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I grew up on the ocean and one of the most comforting “at home” feelings is being out past the breakers, disconnect my board leash, and just dive deep down, exhale enough air out my lungs to stop floating, and just sit on the ocean floor for a few seconds in beautiful silence.
And then stupid lungs run out of air and I have to resurface.
Edit: And I’m sure that sounds scary to some, but trust me, the water, ocean, and surf are like a best friend that’s not scary at all once you get to know it. Quite the opposite.
I have to imagine that but I’ve done the same thing in a river too muddy to see one foot in front of you. It always feels wonderful. Somewhere in that back brain of ours is a genetic memory of peace and happiness.
I wish the sea was a bit clearer where I live. But I’m summer I often go to the beach for a swim in my lunch breaks.
It’s interesting reading how terrified some people can be of the sea, and others are fine with swimming in it. Wouldn’t mind doing some shallow freediving but there isn’t much to see around here.
Last time I went to a beach, it was during southern winter (tropical climate, so temps never dropped under 20ºC). The only thing that kept me from going further out swimming was the amount of jellyfish being carried by the current.
It’s not really about what you can see and clarity, but it’s true that clearer water is much more psychologically inviting.
We’ll bring a smooth granite pebble out with us, while waiting for the swell, drop it down and take turns bringing it back up. We’ve had dolphins join us in the game once before.
But definitely I don’t feel the appeal of diving down and doing that when the sky or water is dark and unclear. It’s less inviting.
Also grew up on the ocean and in the water, and I love floating with my ears underwater to block out the surface world and tune in to the water. I could fall asleep like that if I wasn’t always hyperaware of other people and worried they’ll fuck with me lmao
I used to do that in the swimming pool (I have always lived far inland) it’s often called dangerous on the mistaken belief that it’s like shallow water drowning where someone hyperventilates to swim underwater longer; since those people have blown off so much CO2 they don’t get a signal to breathe and suffocate.
Our method doesn’t involve hyperventilation, and wow does the need to breathe get strong
In my younger years I was blessed with the ability to hold my breath for nearly five minutes. I used to stay down so long people would get worried. I never did anything other than take a full breath. Hyperventilating always shortened my dive times.
Haha, I just responded to another comment of having to pull myself up from shallow drowning. It’s for real, but I think it’s specific to people with good long capacities—doing a lot longer than the average. I can easily hold my breath for 60s, but 90% of people can’t. Shallow drowning is not a situation 90% of people could find themselves facing.
I always remember brain damage can start occuring after 180s, so start questioning at 120. Nothing wrong with coming up for a couple mins of good fresh air before going down again.
exhale enough air out my lungs to stop floating
Get yourself a weight belt for scuba diving and you can expand your ground time a bit. Get a full set of scuba equipment and you can sit there for hours (depending on depth, size of your tanks and how relaxed you are). :)
I’ve never SCUBAd haha. I don’t know why, it makes sense, but I’ve never been drawn to it and I can’t really explain why. I love the freedom of movement and not having to think about other things.
Feediving I can’t get enough of. But my record swimming underwater is around 2:10 and I enjoyed every second of it—relaxed, efficient, flowing—but I had to stop because it felt like I could do it forever. And that’s the paradox of shallow drowning. When the euphoria of the ocean gets inexplicably more euphoric, the Sirens calling, it’s time to surface. I guess like a diver checking their gauges.
I should try SCUBA, though. I’d love to go deeper. I’d love to find a spot and just hang there for a long time and take it all in.
Not to mention if you’re out on a surfboard you probably don’t want to be wearing a weight belt :)
I grok.
I’ve lived on the shore my entire life, and there’s nothing quite like being in the ocean.
Grok? All I see is it an AI chatbot. Contextually, I doubt that’s what you’re referring to lol. Is it a diving form?
Possibly the most heinous thing the Muskrat has done is to STEAL a word coined by R.A.Heinlein to name his shitty LLM.
To grok something is to understand it. You grok?
that sounds beautiful
Melville opens his epic sea faring tale by stating people are inexplicably drawn to the sea. I think it is due to one of the most painful, drawn out, and reoccuring emotion: regret.
I’m ready Moby Dick for the first yime right now and i absolutely love it! I love stories about the sea. I want to reread it again in a few years and do a journal about the book. I wanna be one of those freaks that writes a report about every chapter. I’ll post every one on my blog and forward the post to my aunt who’s a retired highschool English teacher. Let her know all those years as a public teacher weren’t for nothing.
The old man and the sea. Robinson Crusoe.
I wonder if you would like the Mars Trilogy books by Kim Stanley Robinson. Same deep details, but about geography (on Mars).
Like Melville, he takes you into another world, in depth.
OTOH, you may hate the dryness!
In any case, you got me thinking I’ll take another pass at Moby Dick. Had the little kid’s book as a child and loved it. Haven’t read the novel for 30 years!
Check out the movie In The Heart of the Sea. Got moderate reviews, but you might find something about it you enjoy.
Before getting in the shower, what is keeping you from getting in?
The warm blanket I’m in and the commute that comes after the shower
the autism
Executive dysfunction?
I still will as I feel weird if I don’t, but on my days off when I have nowhere to go it’s not as easy if I don’t in the morning.
When I’m at zero I don’t wanna get to 1 and vice versa.
I suspect op to be a cat.
The issue with the shower for me is being cold, and especially cold and wet, which is why I like to put the heating on before getting in, so at least the bathroom is warmed up first.
100%, gym showers are so much easier because i’m already warmed up from the workout and the water starts pretty warm too
Are you maniacs just getting in the shower and then turning on the water? Who doesn’t turn it on first and wait the 10s for it to warm up?
obviously i don’t just blast myself with cold water lol, but that doesn’t make it pleasant.
I’m still standing there for 10 seconds in cold air with cold water splashing around me, plus i have to dial in the water temperature and for some insane reason humanity seems unable to design a water mixer that doesn’t go instantly from scalding to freezing.
winter
The shower curtain is a major barrier to entry for some
Reject humanity, return to
monkelungfish.Lungs are the entire problem
When we return to lungfish, we can embrace our gills instead of coming on land and avoid this whole mess
** Pisces noises **
Swim bladder <3
