There is nothing like the sense of contentment that comes from outdoor swimming, particularly in warm ocean waters. When you slide completely under the surface, your entire relationship with the world as you know it shifts. All sound is reduced to the white noise of water rushing past your ears. Your limbs appear long and graceful, as they dance through the diffused light. Small air bubbles cling to your skin temporarily, inviting you to pause and meditate on the universe’s mysteries. The length of time most of us get to continuously experience an underwater life is two minutes (at our best) before we need air. But, Austrian free diver Herbert Nitsch, a multiple world record holder, can hold his breath for over nine minutes, allowing him to experience diving in ways we never will.

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