Come Dive With Me: Freediver takes a single breath into a cyclone of sardines

Airline pilot, Mathijs van den Bosch, swapped roaming the skies for exploring the ocean on his freediving adventure in Cebu, Philippines.

Spotlighted by the sun, van den Bosch dives into the centre of a cyclone of sardines in this eye-catching footage.

Divers are often on the lookout out for more dangerous experiences - like cage diving with great white sharks - but Bosch was searching for something very different.

He said: “I remember years ago I was scuba diving and suddenly it went black.

“When I looked up I saw this huge school of fish and the only light that was coming through was where the bubbles were coming up.

“It was an amazing sight that I will never forget so when I heard about the sardines I was eager to get in.”

The 38-year-old pilot only finished his freediving course the day before but, with experience in surfing, kite surfing and scuba diving, freediving did not phase him.

Mathijs continued: “During the freediving course I learnt some techniques to hold my breath for longer and my record is three minutes and 20 seconds.

“But during my dives with the sardines I did several dives and they were all less than a minute.

“It was great to be there and I was surprised by how closely I could approach the sardines, I could almost touch them.”

As a city dweller, the Amsterdam-based pilot savours every chance he gets to immerse himself in the natural world.

The undulating tunnel of fish could unnerve some divers, but the diver saw no reason to be worried.

He added: “I didn’t feel afraid at any point as the sardines are harmless. Fear usually comes from the unknown and people who are under the water usually don’t know much about the marine life.

“Almost all of them are harmless, as long as you can swim and look where you are standing then you’ll be fine.”