develop your own diving, or your own skills, and see what works best for you. I did that competition in Mexico and I ended up doing pretty well. I think ever since that happened, I just kept going.”
“But if you’re free diving, you don’t have all this gear. It sounds kind of cheesy — but it’s free. Of- ten, it kind of feels like you’re a speck floating in the universe and you can defy gravity. You’re just there, floating.”
sure and see if it was something I might be interested in doing again in the future,” recalls Gallardo. “I was like, ‘OK, why not?’ I thought it was a good opportunity to take and I’ m always open to having these experiences. I think how you grow as a person is by trying different things.”
To train, Gallardo says she stays in good physical condition, tries to eat well, and practices yoga, medi- tation and visualization in order to keep not just her body healthy but her mind, too.
According to Gallardo, being present is one of the most im- portant requirements, along with being in top physical shape. In order to safely and successfully dive, you need to learn how to ease your mind and lower your heart rate. That in itself is a gift.
Gallardo ended up coming in second place, which set the trajec- tory for the next couple of years of competitions that only got bigger, farther and deeper.
During the off-season, Gallardo, who can be found on Instagram (@enchantedfreedive), will be home spending time with her ‘ohana, surfing (“The best thing about surfing and free diving is you’re never disappointed because if there’s waves, you can surf, and if it’s flat, you can go free diving,” she says) and teaching the future free divers of Hawai‘i, all the while preparing for the next round of competitions.
“It feels like being on another planet or a dream world,” she says. “In a way, it’s a nice escape from reality and the stresses of daily life. It’s kind of like therapy.
“As I kept free diving and fur- thering in my progress ... I felt like I was becoming closer to myself,” says the 34-year-old. “I feel like a lot of times people are disconnect- ed to the one thing they should be connected to, which is themselves. We’ re not always aware of dif- ferent sensations or feelings that come up and I think free diving can often enhance that.
“If you look at a small patch of coral reef, it doesn’t look like much, but if you take a good look at it, it’s like this crazy complex ecosystem. You have small fish and you can find little slugs. Some- times you see an octopus. Looking for different marine life and watch- ing how they interact is quite fas- cinating because it also seems like these little fish have these person- alities. Sometimes they get really curious and sometimes they just might dash off at the first sight of a human.”
“I wanted to learn more, so I decided to do a training camp in Dahab, Egypt, with some record holder divers and also because I wanted to see how people from other parts of the world were diving. I saw it as a good op- portunity to expand my knowl- edge and experience — and also be able to travel. It was great. I learned a lot and met a lot of amazing people.”
“I want to share something I love with people,” she says. “I think the ocean is an amaz-
ing place and such a heal-
ing thing. I hope everyone gets to experience it the way that I do.
In 2018, while getting her in- structor certification, Gallardo heard of a local competition called Kona Depth Challenge, which was established by Hawai‘i Island’s Kurt Chambers. (See story on this page.)
In 2019, only two years after taking her first dive, Gallardo competed in her first international competition in Mexico, which is where she earned her first national
“Anyone is capable of
doing whatever they put
their heart and mind to.
Before all of this, I felt a
little lost in life and I didn’t
know what I wanted to do. When I discovered free diving, I found something that I was passionate about and that allowed me to do what I love. I feel really lucky and fortunate to have been able to find that. I hope everyone else is able to do the same — and know that it is possible.”
“My instructor said that I should enter just to see what it’s like to compete and feel that type of pres-