I’ve always felt a strong sense of curiosity and connection to the ocean and the adventures it holds, but that relationship has long been surface level. My interest in the deeper ocean was piqued seeing the otherworldly visuals of freediving in My Octopus Teacher. Something about connecting to the ocean in that way struck something in me that felt almost spiritual.
Last year I impulse bought some fins, weights, and a spot in a freediving course from a local dive shop. One of the craziest things I learned about in the course was the mammalian diving reflex, aka the “Master Switch of Life”, which sounds more like an overpowered item in Super Smash Bros than a scientific term. In layman’s terms, when your body is immersed in cold water it basically starts morphing into an aquatic animal– shrinking your spleen, moving blood away from extremities, and significantly slowing down your heart rate. Life on earth evolved out of the oceans, and the Master Switch is a remnant of that evolution living within us as we bumble around on land.
But what if the Master Switch is more than just an evolutionary mechanism? What if it’s a peek into something that transcends science? Even in my short, shallow dives I’ve felt the mental changes that accompany the physiological changes. There’s a meditative aspect to the feeling you get when you dive, but it couldn’t be more different than controlled stillness of sitting meditation. There’s gear to worry about, waves and currents to watch, and cold and darkness to brave. But beyond all these stressors, there’s deep relaxation and peace to be found below the surface, and that’s what truly has me coming back.
A fellow diving friend recently recommended Deep by James Nestor, which is an exploration of freediving, the deep sea, and ~ourselves~ (I know.. DEEP). Nestor makes a pretty compelling argument that we are deeply connected to marine life and also offers up some pretty incredible facts about the creatures of the ocean.
Here are some highlights:
If you toss a human infant into water it will instinctively breast stroke and comfortably hold its breath for 40 seconds, but we lose these instinctual abilities when we learn to walk
There is a blind guy who has learned to use echolocation (check out this video of him riding a bike)
Sperm whales are CRAZY intelligent and they can fire off sonic “gunshots” to paralyze prey and communicate whole sentences and ideas in a single click
The reason they’re called Sperm whales is because they have hundreds of gallons of waxy oil stored in a cavity in their head, and in 1712 some dude cut one open and said “Look sperm, lol”
Dolphins have bigger brains and more complex language than humans, and they can carry on 2 conversations at the same time with different types of sounds
NASA once funded some scientists to try to teach one to speak English but they got shut down after the dolphin got sexually aggressive and some sus stuff went down
In conclusion, the ocean is an endlessly mysterious part of life and I have a new appreciation for the connection we share with it.
Here’s a video of whales YEETING themselves out the water,
Brandon
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