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QUALIFYING TO GO DEEPER We gradually desce nded to our fina l depth of QQ5 feet, at which point I can honestly say that there was nobody home in my head. There was a very slow, very deep breath ing process going on and that was it. My eyes looked around in complete awe as we both scanned the underwater horizon only to be greeted by a ten-foot reef shark cruising the periphery of our vision. My brother pointed to it as I nodded back. I felt like I was three years old. d rinking chocolate milk and watching my favorite cartoon. I knew that shark personally; I was his best friend . I was him undulating through the warm blue water at the edge of the void. Once again I looked up and saw what felt like 10,000 feet of water separating us from the warm breezes that b lew at the surface. ] cou ld fee l the sun as it entered the spot between th e two eyebrows on my forehead . The ocean wall had many layers l ike the contours of a great mountain, something I hadn't noticed on our descent. It was carved by the hand of some power so great I fe l t it an equally powerful honor just to be abl e to witness its magnificent shapes. About 120 feet above us, some other d ivers in our party swam like tiny s low- moving insects. Hearing the beep of the dive computer was like being awakened from a great dream by your alarm clock on a Monday morning. My trance was broken and rep laced by the knowledge th at our stay was over. Now we had to make our way cautiously back to the surface to decompress. We moved at a rate no greater than one foot per second to avoid decompression sickness, an umbrella term for all of the problems that can occur at such depth (like the bends 01' an ail' embolism, where air bubbles burst t hrough the ail' sacs of the lung wall). Our stay at 225 feet was br ief, but the dive would forever cement my reverence for the sea, like a tattoo you might get in an intoxicated stupor. Only this drun kenness was not al co h o l induced; it was an intoxication with the awesome beauty of the sea. The nitrogen in my blood Deep diving is risky business and not recommended by the dive associations due to the narrow margin of error involved. It is technical diving that involves different mixtures of air, a series of complicated stops on the ascent to avoid decompression sickness and increased risks associated with nitrogen narcosis. PAD I (Professional Association of Dive Instructors) a Tecreational diving organization, doesn't condone exceeding the recreational dive limits of 130 feet. NAUr (National Association of Underwater Instructors) , an educational dive organization does prOvide training in the realm of scuba below 130 feet. But it is a complex and highly technical certification. If you want to go deeper, dedicate yourself to learning the risks and pay strict attention to the rules of deep diving in order to do it safely. It's a gamble. Tfyou have to think twice about it, it's not for you. helped create this vision, but nitrogen was not i ts cause. T h e nitrogen affected my experience in the same way peyote might help a Native American shaman access an altered state of mind . We took momentary breaks in our ascent, at about 120,80 and 60 feet. Finally, at IS feet, spare air tanks tethered onto a safety stop bar under the boat left us hanging l ike a cou p le of fetuses sucking air through long rubber hoses in total ecstasy. How right I was in embarking on this dive; the reward tru ly outweighed the risk . I n all my years al ive on th is p lanet as Neil Simon, I knew th e sacred bliss of deep diving before I actua lly made my triumphant first deep dive. Some will say that deep diving is nothing more than a nitrogen - induced high, but others l ike myself can tell a whole different story, one that brings me back quickly and peacefully to the sacred force of creation that was my lonely heartbeat as I stared at the sun from deep within the womb of the sea. • Dedicated in loving memory of my brother & dive partner, Alain Nahmias.