For those of you who read this blog mainly for information about the ongoing efforts here, this post may very well be one that you could skip. I have been asked the question “Why do you dive?” many times over the course of the last six months and I have spent that time contemplating what a true answer should be, for myself and possibly others in the occupation/sport. My diving experience is limited, in fact, I am extremely new in the audience of most divers I  have met but I feel there is enough in my logbook upon which to base a conclusion. As fair warning, the following answer could appear whimsical, unrealistic, and borderline philosophical to some, but at the end of each day it still remains my answer. My attempts begin with the basic answer of “Why not?” but for those of you who know anything about me, I analyze just about everything, attempting to break down a question or problem into its constituent pieces to understand the steps necessary to construct a viable solution. A search for the logical and scientific have become the pillars of my daily muses over the past years and I suspect that will not change in the future.  Needless to say the breadth of “Why not?” will not suffice for someone of my construction, although,for those whom it does, the clarity of those two words captures the heart of the sport.

Not too long ago, I ventured out to a site called Buford Sink in the western part of Florida. It was called an adventure dive by those who posted their experiences with the site and I can safely say, adventure it was. We entered a state park where we drove roughly 2 miles to the opening of a small brush covered path. From what we had heard, the dive was located at the end of a mile hike, the last quarter of it being swamplands with all of the pleasant species one would associate with such an area…snakes, gators, mosquitos (teradactals) being the most prominent. At the end of the first section, the grapevine proved not to disappoint. I learned that huffing through this terrain with a full dive load out is quite tedious to say the least. The end of this hike led you to a small muddy terrace overlooking a small serene pond. Aside from its aquamarine ambiance, it appeared as if it held no special dive secret or quality that would set it part from those we had dove before but I was soon to be proven wrong.

After donning our equipment, we slipped into the sink where we drifted to the center section containing two downed trees that sat  crossed over top of one another. A quick peek below the surface revealed relatively no life aside from a catfish here and there but yet there was an innate vitality that seemed to be emanating from sizeable opening that swallowed the sun’s midday rays in its depths.  As we descended into the black, lighting off our torches, a calm like no other flooded over me. Now this is an ironic account given the still ,cold black of the cavern below which in its majority is lifeless. On that particular descent, that day, in that sink, I knew why I dive. I felt more alive that day than any other. The rhythmic sound of a regulator diaphragm adjusting to exhalations and sending streams of carbon dioxide to the surface, the dancing of ambient light against the sandstone cuts in the wall of the cavern, and the feeling of the silt mixture on the floor of the cavern through my hand as I placed my guideline, all of these, bring forth a feeling of peaceful obscurity and insignificance that bend your knee in reverence.

Crossing over into the area of ocean diving yields a similar energy that comes from quite the opposite conditions. You are quite literally lowered down into the hustle and bustle of a new society. In contrast to our wars waged in religious and political pretense, economic interests, and money, these societies fight to grow, survive, and exist in a manner instinctual in nature without the poisonous motivation of power. You see it all around you, your immersed in it, the simplicity and complexity, for once, not a contradiction. These are the moments when you breathe in the life you were born to contain.

For myself, diving brings stillness to the chaos above the waterline and gives me the extraordinary when life becomes too ordinary. That is why I dive and shall continue to until I am unable.