With visitors coming in town from Israel, I was looking up 'springs' on the internet to take them to. (Springs = a common term in florida for water shooting by the millions of gallons out of the ground everyday and forming deep underwater gorges, cave systems, and beautiful rivers) Florida is 'dotted like a piece of swiss cheese,' with more springs than any other are in the world, and lucky me, the biggest continuous system of underground, underwater caves in the world, is at a spring near my house.
I grew up at Edward Ball Wakulla Springs State Park, 19m south of Tallahassee. It's an unforgettable magical place, another world inside our world.
And I'd heard that the Governor had just opened a large portion of it to private development. Obviously concerned, I was planning on going to a public hearing about it. After all, its my spring. If I can't say it's mine after all these years, then who can? Its the spring I know best, and remember the longest in my life, and I try to take every visitor I can there. I dont even try to, I must.
Now, Ive always wanted to scuba dive. And as soon as a real opportunity (i.e. funds) present themselves to me, Ill be diving in the sea, but cave diving is something else. ive always been somehow afraid. especially after hearing about friends of friends, and just people in the paper so often who have died cave diving. and it sounds like a scary, horrible death. its clearly dangerous, even if youre not a hyperactive person, who might have a panic attack at the wrong moment. it seemed marvelous, but out of reach for me, and having to make big reaches to do it, i stuck to other interests. tonight i found this video of some cave divers at another springs in florida, and its incredible. ive always dreamed what it is like down there, but i never even though i could just click a link and see it. to see what its like down there at the bottom of the spring. this guy and his friends just went to hang out at the bottom of a spring. the bottom. 70 or 100 or 180 meters down. in the freezing cold, far from the world, air, other people, other air breathing animals, anything really. and the silence of the video struck me to. its so solitary. you can feel the silence, like you can feel music. and how it impacts what you are seeing. they cant speak, theyre just pointing. and looking. and hand gestures like suddenly you and youre best friends dont speak the same language.
i dont think i would do well with that, at first anyways. when stef and i went snorkeling in zanzibar, i had to show him everything cool i found, he 'had' to see it. which was a lot of pointing, and follow me. yet somehow i am very attracted to the solitude of this sport, or rather adventure. to experience all of the things on the bottom of the spring, or sea without any words. or even any sound. except whatever sound they are hearing, and i wonder what that is...
no one can interrupt your thoughts with their opinion. no one can influence the way you see something. for better or for worse. you are left entirely to your own mental devices to experience. purely. you and the world, alone. yet with the visible comfort of your friends floating near you. you will indeed share something for which words are not necessary. nothing will be lost. and something very amazing will be gained i believe.
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