Freediving in the depths of the Berlengas environment / Submerged
Out in the restless waters of the Atlantic Ocean, about 9 kilometres off the coast of Peniche, lie the Berlengas, a small archipelago steeped in myth and untamed rugged nature. Comprising three main groups of islands, Berlenga Grande, Estelas and Farilhões, these islands create an image of granite islands, coastal reefs, with steep cliffs sparsely covered in vegetation, crystalline waters and a sense of isolation. For centuries, the Berlengas have attracted those with a thirst for adventure and introspection. During the first millennium BC, the Phoenicians, an ancient Semitic civilization, held Berlenga Island in high esteem as a sacred site. Other tales date the first presence of people back to Roman times. Nowadays, the remnants of human architecture include the São João Baptista Fort, the Duque de Bragança Lighthouse, the Bairro de Pescadores and the Castelinho. From pirates and monks to scientists and divers, this harsh yet magical environment has been a point of fascination.
Lena Kemna, a surfer and freediver living in Portugal, dreamed of something different than exploring the country’s coastline submerged and on the waves. “Freediving in Portugal is tricky“, she tells. “It’s for exactly the same reason that it‘s so consistent for surfing, it‘s also so inconsistent for freediving: We almost always have some groundswell, usually paired with wind, and we have very shallow coastlines. And on top of that, most days, we have visibility of 1-2m underwater.
But on the few days the conditions are manageable, it is beautiful. There are loads of wildlife, plants and beautiful reefs to be explored. However, we also don’t have much depth by the coast. So after freediving for a few years by the coast in Portugal, exploring so many spots up and down from where I live, I had a look at the maps and zoomed out. And I saw a little group of islands off the coast.“
The draw of the Berlengas and the Farilhões
“This archipelago are the only islands in the region. The rest is just open ocean. Also, they are within a marine reserve. So I thought if there is a beautiful spot to freedive around, it must be there“, Lena answered what drew her to the Berlengas. Since 2011, the Berlenga Marine Reserve has been part of UNESCO’s World Network of Biosphere Reserves, a designation that protects its 985 hectares of life above and below the water. Beneath the surface, many fish like sea bass, common two-banded sea bream, ballan wrasse, and the vibrant red porgy find home. Sharing these waters with marine mammals such as the common dolphins, harbor porpoises, striped dolphins, bottlenose dolphins, and the Cuvier’s beaked whale.
Above the waves on the steep cliffs and scattered islands, a unique collection of flora grows. Few of them are endemic, like the Armeria berlegensis and Herniaria berlengiana, named after their place of origin. The Berlengas are also a sanctuary for seabirds. The cliffs and islets offer shelter and safety for nesting, while the abundant waters provide plenty of sustenance. Cory’s shearwater, band-rumped storm-petrels and European shags reside on the archipelago amongst many other birds.
Getting to the Berlengas is no easy task, especially for certain adventures. Lena explains, “by now, I have been there many times. However, making it happen the first time took me almost a year. First, there are very few people who have a license to go there. In the summer, there are tourist ferries to the main island but the schedule is too tight for freediving and it’s not really the experience I was looking for. So it took me a lot of searching and asking around to finally find a captain with a license not only for Berlenga Grande, but also for the second group of islands further out, which are the Farilhoes. But then, even when I found him, it took months to finally get a day with the right conditions. The islands border on the canyon of Nazaré so even when it looks flat by the coast, there it isn‘t. On one side of the islands, underwater, there is a pile of shipwrecks, one on top of the other. And once you‘re there, it‘s not hard to imagine how that happened.“
A foggy day freediving the Berlengas
Once conditions aligned, Lena took on the journey.
Asking Lena if there were any moments that pushed her out of her comfort zone she answered: “There were a few moments where I briefly paused. Such as when meeting a man you only ever spoke to on the internet, early morning, in a harbour, to then take his boat out to sea with no phone connection. Or when encountering a pod of dolphins when freediving on the way there and just realising how big they are. Or when someone on the boat gets seasick. It’s those little moments that I think are part of every adventure but they are really quite insignificant when compared to the good moments: The friendship that grew out of the shared passion for the islands with the captain, the sheer joy of diving with dolphins right here in Portugal, having been able to experience such an adventure for example with my parents, or the tradition of always having a coffee and a veggie burger in the harbour upon return. “
Balancing riding waves and exploring depths
When following two passions it can get difficult to decide which to prioritize, how to schedule adventures and training. So Lena tells how both nurture each other and if she’s either drawing to one side or the other: “At the beginning, it was totally complementary. The conditions don’t overlap, and having a good breath-hold is great for surfing. However, as my level increased in both, focusing on bigger waves and deeper freediving, one honestly became detrimental to the other. When doing both intensely and with an aim of progression, both require training, both require rest and both require full focus. Which is impossible, because I am dedicated to both equally. So after many exhausted days and some much-needed reflection on it, I started alternating between intense phases of one or the other, for example spending a month focusing on freedive depth training in Gozo, or now in February, I will exclusively focus on surfing Nazaré. And then mixing in some easier phases of doing a little bit of both, like I am doing now in Madeira.
This way, with more distance between them, I feel they nurture each other again: I changed my approach to surfing a lot through the philosophy of freediving. And I balance out the intense focus and calmness of diving through the thrill of surfing. And I still love both equally.“
