A Revival of Hope

Women's freediving world record-holder Ai Futaki has a special place in her heart for Wakatobi Resort. The Japanese diver fell in love with the resort years ago, and earlier this year she returned to share her own reflections from her evolving relationship with freediving and the sea.

Ai was delighted to see that, unlike in many areas, Wakatobi's reef system wasn't just well maintained - it had actually improved since her last visit. "Usually, other reef systems I dive are very damaged at the surface due to rising temperatures and traffic," she says. "But Wakatobi is the only place I know where the very top of the reef is actually healthy too. This is very rare."

While Ai might hold the record for women’s free diving, this isn’t her primary motivator for staying submerged. In fact, the sport of free diving doesn’t pique her interest as much as it had previously. Now more than ever before, the immersive and meditative aspects of free-diving keep her inspired to go further. On every dive Ai takes, there is a sense of oneness and tranquility with the underwater world. Her goal, as she simply states, is “to be the same as the underwater wildlife, to experience what the other animals do.”

Freediving eliminates the exhaustion divers can experience when using a conventional open circuit regulator system. In other words, when you freedive, it’s just you. There’s no tank strapped to your back. Consequently, there are no sounds emanating from the bubbles that would otherwise flood the environment with unnatural noise and scare away sensitive wildlife. This creates an incredibly intimate underwater experience, allowing divers to come as close to the natural world as possible.

Ai isn’t scared to get up close and personal with the wildlife—and perhaps even more remarkably, the wildlife isn’t afraid to approach her. Shortly after her visit to Wakatobi, she was invited to present her own exhibition at the Women’s Pavilion Expo 2025 in Osaka, held in partnership with Cartier. The showcase featured a mesmerizing photographic print collection capturing her otherworldly encounters with marine life: Ai dancing beneath the aquamarine surface alongside spectacular pelagics like mantas, seals, and even whales. The exhibition was a visual ode to coexistence—Ai’s reminder that humans are one part of the family of life that lives together on planet Earth.

“Wakatobi Resort is really honest,” Ai explains. “They walk the talk. It’s not just beautiful on the surface. The entire team is committed to transforming tourism into something that gives back—to the reefs and to the people. I have dived all over the world. Often, locals say the reef’s best days are gone. But at Wakatobi, the reef is alive, the fish are vibrant, the animals seem joyful! You can feel the difference their protective efforts have made over the past 29 years.”

At Wakatobi, the outlook is clear: the best days of the reef are not stuck in the past. The resort is proof that with strategy and care, the reef’s future is as vibrant as its present. 

For more information, visit wakatobi.com