At age 16, making my first scuba dive on a Florida reef, I was smitten by sea fever. At the heart of it was mystery offering a challenge: come and find out.

In the 70 years since – as a physician-scientist – my ocean odyssey has taken me from the North Pole to the Southern Ocean, from the Eastern Atlantic to the Western Pacific and from Lake Superior to Lake Baikal.

As a free diver, scuba diver and submersible crew member, I’ve spent six thousand hours beneath the sea.

My professional passion is safety in the deep – mastering the lethal forces of cold, currents, darkness and pressure. Over the years, my focus shifted from physiology to psychology to leadership in high-risk environments.

My parallel interest is telling stories about the human family and the ocean. It is informed by the ‘music’ of the ocean before time, a mysterious benediction bridging one consciousness to another. It inspires humility and gratitude and a sea fever that feels like the sun in my heart.

Fire in the ocean

From infinity comes water. Pressing on itself. Creating depths.

Fathoms of cold, currents, darkness and pressure.

From infinity comes the synaptic fire of human intelligence. Within

the deep it is saturated with wonder, curiosity and creativity.

The two forms of water embrace and co-create each other.

For pleasure. For plunder. For the joy of co-existence

and the afterglow of gratitude and wholeness.

This is how this short essay appears in the special Oceanographic publication, The Innerview