(27-09-10) Due to the interest it has for all of us, lovers of the marine environment, we are to reproduce the text appeared in the presentation of the Dive Club Capitan Garfio web, a text that invite us to think about the importance of taking with care our seas.
The adventure of life begins at the sea. Many think that the men’s interest in diving into the sea is just the desire to come back to the origin. How to fight against a so powerful genetic legacy?
Former civilizations used their ingenuity to see under the sea surface. In Rome, divers took oil in their mouths, once underwater they released the oil to observe that they were interested in with clarity. Others used big shells of polished mother-of-pearl as it if was a lens.
In the ancient Egypt there were coral seekers. In the ancient Japan many women become pearls hunters. In Greece, sponges’ fishers were common. From the 17th Century they used air bells to recover the valued vessels cargo and the usable parts of the wrecked galleons. It seems that the conciliation effort with elements has never been easy, not even today.
In the 40’s, a brilliant and creative young Cousteau and the inventor Emile Gagnan design and patent the Aqualung, the first air compressed on demand regulator in the dive history, which will give men some autonomy underwater. This way they become famous and rich, which later allowed Cousteau to show the world a fascinating and mysterious underwater environment.
In 1950 Cousteau leaver the French navy being Lieutenant Commander. This way he is sponsored by the British patron Lord Guinness, who gives him the Calypso and the private initiative that will let him explore new worlds and freedom.
Nowadays, the technological advances and the hyperbaric medicine are propitiating the firm development of this discipline more and more.
DESTINATIONS FOR ALL TASTES
Divers from around the world travel and carry their heavy equipments from one place to another with the unequivocal purpose to know and satisfy their concerns of adventure to the most secret and remote places of the world. They are the dive destinations. The Red Sea, the Caribbean Sea, Thailand, Polynesia. Here there are options for all tastes.
Some seek shipwrecks, the coveted wrecks that intrigue some divers for all their lives; exotic fish and coloured corals or, why not, meeting people and interesting places. It is the exotic dive you will never end telling to friends and you will never repeat.
Marine biology. There are divers that love sea life. They are willing to everything. On the contrary, there are others that prefer to dive in mysterious shipwrecks with intriguing legends and seafaring stories. We imagine how the crew was, their clothes and food. There are moments that stay for ever in our retina.
We dive and the ship superstructure appears on the seabed. We swim over the deck until reaching the stern, where we go down to the screw and see how big they are. The back lights make us look to the chimneys and masts that are still upright with sailor pride despite the time.
We know through the files that the main source of marine archaeological patrimony is in shipwrecks. This discipline, Marine Archaeology, offers us the possibility to learn our naval history, former commercial routes, cultural exchanges between peoples and the development of civilizations; they are the wreck of a previous age, the remains of pass times. It is an inestimable retrospective that we must not obviate.
TASTING THE NAVAL POWER OF OUR ANCESTORS
At the beginning of the 19th Century, a warship was the greatest engineering work the man could face. Now, divers can taste the essence of the naval power of our ancestors.
Someone that wasn’t in Trafalgar battle now can feel the once roaring and feared canyons of the Bucentaure, the flagship of the French- Spanish fleet during the epic battle, now, in silence, lie majestic on the seabed in the rich waters from Cadiz.
Divers sail in adventure history waters, they share moments with friends and escape from the routine.
The sea is alive. The sea is sick. The Mediterranean needs human beings and science working together to prevent the progressive degradation of their so delicate ecosystems. We all must make the youngest aware and understand, as this valued legacy is theirs.
Maybe some people do not understand why breathing air compressed from a bottle, not to be able to talk, be cold and even get up early on days off can become an incredible special experience to others.
Cousteau used to say that, when one was diving, feels like an angel. Experiment the weightlessness, be able to move freely trough the water column, the intense blue, the crystalline cold, the residual nitrogen, the taste of salt in the mouth, make diving a hard to match offer.
To many, the sea is the last symbol of love, romantic lived and for living adventure. Maybe it is changing the environment what make us feel complete. The respect for the silent ocean makes us keep quiet and watch, keep quiet and watch...
THE FRAGILE BALANCE OF MARINE ECOSYSTEMS
Nowadays, the situation of the oceans is difficult. The increase of gas emission and global warming put in imminent danger the reefs of the planet. biacids used in paints for ships, toxic wastes and atomic and nuclear explosions, just to cite some, alter and unbalance the fragile balance of marine ecosystems.
Industrial exploitation of key predators in highly structured systems diminishes the diversity in the communities and transforms good areas for underwater tourism exploitation into some of the poorest regions in the planet, in arid and desert moonscapes.
Only from global awareness and knowledge of marine environment will we be able to get the respect the sea deserves from all social spheres in the planet.
The modern recreational diving is only possible through the defense of the environment and the respect for ourselves, thus, from the point of view of experience and knowledge will we be able to change the current situations.
Until now, adventurers and very expensive expeditions have informed of the discoverers. Once it has began, we must follow the path of these pioneers that dedicated their lives to show the world something they thought was worthy of love.
We thank them all and return with our daily work, effort and will. Thanks a lot to all these seafarers.
We feel obliged to create a life expectancy for oceans of the planet, the hope exists already.
Text: Joaquín Torres Martínez
Club de Buceo Capitán Garfio
Member no. 012
