Since I was a small kid, I’ve always had an awe-like adamantine appreciation for the world of sky and the world of water. They were untouchable, undiscovered universes that lay right there, infused in my senses, yet forbidden.
If I dare approach them, they would always unrelentingly demand a password before allowing a scratch at their surface, “oxygen” would gain me a hand full of seconds to see the soothing vast hues of the abyss and a flash of colour as a fish darted away. The microscopic life forms that floated adrift in its body, to and fro so lazily, reminded me of the sky, an underwater sky only seen once the gates had been opened, the surface broken. Then the gates closed! My password would run dry and I’d be forced to return home with the instant intent to go back. “Oxygen!” It granted me instant access to this mysterious land again and again, without fail. I became so good at lengthening my time here, this place started to feel more like home compared to my solid dwelling which was overwhelming populated by those who could not see or would not care for such a fluid place. It’s quiet here, colourful, enticing, soothing and non judging. The demanding demeanour of its more dangerous aspects didn’t sway me from exploring its watery secrets either, I felt comfortable in its mysteries and untenable assurance of safety.
My days on land would make me wonder how long it would take for me to cover every inch of ground by taking heel directly to toe steps, so that every single bit of land had been stepped on. If everyone on Earth left a permanent heat signature from where they walked, would there be any untouched spots, I knew there would be, and I wanted to walk them! I wanted to see inside every building ever built and watch every cloud ever formed. I wanted to be a cloud, like the clouds I saw at the ‘low blue’; the ocean, but the ones in the ‘high blue’; the sky, although they floated up there, they seemed like they carried the weight of a thousand armies sometimes, at the brink of executing an order on command. Then other days it seemed as though they were pretending to be there, lightly gazing upon the scurrying life forms beneath them, winking back at those who would stand still to notice them, then disperse. I wanted to be up there with them, so one day I tried.
I gave this carport base jump act up when I discovered it was much less painful and fun to jump from a bridge into water. Could you believe it, from high blue straight in to low blue, I had really found my happy place as a kid. I’d take any and every opportunity to go to the rivers, creeks, waterfalls and rock slides. The tropical paradise that rushed past my skin as I soared through the high blue, then the instant the lush liquid would accept my torpedo stance, brought me so much happiness and a sense of freedom. Mother once told me she had to run and jump in after me when I toddler-ed my way, quite hastily into a rushing estuary that was going out to sea. Thank you for saving my life mum!
Then I guess, adulthood got in the way and here I am, back on land typing away at this story, not stepping on the untouched heat signature-less patches and not opening doors to every building. Not to worry though, I’ve already done it in my dreams!
** Discover stuff
Magic. I was right there with you. Have you done any free-diving? I've only dabbled, but it doesn't take long to get your downtime up.
This was at Port Noarlunga reef a few years ago.
Oh how enchanting! I have never free dived but have always always wanted to, I should look into it when it gets a little warmer. Pair of flippers and maybe some goggles, good to go! Would Port Noarlunga be the best place to go?
Yeah, Porties is excellent. The jetty goes all the way out to the reef. The shallow side (where this footage was taken) only gets about 4-5m deep.
The open ocean side is a couple of metres deeper and a bit rougher.
All a marine sanctuary, so plenty of fish to see.
It doesn't take much practice to build up some capacity. Look up MDR, The Mammalian Dive Reflex.
Splash some water on your face for a while and your body starts changing it's rhythm to give you more down-time. Fascinating.
Ooooh yes!! Thank you for the solid lead, bring summer on I can’t wait to give it a whirl
Do you ever get issues with pressure on your ears? I always struggled to go down far without the pain in my ears. I wonder if it's something you can adapt to.
You need to equalize.
Squeeze your nose, close your mouth and try to exhale. This increases the air pressure in your sinuses and pushes back against the increased water pressure on the outside of the ear drum.
You hear a small thump or pop in each ear and the pain stops. Do it once around 2m, then again around 5m. I've never had to do it again any deeper.
On the way up the excess pressure just drains away; (unless you have a completely blocked sinus, then the pressure has nowhere to go and you blow that eardrum out.)
Eek! You just reminded of my sister telling me she caused a nosebleed trying to equalise while scuba diving one day!
I wonder of you can get prescription swim goggles? 🤔
My brother @danclarke has a book of satirical inventions. One is a prescription windshield.
Handy if you don't have your glasses and a good security measure, since thieves can't see where they're going.
🤣😂
Dental barotrauma is the ickiest one though. More for scuba divers.
If you get a filling and the dentist leaves an air pocket in there, as you go deeper the increased pressure sucks blood from your gum into the air pocket.
On the way back up the blood has nowhere to go, so your tooth explodes.
Ooooh, that's nasty!!!
Awesome post, @stuffing. That first image is truly amazing! It reminds me of an old Amiga game: Flashback. It had a similar feeling and colours. Do you know it? I think there's a remake for PS3... and maybe for PS4.
Ooo no I don’t know or Flashback but I looked it up and it looks good. You know what it does remind me of is a friendlier version of abe's odyssey, do you know that one? Too bad I got rid of my console :(
#flyingstuff #onedaysoon
Magic carpet rides, yes please ! :D
I shouldn’t laugh at this, but I did
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You got a 41.85% upvote from @ocdb courtesy of @stuffing!
There are many of us loonie stuff's. I jumped off the kitchen roof as a kid with an umbrella, not clever but the challenges got bigger and bigger after that. Same with being tossed in the pool as a kid by my dad, the waters got rougher and deeper and deeper. What does happen to us, why do we stop exploring? Just bloody sad.
Well written post, @stuffing.
Thank you for scaring. :)
Hello @stuffing, thank you for sharing this creative work! We just stopped by to say that you've been upvoted by the @creativecrypto magazine. The Creative Crypto is all about art on the blockchain and learning from creatives like you. Looking forward to crossing paths again soon. Steem on!
Oh thank you so much, this makes me happy :D