General undersea thoughts Scuba diving.. Freediving Boats and ships and seaside wonderings Freediving Haikus - the best from the Bear's competition
dive prep
Phillipe Diole
once crossed the surface, any gravity is abolished, any resistance yields : aerial mollesse carries it.
Here the world is softness. From head to toe, there is not a point of the body which cannot find its rest.
Pleasure of stretching out. Perfect lengthening. Horizontal flexibility.
A very slow dream comes from depths.
Walled in silence and loneliness, the diver begins a stream of consciousness in the center of an unexpected peace.
Jules Verne - Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea
It is under the sea that the earth so to speak started, and who knows if it will not finish by it !
There is the supreme peace. The sea does not belong to the despots.
At its surface, they can still exert their iniquitous rights, fight there, devour themself, transport there all their terrestrial horrors.
But at a depth of thirty feet, their power ceases, their influence dies out, their capacity disappears !
Ah Sir, live, live within the seas ! There only is independence ! There I do not recognize myself anyone as master !
There I am free !
The Tide Rises, the Tide Falls - for Alison
The tide rises, the tide falls,
The twilight darkens, the curlew calls;
Along the sea-sands damp and brown
The traveller hastens toward the town,
And the tide rises, the tide falls.
Darkness settles on roofs and walls,
But the sea, the sea in the darkness calls;
The little waves, with their soft, white hands,
Efface the footprints in the sands,
And the tide rises, the tide falls.
The morning breaks; the steeds in their stalls
Stamp and neigh, as the hostler calls;
The day returns, but nevermore
Returns the traveller to the shore,
And the tide rises, the tide falls.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
The World Below the Brine - Walt Whitman
The world below the brine,
Forests at the bottom of the sea, the branches and leaves,
Sea-lettuce, vast lichens, strange flowers and seeds, the thick tangle openings, and pink turf,
Different colors, pale gray and green, purple, white, and gold, the play of light through the water,
Dumb swimmers there among the rocks, coral, gluten, grass, rushes, and the aliment of the swimmers,
Sluggish existences grazing there suspended, or slowly crawling close to the bottom,
The sperm-whale at the surface blowing air and spray, or disporting with his flukes,
The leaden-eyed shark, the walrus, the turtle, the hairy sea-leopard, and the sting-ray,
Passions there, wars, pursuits, tribes, sight in those ocean-depths, breathing that thick-breathing air, as so many do,
The change thence to the sight here, and to the subtle air breathed by beings like us who walk this sphere,
The change onward from ours to that of beings who walk other spheres.
from Stars Beneath the Sea - Trevor Norton
"It is not easy to see the light underwater. Your view may be obscured or blurred. But you need not be a visionary; just spit on the inside of your mask to prevent it from misting over, then go down, down, down with eyes wide open. Who knows what you might discover?"
OK - Alice Fish
you fall through the surface
as your mind takes a rest
from now on life is simple.
no voices in your tongue or another,
your mind free to work its own magic
without distraction.
A world where all that matters
is where the next breath comes from
no questions, no answers, no plans or reviews.
A mere curling of the finger tells us
all's right with the world,
no further questions.
I am OK.
He's gone, she's left, we're broke
but right here, right now
all that counts for nothing
cos I am OK.
from an article by Umberto Pelizzari - Italian/World Freediving Champion
"From the depth of 0 to 100 metres and even deeper, headlong into the
abyss
the heart beat gets slower, the body disappears, and all the feelings
take a
new form. The only thing that remains us is the soul. A long jump into
the
soul, which seams to absorb in the universe. Every time I re-ascend is
making a choice: it's me who re-find myself in my human dimension,
metre by
metre, to come up then to see the light again. It often happens that I
am
asked what is there to see deep down in the sea. Maybe the only
possible
answer is that one does not descend in apnea to look around but to
look
into himself. In the abyss I look for myself. This is a mystical
experience
bordering the divine. I am immensely alone but it feels as if inside of
me
there were all the humanity with me. It is my being a human-being that
surpasses the limits that are looked for becoming absorbed in the sea,
which
melts into itself and re-finds itself."
stopping time - Alice Fish
We found a way to stop time today
Just drop a line down into the blue
breathe breathe breathe and swim down it..
Swim swim swim as far as it goes
Down and down forever then turn.
DON'T LOOK UP!
Look over at me
Swim up slowly
Look into my eyes
Slowly, steadily, calm and chilled
that delightful moment when
you know you'll get there
but you don't want to
the surface like an ice cloud
a mirror, a frosted bathroom window
the guys looking mistily down
wondering what we are up to down here.
slip through, grab the rope, breathe breathe breathe again
and your new watch tells us
half a life time was only 50 seconds.
Going Home
press on downwards
towards that midnight blue
she's calling you.
The quest for the perfect colour
always that touch further
into the silence.
Then the heartbeat enters
feel it through your brain
pressing on your chest
as your mother's heartbeat
all those years ago.
