Famous Divers: Audrey Mestre
Audrey Mestre, who was born in 1974 was a world record-setting free-diver.
She was born into a family of snorkeling and scuba diving enthusiasts, and by the age of two she was already swimming confidently. At thirteen she was a seasoned scuba diver. She was still in her teens when her family moved to Mexico City and became fluent in the Spanish language. She studied marine biology in Mexico and developed her diving skills.
In 1996 her interest in underwater sports led to her meeting the renowned free-diver, Francisco "Pipín" Ferreras. Mestre soon moved to Miami, Florida to live with him, at first their relationship was that of teacher and pupil, Mestre took up free-diving on a serious basis, and with Ferreras as her instructor, she was soon reaching record depths. In 1999 the pair married and the following year off the coast of Fort Lauderdale, Audrey Mestre broke the female world record by free diving to a depth of 125 metres (410 feet) on a single breath of air. A year later she broke her own record, by descending to 130 metres (427 feet). On October 4, 2002, with a dive team under her husband's supervision, she made a practice dive off Bayahibe Beach in the Dominican Republic to the unheard of depth of 166 metres (545 feet).
She continued her deep-dive practice and eight days later she prepared to attempt a dive to 171 metres. However, at the bottom of the dive, a problem developed with the lift balloon as she started her ascent. This meant that a dive that should have lasted no more than three minutes left her underwater for more than eight and a half minutes. By the time her husband was able to bring her unconscious body to the surface it was too late and she was pronounced dead at a hospital on shore.
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