Sights and Thrills
Wake up early, put on the wetsuit, breathe through the punch of cold water, swim out. Just when you find a rhythm and start to feel comfortable, you stop and tread water over the kelp bed. Then you see a flash of black in the periphery of your goggles.
Photo by Noah Munivez on Pexels
You look over and see the flash at the surface straight ahead of you.
Then you turn in the direction it moved and see the seal pop up 10 feet away. Its dark eyes point in your direction briefly, then it dives back down.
The shock and surprise quickly churns from excitement to panic and back again. Is it interested in you? Is there anything else down below that it is trying to escape? Are there more?
Later, as you swim into shore, you catch a glimpse again in the deep clear water and you see the seal floating along towards the shore. It swims effortlessly, shooting through the water faster and farther than you with all your effort in just one quick paddle. The distance from the seal eases your panic. Its own nonchalance at traversing the water is reassurance that you are permitted to have fun in the ever-precarious ocean.
This mix of wonder, joy, fear and awe is what draws us to the water. It’s why we continuously dive a little deeper, paddle out a little further, and try to catch one more monster wave. It’s the only way to connect with something more immense than your whole being.
Bioluminescence
Leave nature to its own devices and it will return with wonders.
When the bioluminescence blooms it can make waves glow, creating an iconic picture, difficult to capture in any way other than memory. Only visible at night, the adventure of seeking the light from the water will inevitably create warm memories with those who join you.
Photo by James Lee on Pexels
Take a dive at night, go down, and cut your dive light. If you are patient and calm for even a brief moment, you will see these bits glow eerily to remind you that you are a visitor here; their world is not like ours and there is always more going on beyond what we can observe or even comprehend.
Zero Breath finds immense inspiration from experiences like this. Rock the shirt and share your stories of the faint blue lights among the dark.