The other day, while scientists in the submersible made their way up a steep sandy slope 800 feet below the surface of the sea, they came upon what looked like a sea-encrusted regulator, tank and buoyancy vest. Then, at 600 feet, they found another. Later, after talking with local dive guides, we discovered that a young man had disappeared out here about three years ago while trying to set a record for deep diving on compressed air. His body was never recovered. Oxygen toxicity, compressed by the depth, was likely the cause.
Crew members prepare for a night dive.
What the scientists undoubtedly saw were his two tanks, one he was wearing, and the other, carrying. We move through all this in the dead of night. By morning, we awaken to gray skies, with blue-green waves splashing against portholes, decks heaving fiercely, chairs and computers overturning, and sponge specimens and cameras indiscriminately tossed to the floor by the raging sea. By noon, we turn inward to the historic harbor of Havana. Discovery Communications Inc.