Victor De Valles is a Deepblu user and Instagram star with a passion for anything that can get him outdoors, get him moving, give him a challenge, and heighten the sense of adventure that the true sportsman craves. From mountains to caves, waves, and valleys, he’s always on the go and documenting it. His travels have been a lifelong pursuit, inspired by his parents when he was a young child, and he just kept moving.
Originally from the mountains of Spain, Victor has sought adventure wherever he has gone. This could mean learning a new skill like tight rope walking or getting his PADI Advanced certification. Like many users here in the fastest growing online community for divers, he is always up for a new challenge. Similarly, he enjoys scuba diving; however, he discovered early on that his true passion is for the freedive.
Over time, Victor got on a roll with freediving, quite literally. A camera roll. Adding photography to his exploits took them to a whole new level and opened up what he does to audiences all over the globe. Audiences who adore him, and are taken in by his stunning photos and daring dives.
Photo: Victor De Valles
What’s more impressive might be the fact that Victor hardly even keeps track of his dives. “I don’t dive competitively,” he told me, “I just dive personally, for my own pleasure.” Almost like the art of Zen, he’s found the place in his mind of infinite drive without the desire to be competitive about it. This kind of freedom is also what he loves about the sport of freediving itself. I asked him his favorite thing about freediving. “Maybe to be in nature,” he replied, “or the control of yourself, the sound inside water.” He finishes his thought with “the feeling that you fly while diving. I suppose all of that at same time.”
On the length of his longest freedive? “I don’t know exactly, most times I don’t chrono my dives. The longest I know its 2:08.” For Victor it’s all about getting lost in time and found under the sea, highlighting life and diving in a way that allows him to fly, explore, and be a part of the underwater environment around him.
It started with a childhood in the mountains. Not where all dive stories start, but every summer his parents would take him from the mountains on holidays to the coast. His family’s love of snorkeling wore off on him and, as with many who snorkel, he began to take it under the sea, deeper and deeper, until he found himself pushing the limits of how far he can go.
“I love sports, nature, and photography,” he says, adding that his favorite thing is combining the three.
Photo: Victor De Valles
For the past five years Victor has been working summers in the Balearic Islands (Illes Balears in Catalan), an archipelago off of Spain. Sitting in in the calm Mediterranean Sea, the chain is perfect for endless exploration of its various nooks and crannies both above and under the water. This makes it one of the premier locations for a freediver to spend his summers. However, Victor does much more than just freediving. He’s an all-around lover of life.
I asked him about life out of the water. “I like slacklining, climbing, snowboarding, mountain biking, trekking, longboarding, and traveling.” With all of these hobbies he still finds time for a social life, and tells me that all of these activities are better with friends. Finding a friend within a niche hobby can be a task all to itself, but that’s kind of what we’re all here for. So far as interesting niche hobbies go, slacklining was one I found to be magnificently interesting after seeing a video on his Instagram. To that, Victor told me, “I saw it on the beach in Barcelona, then I tried and immediately I decided to buy a line. Starting low, and short distances, is pretty easy. Then just setting it higher and longer.”
There truly is no challenge too great for an adventurous mind.
As for favorite dive spots, I asked, as it’s always part of my curiosity with these Deepblu Diver Spotlights, and he let me know he doesn’t have one, or at least he hasn’t found it yet. So off to the adventure he continues. Freediving, mountain biking, making friends, and walking tight ropes, all the while sharing it for us to witness and be inspired in the depths of the online community.
– Todd Allen Williams, Senior Editor
