Sheena McNally

Although she hails from a part of Canada over 1,000 km from the ocean, Sheena has always loved aquatic activities. Growing up, she spent summers on the lake and winters in the pool, becoming certified in lifesaving, rescue, and swimming instruction. As an adult, Sheena took up scuba diving and fell in love with the sea, which led her to leave the chilly prairies and a successful career in design and communications behind. Her search for sunny weather and good diving brought her to Utila, Honduras, where she enrolled in a beginner freediving course with Freedive Utila—and got completely hooked!

Two years and a couple of skipped flights later, Sheena is an experienced freedive instructor under the Apnea Total system, and has helped hundreds of students of all levels discover their aquatic potential. Strong and tireless in the water, she also enjoys safety diving, and has served as a primary safety diver during the 2017 AIDA World Depth Championships.

May 2018 marked Sheena’s first foray into competitive freediving. During the Caribbean Cup International Freediving Competition, she broke the long-standing Canadian national record in Free Immersion—twice!—with dives to 75m and 77m. With big smiles, a lot of laughter, and a velcro tag-holder in the shape of a heart, Sheena “The Machina” earned five white cards out of five dives performed to become the Female Overall Winner of the Cup.

While she loves the challenge of diving deep, Sheena believes that freediving is firstly about enjoying your time underwater, be it on the line or the reef, and she strives to share this mindset with students and fellow divers.

Sheena is based out of Freedive Utila. When not in the Caribbean Sea, you can probably find her in the kitchen brewing coffee in her beloved French press.