AI FUTAKI: MESSAGES FROM THE UNDERWATER WORLD
“I use free divings to share the wonders of underwater. It is the most natural way to be in the water.”
Ai Futaki
Photo credit: @Darren Jew
Ai Futaki is an apnea-free-diving Guinness World Record-holder and documentarian. She considers herself a “Subaquatic Messenger”, dedicated to sharing her incredible encounters from the sea: “I believe my role is to share the connection from underwater. An image can speak a thousand words. And it doesn’t matter your generation, your sex, your nationality because it’s the universal language.”
According to Ai, diving without equipment is key to understanding the flow and the energy of the animals in the water. We spoke with her to find out more about the underwater world she has been invited into, what she has learned from the creatures she found there, and why she feels it is important to be led by her heart instead of the brain.
Tell us how you found your path as a free diver.
I grew up on the coast side of Japan, so I experienced the ocean since I was very small. I started swimming when I was three years old and I was always in the water.
Initially I wanted to be a documentary director. Then when I was 21, several bad things happened all together. I was depressed and closed myself off. After a month or so, I said to myself, “I am still young. I can’t finish my life like this.” Suddenly came the intuition “I must go back to the water.” I don’t know why, but I chose Scuba diving. In one week, I was in Honduras. I still remember when I went underwater for the first time, I thought, “This is it, this is where I should be." That was when my underwater journey started.
However, with scuba when you exhale there is a sound and bubbles, so although you can stay for a long time and observe things, you cannot be part of the underwater world. The outsider that I felt in Japan, I felt underwater because all the ocean creatures scared and ran away. By chance, I tried free diving and it all came together. Free diving is holding my breath under water like whales and dolphins do, so I can be one of them, and they treat me as if I am their younger sister who cannot dive or hold her breath that long!
By that time, I got clear the message that I wanted to share “We are all connected, and we are all part of this beautiful planet.” But I was nobody. There was not much social media like now. To share the message, I needed to be someone. That’s the reason I did the Guinness World Records, which are for the longest distance swam in a cave with one breath (100m with a fin which I was the first woman in the world to achieve, and 90m without fins which I was the first human to achieve).
You have so many different pictures where you are so close to crocodiles and big animals. Are you not scared during these encounters?
People ask me that a lot, but I am more scared of being in the middle of big cities, because nature and animals are more direct and honest. Before something happens, there is always a sign. So, whenever I feel something is not right, I just leave. Also, when I go to the water, as it is their home, I respect them: I introduce myself and I don’t go in with my dirty shoes. I believe if I want them to respect me, I must do that first. And if they let me be there, I will be in.
It’s not true that I don’t have fear, but I just let it be. The aim is to be attentive and sensitive to whatever is happening. As humans, our minds tend to be much stronger than the senses, so if your mind is busy, you cannot catch these really sensitive movements. In the water, the vibrations travels four times faster than here on land, so whatever feeling I have, they realise it and, they know it before I know myself. There is nothing you can hide, so I just open myself.
Photo credit: @Fabrice Dudenhofer
What has the water taught you about humanity?
Through free diving, I’ve realised the importance of being in the moment; not in the future, nor in the past. You need to be completely present in the water, in a meditative space, calm with no emotions.
When I do underwater photography, I try to be as transparent as possible. It’s all about their story. I just “click” the shutter when they say “Now”. Whenever I see whales really close, and I see their eyes, I feel like they are not just looking, they see your inside, so I can’t hide anything. And they are just saying follow the truth and be honest. And I don’t know why, I will always say ‘sorry’ for being human.
Through my work, I wish to inspire, plant a seed, and I hope it will grow. The seed, the message, is that we are part of this planet, not the owners of the Earth.
What are the most impressive memories you have of the water world?
What I feel mostly is their strength, their courage. They just use whatever they can use for their houses or nest, whatever they can to find a way to live and have a future.
When I am with the humpback whales, a mother and calf, I see the love. I see how the mother takes care of the baby. And when I am back here on land, I can’t help but question whether we have left the most essential part of our connections behind. We have technologies and different ways of communicating with each other but something is lost. The harmony of the family is not outside; it is inside.
What was it like spending time with the Ama divers?
It was very interesting. It’s a dying culture. Where I went, the youngest Ama diver was sixty years old, and the oldest was 87 years old - not walking very fast but once in the water like a penguin!
They taught me the importance of give and take, the law of nature. They say “we are taking something from the ocean, but we are also being part of the ocean.” I saw that even humans can be part of that natural cycle of life. They live really simply, but I felt clear that simpler is happier.
If you have to say a gift that you have received from the underwater world, what would it be?
I am grateful the animals show me the way to face myself and for the opportunity to deeply connect with them.
As we are mammals, I have more connection with sea mammals. I can see their emotions from the eyes and the movement. They swim so much faster than I do and they go so much deeper than I am able to go. But interestingly, when they are comfortable with this new and different creature, they seem to slow down so I can catch up with them. I had this experience once when I was with sperm whales. They swim down to 2000 meters and they only eat the giant squid. When the mother goes down the kids stay on the surface because they can’t go that deep. That’s the moment when I had a chance to swim with them. The mother went down for 40 -45 minutes and I stayed with her children. After this 45 minutes, they started to swim away so I thought, ok the mother is calling them. Suddenly they stopped while they were swimming away and they looked back at me just like “hey, our lunch is here, aren’t you coming?” It was really impactful - the moment they accepted me.
Have you noticed a lot of changes in the underworld because of climate change?
Wherever I go in the world, the locals always tell me that 5 or 10 years ago the areas were more beautiful. Everything is changing. It was so obvious when the pandemic happened and we couldn’t go outside; the sea turtles came back to the beach after decades. We humans were one of the last to arrive on to this planet, so in my opinion we should try to have the least impact possible.
What do you hope for the world?
I believe and I hope that when we have harmony within ourselves, we do with others, too, like a ripple at the surface. We are so disconnected from everything, even from ourselves. It’s very important to connect ourselves, our centre and not to lose our core. Always, the problem and the solution is within ourselves.
I think we judge too much, which is why humans feel so much more relaxed in nature because nature doesn't judge. It’s the same in the water. I feel the ocean has this power.
It might sound irrelevant, but to change the world first we need to connect within ourselves; when we connect, everything starts changing.
“We are deeply connected to the ocean; we hold the ocean within us.”
Ai Futaki