All-continents diver smashes record by a week

A scuba-related Guinness World Record has just been broken by diver Corhonda ‘Hooda Brown’ Dawson, an occupational therapist from Memphis, Tennessee.

She has been confirmed as having dived on all the world’s seven continents in fewer than 12 days – 11 days, 19hr, 23min to be exact – breaking the previous record by more than a week.

That record, set last December as reported on Divernet, had taken fellow-American Barrington Scott what now seems a leisurely 19 days, 19hr, 40min. However, alternating long-haul travel with scuba diving inevitably involves time spent waiting for no-fly intervals to be completed as well as flight connections to be made, apart from the duration of the flights themselves. 

Dawson started in the far south in Whalers Bay, Antarctica when she took her last dive of a trip there on 1 April. The water could only get warmer but, heading north to South America as soon as she could, she had to contend with torrential rains in Brazil – though her dive off Rio de Janeiro turned out to be her longest at 42min. 

From here on, her whirlwind 44,500km trip took her across the Atlantic to the edge of Europe for a rapid underwater exploration off the coast of Portugal, followed by a short hop to north Africa in the shape of Morocco’s Tangier. 

There would be no time to sample the best of Asian diving because that continent had to be represented by travel hub Dubai, and she had her shortest dive there at a breezy 27min.

She then traversed the Indian Ocean to Sydney to represent the Oceania leg of the journey, ending up on the other side of the Pacific for a celebratory half-hour North American dive at Catalina Island off California with her two daughters on 13 April.

Exposure to nature

The record has been ratified by Guinness World Records, which declared that “Corhonda’s dive journey is about more than personal accomplishment – it’s a call to introduce ocean exploration to people from urban communities with limited exposure to nature”. 

Dawson has been a diver for more than 10 years, and before the trip had laid claim to being the first African-American woman to dive all the world’s five oceans. 

“Limited funds, no entourage, no private jets – just grit, grace and an unshakeable commitment to finish what I started,” said Dawson of her globe-trotting achievement. “I set out solo, hauling scuba gear across unpredictable terrains…

“To the dive-community that welcomed, guided and championed me across continents, thank you for being anchors and wayfinders.”

Previous record-holder Barrington Scott, also an African-American, had expressed his hope of inspiring others “especially within the black community to embrace water sports and adventure”. He said he was dedicated to increasing diversity in a scuba-diving industry in which African-Americans made up only 5-8% of the workforce.

Also on Divernet: Scuba dash across 7 continents brings world record