SARAH LEEBERLINO VIRGINIA O NEW UNESCO SITES O THE ARCTIC O DOMINICA O LEBANON O NATIONAL PARKS O PRAGUE
Diving In
“Everything is flowing,
and you give up the
idea of control.” That’s
how surfer and world
traveler Anna Ehrgott
feels when she’s riding
an epic wave. There
are plenty of those
off the Big Island of
Hawaii, where fellow
surfer and photog-
rapher Sarah Lee
captured this portrait
of Ehrgott during the
magical golden hour.
Lee, who was free div-
ing with just a mask,
fins, and a camera in
underwater housing,
says “the sunset light
lit her up perfectly as
she pushed her board
beneath the waves”
(in a surfing move
called a duck dive).
Though Ehrgott is
based in Topanga,
California, the search
for surf-worthy des-
tinations sends her
around the globe. One
surprising favorite?
Alaska, for the snowy
beaches, solitude, and
animal life. “It’s like
surfing and a safari
all in one,” she says.
Seeing the world’s
wild places has also
stoked her passion for
sustainability. Ehrgott
collaborates with
eco-friendly brands
and runs her own
company, Sagebrush
Board Bags, which
recycles vintage fabric
into cool covers for
surfboards. Travel,
she says, “has helped
me figure out what’s
important in my life.”
—Brooke SabinNATGEOTRAVEL.COMNATGEOTRAVEL.COM