This Nautilus specimen, virtually a living fossil whose origin dates back millions of years, was found in Lake Palau in Micronesia. But silence is fascinating in its own right, and not only for those who can focus all their attention on the forms and colours that stimulate their retinas. People who cannot see can also perceive the almost hypnotic beauty of deep silence and come to focus their attention on tactile sensations, on the flow of the water over the unclothed parts of their bodies, on temperature changes, on the infinite variety of sensations conveyed to the brain by their fingertips as they caress submarine flora and fauna. The visually handicapped can, then, perhaps even better than those with good vision, experience the pleasure of being released from gravity's hold, to, nearly like in Icarius' dream, take full flight, delight in all three dimensions, be able to move in ways that are wholly out of the question on land. Those who do not see, especially if they have never had any visual experience, tend to conceive of the space around them as an absolute vacuum, a nothing which is by no means comforting, but rather full of things they can only perceive indirectly, and with which they may collide or which may fall on them.
Air is an element too subtle and impalpable to afford protection.
This cosy sensation may also have to do with subconscious reminiscence of the amniotic liquid in the maternal womb. Nonetheless, I realise that everything I have said up to now is only a posteriori rationalisation, justification of my desire to dive. The stark and simple truth is that I derive immense joy from it and under water I feel really good and completely at ease. Subsequently, I also earned the advanced certificate. Many hard corals are extraordinarily light and seem to imitate plant forms.