Man Dives 65 Feet Into Ocean To Reveal A Chilling Truth About The Sea

By Khadija Pervez in Interesting On 20th September 2024
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A man's chilling video has shed light on a harsh truth about the ocean.

Have you ever thought about why freedivers sometimes struggle so much to get back to the surface?

Some thrill-seekers dive over 100 meters (or about 320 feet) beneath the waves, and resurfacing isn’t as easy as it seems. 

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Fans of Netflix's The Deepest Breath will definitely know this.

The 2023 documentary tells the tragic story of Alessia Zecchini and Stephen Keenan, who faced a terrible situation during a recreational dive in 2017.

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They were diving in the Arch of the Blue Hole in the Red Sea, which is just north of Egypt.

They had a plan to meet at a depth of -50 meters since Keenan was acting as the safety diver. 

This meant he was there to help Zecchini come back up if she ran out of oxygen.

However, Keenan ended up diving in 20 seconds later than they had agreed upon, for reasons that remain unclear. 

Meanwhile, Zecchini became disoriented as she swam off in search of her way up.

In a courageous act, Keenan risked his life to save her, bringing her back to the surface. 

Tragically, he lost his life shortly after they resurfaced. 

This highlights just how dangerous this extreme sport can be.

People who watched this heartbreaking documentary might find themselves wondering why Zecchini and Keenan had such a hard time coming back up. 

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Luckily, a video on Reddit provides a chilling perspective on this issue.

In the video, a freediver decided to show just how risky this sport can be.

The diver highlighted how dangerous free diving is as a sport Reddit

He dove down to a depth of -65 feet (or 20 meters), which is roughly the height of a six-story building. 

During the dive, he illustrated how our body’s buoyancy changes the deeper we go.

At the start of the clip, he asked a simple yet thought-provoking question: "At what depth do I start sinking underwater?"

When he reached -5 meters (-16 feet), he noted that he was "definitely floating." At -10 meters (-32 feet), he still floated but felt "a little less."

At -12 meters (-40 feet), he mentioned that he was "perfectly neutral." He began to sink at -15 meters (about 50 feet) and was "definitely" sinking by -20 meters (-65 feet).

But what causes this phenomenon?

It all comes down to physics. When a diver hits -10 meters, the pressure there is twice what it is at the surface. 

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This pressure increases by one atmosphere for every 10 meters. 

So, at the average ocean depth of 3,800 meters, the pressure on the ocean floor is a staggering 380 times greater than what we experience at the surface.
 
This is what we call hydrostatic pressure.

However, that’s not the only factor. Density plays a role too. 

The weight of our muscles and fat makes us denser than water. As divers go deeper, the air in their lungs gets compressed, which makes them less buoyant. 

As mentioned earlier, due to hydrostatic pressure, divers become more negatively buoyant as they descend, causing them to sink faster.

This diver’s video offers social media users a glimpse into just how dangerous free diving can be. 

It also raises questions about how even someone like Stephen Keenan, a seasoned pro, could find himself caught in the harsh realities of the sport.