Journey to the Center of the Earth

This is the first time I’ve written about this adventure from over a decade ago, other than mention of it in a watch review. But I think it’s worth a few hundred words. I have no photos of that dive, only a six-minute video I edited back in 2012. Note: if you click to watch it (which I recommend), it will take you to a web browser or the Substack app. (Also note there is accompanying music by Peter Gabriel, in case you need to mute it before waking someone up.)

150 feet is a relative measurement. On dry land, it’s only half a football field, a twelve-story building, or two tractor trailers. A person walking at average pace could cover the distance in a little over 30 seconds. But jump off the side of a boat, empty your buoyancy wing, and drop that far underwater, and it feels deep. Consider that Open Water certified scuba divers are generally restricted to about 60 feet. Advanced divers typically stay above 130 feet. Even by that depth, the effects of the nitrogen in the air you breathe can have a considerable narcotic effect, akin to knocking back a few martinis. You can’t linger there long, or else you’ll need to build in some decompression time on the way back up. But 150 feet is where the stalactites are in the Great Blue Hole, and that’s not even halfway to the bottom.