This Man Just Set a New World Record for Scuba Diving in All Seven Continents

From the frigid waters of the Southern Ocean to the balmy waves of the Mediterranean Sea, scuba diving has taken Barrington Scott all over the world. Now, he has a world record to show for it.

Scott recently became the fastest person to scuba dive in all seven continents, according to Guinness World Records. He completed his quest in 19 days, 19 hours and 40 minutes between November 13 and December 3, 2024. His 27,000-mile journey started in Australia and ended in Antarctica, with stops in Thailand, Egypt, Malta, the United States and Argentina along the way, as Essence’s Mariette Williams reports.

Scott, 33, spent his childhood in foster care in the Bronx until he was adopted at age 12, reports CBS News’ Skyler Henry. Growing up, he loved watching National Geographic and the Discovery Channel, which he says helped cultivate his adventurous spirit.

After high school, he joined the Marines and was deployed to Afghanistan. When he completed his military service, he earned a culinary degree and began working in restaurant kitchens, according to TheBlackManCan.

But Scott says he wasn’t fully satisfied with his life. In his mid-20s, he sold his belongings and bought a one-way flight to Malaysia. He spent the next year backpacking.

After completing his first dive in the Bahamas in 2014, he was hooked. He eventually became a master scuba diving trainer.

“[Scuba diving] is really therapeutic for me,” he tells CBS News. “When I’m underwater, I’m calm and collected.”

Now based in Thailand, Scott wrote a children’s book inspired by his travels called Trent’s Adventures: Deep Sea Discover. He hopes the book and his new world record will help encourage more children—especially Black children—to take up the sport of scuba diving, per Essence.

“Breaking a Guinness World Record isn’t just about making history; it’s about showing that we belong in these spaces,” Scott wrote in a recent Instagram post. “Black explorers, Black divers, Black adventurers—we’ve always been here, and we will continue to push boundaries. … This journey isn’t just mine—it’s for every young kid who never saw themselves in the ocean, every diver who felt like the only one, and everyone who dreams of going beyond limits.”

Roughly 64 percent of Black children have little to no swimming ability, according to the USA Swimming Foundation. In the United States, drowning death rates are particularly high among Black individuals, per the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Jennifer D. Roberts, a scholar of public health at the University of Maryland, writes in Common Home magazine that these disparities can be traced back to the racial exclusion and segregation that occurred at swimming pools across America during the 20th century.

Though pools are no longer segregated, “this legacy of institutionalized multi-generational impediments to swimming engagement is still present today,” writes Roberts. “As a result, Black families have generationally avoided swimming as a way of protecting themselves” from the racism they might encounter at public pools.

Meanwhile, Scott is back in Thailand resting up after his record-setting adventure. He hopes to continue exploring the world and eventually wants to start hosting scuba diving trips to introduce even more people to the sport. He encourages anyone who is curious about diving to enroll in an introductory course.

“You don’t have to be the strongest swimmer to start scuba diving,” he tells Essence.

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