Take a deep breath...

If you have seen Luc Besson’s 1988 film The Big Blue, you will know about the moment when the sport of freediving was propelled into the public consciousness. One character, Enzo Molinari, aims to dive the deepest, holding his breath the longest and pushing his body to the limit. The other, Jacques Mayol, is less interested in breaking records. For him freediving is about expressing his love of the ocean – and of dolphins. “I don’t dive to conquer the elements,” he said. “The sea is my lover; I make love to her when I dive.”

Much as I am swayed by records, summits and certificates, I wanted to freedive not with weights and balloons but in the most natural way possible alongside the world’s great marine creatures: dolphins, sharks and other favourites. In fact, like many people, I had perhaps unknowingly been freediving all my life: swimming underwater, holding my breath for a few seconds, perhaps to retrieve a penny from the bottom of a pool. That was a revelation: if you too have ever held your breath and swum underwater, you have freedived.

Without the need for much equipment, freediving is uncomplicated. It is also very appealing in an age when we are shedding gear to go rock climbing, running without shoes, indulging in wild swimming, even decluttering our homes and our head spaces. Freediving is particularly of the moment – and it is flourishing. Scuba programmes provided by Padi (the Professional Association of Diving

Michelle Jana Chan (yes, that’s her with the dolphins!) plunges into the Big Blue with freediver Hanli Prinsloo in Mozambique

Michelle swims amongst a pod of dolphins, above; record-breaking freediver Hanli Prinsloo, below