Four-minute, six-second underwater kiss earns couple Guinness World Record

A passionate four-minute, six-second kiss has resulted in a renowned free diving couple breaking a Guinness World Record.

South African free diver Beth Neale and her Canadian partner Miles Cloutier, who are also underwater filmmakers, recently broke the record for the longest underwater kiss at Lux South Ari Atoll in the Maldives.

Italian couple Michele Fucarino and Elisa Lazzarini previously held the 13-year record of three minutes and 24 seconds.

Breaking this record has been on Neale and Cloutier’s bucket list for three years but their attempts were initially thwarted when, while filming the TV series Freediving Diaries, she discovered she was pregnant with their now 18-month-old baby girl, Neve.

“We felt that Valentine’s was the perfect day to share the new record with the world as it’s such a beautiful reflection of our love for the underwater world, and our love for each other in a place where we discovered I was going to be having a baby girl,” said Neale.

“And what better way to make a moment last than a four-minute, six-second kiss?”

Their love story started almost five years back in Bermuda, where Neale was teaching ocean conservation and freediving to local children. Miles, of Canadian heritage with a background in finance, volunteered for the programme she was running, with the pair hitting it off immediately.

Their shared passion for the ocean, and love for underwater filmmaking, have seen them exploring and filming extensively.

They spent two weeks training in their pool at home.

Neale said while holding “your breath in the comfort of your home is one thing, officially attempting a Guinness World Record in front of a crowd with an adjudicator is another, especially when emotions are greatly amplified”.

“Being so closely connected, feeling each other’s heart rate in tandem — which Miles describes as electronic music at 180 beats per minute (bpm) — we would have preferred under 60bpm but it was challenging getting in a relaxed position while staying together for the kiss and staying upright.

“You can feel each other’s diaphragmatic contractions, which is the body’s response to rising C0₂ levels in the blood.”

“At the three-minute mark, I also pressed play on my underwater audio to listen to Eminem’s Lose Yourself to keep my mind distracted. I know all the lyrics because I did a lip sync to the track on my Instagram, which has gone viral,” said Neale.

While a certain amount of oxygen is required to keep consciousness, the effects of rising C0₂ kick in as the breath-hold ticks on, resulting in a “flight-or-fight” response.

“We had to be completely relaxed and confident, even when our bodies were experiencing something else,” said Cloutier.

“Beth has never focused on time, and completed all of her freediving records solo, so it was an extra challenge for her to relax as a couple, while being ultimately responsible for the preparations of the entire event. At freediving competitions, athletes can simply arrive and don’t have to concern themselves with event preparation or safety.

“Everything went smoothly until the pressure built up a few days before our attempt. We suffered three consecutive days of failing to break the existing record. Fortunately, the day of the attempt felt nothing like it did in training.”

The record-breaking kiss was not without a wardrobe malfunction, with Miles’ goggles snapping off his head right before they got in the water. Their camera, which is so often recording, captured the moment the critical plastic piece popped off, bounced twice off the ground and fell between the grates of the infinity edge pool drain. They tried to recover the piece, but laughed it off, tied a knot in the goggle strap and thanked the unlucky accident for a brief distraction from their nerves.

The aquatic duo then followed through with their warm-up procedure — despite high heart rates — and smashed the record in front of a small crowd at the Maldives resort.

Having scouted many locations across the globe, the pair felt Lux South Ari in the Maldives provided the most romantic backdrop.

A Guinness World Records adjudicator, Swapnil Dangarikar, flew in from India to officiate the record on the spot, with two official witnesses and timekeepers present.

A crowd of resort guests and staff looked on, with multiple camera angles established and Maldivian underwater cameraman, Mohamed Sir Ahmed, also known as Sidey the Shark, behind the camera.

TimesLIVE

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