Pushing further
until your mind throbs as one
with the sea.
Just that little bit further
and you'll be home.
from "after you'd gone" by Maggie O'Farell describes waking from a coma but could it also be coming up from a dive?
....I realise that all this time I am being carried forwards, or up, and I'm not sure if this is what I want and I'm panicking now, unsure if I should be trying to tread water or swim back down against this force, but it seems there's nothing I can do, my head rushing towards some surface I didn't know was there or that I'd forgotten was there, and I'm gasping now, my lungs tight and airless, strings of bubbles streaming from my mouth like pearls.
I Started Early������ by Emily Dickinson
I�started Early, Took my Dog
And visited the Sea
The Mermaids in the Basement Came out to look at me
� And Frigates
in the Upper Floor Extended Hempen Hands
Presuming Me to be a Mouse
Aground
upon the Sands
But no Man moved Me
till the Tide Went past my simple Shoe
And past my Apron
and my Belt And past my Bodice
too
� And made as He would eat me up
As wholly as A Dew Upon a Dandelions's Sleeve
And then
I started-too
� And He
He followed
close behind
I felt His Silver Heel Upon my Ankle
Then my Shoes Would overflow with Pearl
� Until We met the Solid Town
No One He seemed to know
And bowing
with a Mighty look
At me
The Sea withdrew
�
from Blue Water Hunters - thanks Howard but I removed the scubie remark...sorry
Great mother ocean gave birth to all life it is my eternal home.
But I have been gone into strange worlds so long .
Counties without currents,countries without tides .
I have forgotten how to live in the world that created me.
I can no longer breath the water.
I am slow I am clumsy I have lost my Grace
But still the deep indigo of the depths calls me like a loving mother.
Return to the depths, return to the source,return to your nature.
Some times beneath the shimmering surface of my memory .
I sense the deeper memories of generation after generation of
hunters.
For Tens of thousands of years I have kept a faithful record of my hunting
so the children of my children's children will know and
remember.And more
important than any painted stone.
Is the memory that lies at the HEART OF MY EVERY CELL.
The memory of my hunting the history of my tribe.
And when I wake beneath the modern sky full of smoke and sound.
As from the dream I believe I have lost my way back for I cannot
forget that I am hunter and I am from a race of hunters
and there is no place for hunters in this time.
Anita Conti
A boat and its men, free on the sea, alone on the sea for months and months, with a passion in oneself,
stubborn, gnawing, unrestrained, the passion of conquest, to tear off fish, to kill it and pile up it in the hold,
such a boat it is a force, and each one opens out this force,
we are haunted of its wild taste, us, those from the open sea.
Wild nights--wild nights! Emily Dickinson
Wild nights, wild nights!
Were I with thee
Wild nights should be
Our luxury!
Futile the winds
To a heart in port--
Done with the compass,
Done with the chart!
Rowing in Eden--
Ah, the sea!
Might I moor, tonight,
In thee!
Man and the Sea - Charles Baudelaire
Free mankind, you will always be delighted
by the sea - it is your soul, a mirror where you look at your
soul running endlessly like the waves.
Your heart is an abyss not less bitter.
It is here where you lavish your image
with delight, you grasp it with your eyes,
with your arms and you free yourself
from your internal noise if you listen
to its indomitable wild voice.
Both are dark and discrete: no one has ever
descended down to your abyss, man, nor there is
anyone in the sea who could know its hidden treasures:
this way they are protected with care.
And yet, from immortal times, every one of you
fight against it - without mercy or remorse,
in a way that you begin to relentlessly
enjoy torture and death in an eternal fight.
Alice Fish
spitting in my mask
I turn my thoughts to the blue
and take the final breath
approaching blackout haiku
sliding through the blue
I wonder what those bells are
ringing through my brain
hawaii haiku
sunning out on deck
I think about the wisdom
of this crazy sport
smelly london pool haiku
Hairballs drift by me
as I disappear inside
my mad breath hold thoughts
PB Haiku
No need to breath yet
swim down a little further...
up clean and it's mine!
Haikus from Peter S
flexing angel fins
I ascend to the Breath and
thank God for my life.
approaching blackout haiku...
welling sense of doom
blackness creeps in from edges
where is my buddy?
public swimming pools...
disease breeding ground
with warm yellow thermoclines
pelagic proteins
and scuba divers...
blowing loud bubbles
scaring all my friends away
clumsy stomping gits
Haiku from Mark H
Do not question me
I have no answer for you
Just watch me glide down
and I love this one!
Diving can be free
The oceans ask for nothing
It's the kit that costs
Haiku from Latte Lad
apnea addled brain
kick kick kick kick kick
can't tell if I'm up or down
kick kick kick kick kick
an anonymous haiku.. the winner so far!
The Deep Blue calls me
I could stay furever but....
Honey calls me back
If you would like to enter a Haiku please email it to me below or visit The Deepest Bear in the World!
Email me with some more!
