TELL US A BIT ABOUT YOURSELF, AND HOW YOU FIRST GOT INTO FREEDIVING

I’m 28 years old, I’m an Aries (haha) and I was lucky enough to be born and raised in a tiny shack on the beach in a small coastal town in North Queensland. I’ve been in the water for as long as I can remember as my parents are very much wild water people. One of my earliest memories is holding onto my Dad’s back underwater with us both gliding on the back of a giant Manta Ray. I thought this was something I’d dreamt until I confirmed the story with my mum just the other week! I spent most of my childhood on my family’s boat exploring the Islands just in from the Great Barrier Reef, spending entire days in the water diving with my brothers and trying to feel all of the different textures of corals, which was a bad idea in hindsight because I definitely had my fair share of stings haha.

YOU’VE BEEN FREEDIVING FOR A WHILE NOW. WHAT WAS THE MOMENT THAT MADE YOU REALISE THIS IS SOMETHING YOU WANT TO TEACH?

Straight after doing my freedive instructors course with Adam Stern, I was asked to sort of ‘intern’ teach on one of his Deep Week’s in Kilsby SinkHole in South Australia. (If you haven’t heard of it, google it for sure). I spent a week soaking up as much information as I could from him and lots of other wonderful instructors, and I was able to share many dive sessions with people from all around the place who had never done freediving before. It was so wild to me that these people were all experiencing freediving for the first time, and I saw how much it lit people's souls on fire, and I saw moments when it completely changed people's opinions of themselves, realising that they are so much more capable than they thought.

WHAT INSPIRED YOU TO START EAST COAST SEA SISTERS?

For so many reasons! The first for me was realising that while there’s so many men that teach freediving, there surprisingly is almost no women (at least in Australia) teaching! I wanted to start a group where women could learn from and be surrounded by other women! I also know how hard it is to find other girls who are into freediving/spearfishing/surfing if you’re not already immersed in the scene, so creating East Coast Sea Sisters seemed to be such a fun way to help girls meet other girls who are into the same things and create some awesome memories and friendships along the way.

WHAT’S BEEN YOUR MOST FAVOURITE SALTY PILGRIMS’ TRIP LOCATION SO FAR?

Fiji 100%. We ran 5 different trips to Fiji in 2022 and they were all so wonderful for different reasons. There's something about Fiji that no matter how many times you visit, there’s something new and different every time. I think I love it so much though because usually when you go on a holiday you can’t wait to get back to Australia, but for me going to Fiji feels like I’m going home. The people and the islands are addictive.

YOU’RE AN ACCOMPLISHED SPEARFISHER-WOMAN. WHAT’S YOUR FAVOURITE WAY TO HONOUR YOUR CATCH?

I definitely wouldn’t call myself an accomplished Spearfisher haha! There is just so much to learn when it comes to spearfishing and hunting underwater, I really feel as though I’m only just starting to scratch the surface, but gosh it’s fun doing a sport where you’re constantly learning and evolving! I always say that shooting that fish is only the first part of the whole process. I make sure to be prepared when I go spearfishing, I have an esky full of ice to store the fish as soon as it’s in the boat. For me, I love the time spent processing (filleting & preparing the fish for meals) almost as much as the hunt itself. There’s something so special about setting up your filleting space, cleaning the fish properly and taking the time to carefully get all of the meat off the fish, and then taking that time again to make sure it’s all stored correctly. Of course, my favourite part of honouring my catch is being able to share it with others. I love seeing friends enjoy the fish that I've been able to do the whole process myself up until they take that first bite. I think there’s an inner cavewoman hunter gatherer in there somewhere that’s satisfied as well!

DESCRIBE YOUR FAVOURITE OR MOST MEMORABLE MOMENT IN THE OCEAN

There’s too many to pick, I’ve been seriously lucky with some things I've witnessed underwater! A recent memory that sticks with me is freediving the Barrier Reef off the Whitsundays late last year. It was a glassout day (no wind), blue skies, 20-30 metres visibility in the water and I was with some of my favourite people freediving for like 8 hours straight for days. We spent the day diving along this reef edge that had hundreds if not thousands of huge caves, caverns and swim throughs. We were diving in a line formation, all exploring the different parts of caves and finding beautiful light tunnels. Sharing the water with big sharks is one of my favourite things too. I wish people knew that the media like to portray sharks as merciless killers, but it couldn’t be further from the truth. Anyway, that’s a whole other chat!

WHAT ADVICE DO YOU HAVE FOR GIRLS LOOKING AT GETTING INTO FREEDIVING AND SPEARFISHING?

Honestly, do a freediving course or go on a freediving trip! Join a local spearfishing club, meet others who are good at diving and ask them questions. As soon as you start to ask any freediver or spearo questions about freediving, you’ll quickly realise that we’re all totally obsessed and could talk for days about it! Just get in the water as much as you can (with a buddy of course) and dive! The more you dive, the more you will learn and become comfortable. I would suggest doing a freediving course before you even think about getting into spearfishing though. They are two very different sports, and if you don’t have freediving down pat first, spearfishing is going to be very overwhelming and you probably won’t enjoy it as much as you will when you can freedive already!

WHAT CAN WE EXPECT FROM SALTY PILGRIMS AND EAST COAST SEA SISTERS IN THE FUTURE?

Lots more trips! Lots more spearfishing focused trips too, so more girls are able to learn in a safe environment. I’m starting to think about putting together a trip that involves very large marine mammals, and some blue ass water, hint hint haha.

THANK YOU SO MUCH ELLIE FOR THE LOVELY CHAT AND INSPIRATION!

IF YOU’D LIKE TO FOLLOW ALONG ON ELLIE’S ADVENTURES YOU CAN FOLLOW HER ON INSTAGRAM AT @ELLIEHAYDEN . IF YOU’D LIKE TO FIND OUT MORE ABOUT SALTY PILGRIMS AND EAST COAST SEA SISTERS YOU CAN FOLLOW THEM ON INSTAGRAM AT @SALTYPILGRIMSFREEDIVING AND @EASTCOASTSEASISTERS OR CHECK OUT THEIR WEBSITE WWW.SALTYPILGRIMSFREEDIVING.COM FOR UPCOMING TRIPS AND COURSE DATES!

🌊💙

Ellie Hayden