Avery Fisher made her mark in the scuba-diving world when she was only 13, outshining adults when she set a Guinness World Record (GWR) for performing the most conjuring tricks under water in the space of three minutes, as described at the time on Divernet.
Three years on, the 16-year-old Californian scuba diver and ocean-conservation advocate from Tiburon in the San Francisco Bay area has become one of the newest Ambassadivers for training agency PADI.
“I see my partnership with PADI as a way to help make diving cool for people my age and to be as knowledgeable as possible about the ocean to help save it,” she told Divernet from Nassau in the Bahamas, where she was scuba diving in her Ambassadiver role.
Avery had blown out of the water the previous world record held by a UK professional magician in 2023, when she performed 38 illusions to his 20 at San Francisco’s Aquarium of the Bay. “She loves scuba diving as much as she loves magic,” stated GWR, which went on to describe the young diver as “incredibly passionate about marine conservation and ocean stewardship”.
Avery had learnt to scuba dive at the age of 10 as a lockdown project, earning her Open Water Diver certificate and going on to amass a string of qualifications, including in 2022 becoming the youngest Scuba Magician, a PADI distinctive speciality created by Master Instructor Chef Anton Riniti.
“Avery is a natural,” he said. “She is an ambassador for the Aquarium of the Bay and has done talks in front of hundreds of people. She is my most accomplished Scuba Magician and truly a role model for youths everywhere.”
In her role as Youth Ambassador for the aquarium she is said to have helped to raise more than $500,000 for marine-conservation initiatives and has continued a programme of public speaking in her campaign to inspire other young people to protect marine ecosystems.
“The Ambassadiver partnership with PADI has taken us to Maui last month, Monterey last week and currently the Bahamas,” Avery’s father Jon told Divernet.
“Avery will also be partnering with the California Coastal Commission on some important initiatives that will be announced soon.” The commission, part of the California Natural Resources Agency, controls access, environmental quality and coastal development in the state, all of which can affect scuba diving along its 1,100 miles of coastline.
Asked if Avery’s current commitments outside school left much time for underwater conjuring, Jon Fisher said that at present much of her spare time was devoted to competitive volleyball – though magic had been “a great chapter and contributed to significant fund-raising for the aquarium”.
