Suspended above an alien topography of sand and sediment, I float, buoyant and serene and yet aware. Some 15 feet from the surface of an alien world, I wait, and I breathe, watching for signs of life, signs of movement, perhaps signs of danger. Journeying farther out, I can no longer view the bottom. My vision is lost in a world of liquid protoplasmic creation, murky and alive.
As the time passes I breathe, deeper, then faster, until I exhale forcefully through my snorkel and then fill my lungs with air as full as I am able. Turning my body upside-down and vertical, I descend into the space between myself and the moonscape of this strange and foreboding world.
Moving downwards through the green translucent-ness I am still too far above the surface to see my destination, and yet trusting, I continue. At 25 feet I become neutrally buoyant, neither rising nor falling, and I peer from the lenses of my face mask toward the bottom in the hope of seeing where I will arrive.
There are a series of moments when, soaring downwards and becoming slightly negatively buoyant with my arms stretched in front of me, I am truly flying. I soar, as though I am Superman, the final 15 feet to the bottom. This space of time is the pinnacle of my freediving experience, to fly unassisted though this water-world, until finally I come to my destination. Traveling across the bottom, with little effort, I observe the native creatures of this world, sea stars, anemones, tiny fish which hide in their burrows as I pass, and other unexplained strange biological formations.
On one dive to 45 feet I find myself among a group of young sea lions. They swim in circles around me, curious and weary. They fly like dark angels, agile and swift. In comparison, I am slow and clumsy and yet I am content to swim with them on their terms.
Though only brief minutes have passed before I begin to ascend to my own world, each journey is like a small lifetime within itself. While I am only several hundred feet from the beach, on the ocean surface I am merely five inches tall and seem so alone and distant from terrestrial security. I begin my gradual journey back to land.
6/10/04 PURPOSE OF DIVE - FREEDIVE/SOLO LOCATION- BREAKWATER-COASTGUARD PIER, MONETERY CA DIVE #126 AVERAGE DEPTH – 30 FT. MAXIMUM DEPTH - 46 FT.