OCEAN
Focus, Flow & Fish? Maybe you need more freediving in your life?
Kar Morgan in Broughton Archipelago.
words :: Tim Emmett Holding my nose between my thumb and index finger, I increase the pressure in my nasal cavity by pushing the back of my tongue upwards. My left ear pops as I equalize, then the right. I’m upside down and finning hard with straight legs, pushing headfirst into the liquid darkness below. I equalize again, then again, and then once more. The only part of my body where skin is exposed to the water is around my mouth—I can feel the temperature dropping. The mask presses against my face, gripping onto me like a suction cup on the tentacle of a giant Pacific octopus. As the pressure increases, I equalize my mask by blowing in small amounts of air from my nostrils. The octopus relaxes, helping me to relieve any tension in my mind and body. It’s been a long time since my last breath of air.
JIMMY MARTINELLO
The water temperature continues to drop as I suddenly start sinking. I’m past the point of neutral buoyancy and no longer need to move my fins to get propulsion. Motionless, I free fall into the depths as the disappearing light reminds me of dusk, then darkness. A small speck of light—a flashlight attached to the end of the line—offers my only point of reference in the surrounding space. I equalize my ears and mask one more time. It’s like being on a vertical conveyer belt and the longer I stay on, the greater the pressure and the further I am from my next breath. At 30 metres, the volume of air in my lungs is one quarter of that on the surface. I keep sinking…now I am in a different world, I feel like I’m in space. Unable to see the top or bottom, I am surrounded by the same thing in every direction. This is my happy place, a world I can only visit and appreciate for a matter of seconds before I must return to the surface. 73
