A Memphis occupational therapist and mother of two has broken a Guinness World Record in scuba diving, becoming the fastest scuba diver to dive on all seven continents.
Corhonda Dawson earned the feat in just 11 days, 19 hours, and 23 minutes, beating the previous record of 19 days, 19 hours, and 40 minutes, set by Barrington Scott back in December, according to Guinness World Records.
Dawson’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,” Guinness wrote.
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Dawson started her dive on April 1 in near-freezing waters in Whalers Bay, Antarctica, and completed on April 13 in Los Angeles, accompanied by her daughters, who are also scuba divers.
The mom of two described to WREG the plan she had for success.
“The strategy was to always go in a west line. So, from west to east. Never north, south. So, I didn’t lose time, and so I was always traveling east,” she explained.
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Going on this global dive was tough, though, Dawson admitted as she remembered diving during torrential weather in Rio de Janeiro before traveling to Portugal, Tangier, Dubai, and Sidney.
“It was a storm. It was very rocky water. A lot of divers would have passed on it, but I had to get it done because I had limited resources, and so I needed to get every dive done,” said Dawson. “It was in and out. Land, dive, wait your time out, and get on a plane.”
Scuba diving for more than 10 years, Dawson said she has gone around the world twice in 320 days.
She made history as the first African-American woman to dive in the waters off all the continents in November. Dawson completed the mission in five months, adding that she wanted African-American females to be seen as adventurers.
“When I first started this trek, it was only about becoming the first African-American female. The first woman to dive all of the oceans of the world,” Dawson said. “So, when I did it the first time in November, and then he came and beat me, and then I had an opportunity to go back, I was like, well, you do know I’m from Memphis, right? So, I was like ok, it’s time.”
Dawson was proud to have shared that moment with her children, and she now hopes that her Guinness World Record will inspire other young people to be scuba divers.
“In my mind, I think of swim, dive, thrive, right? And so before I can ever get anybody to dive and try to save the ocean, you’ve got to be able to swim, right? said Dawson.
The Guinness World Record holder is also grateful to her family, friends, and the travel group Aurora Expedition for helping her to do all the dives in less than two weeks.
