Fifteen minutes outside Dubai is the world’s deepest and largest underwater attraction, Deep Dive Dubai. Created for both professional and beginner divers to explore, this is a 180 foot deep plunge pool with nearly four million gallons of heated water. While I am PADI Advanced Open Water certified, I had not been nitrox-certified. Now commonplace in scuba diving, the use of nitrox or enriched air contains 32 to 35% oxygen as opposed to the normal 21% in the air we breath (and in most scuba tanks) and this allows you to spend more time at depth compared to diving on air. Staying down longer and getting back in the water sooner, etc. But even making one dive deeper than fifty feet, nitrox is beneficial. (Higher O2 level reduces the amount of nitrogen.) Thus, enriched air was an added layer of safety for my own dive. Other safety features include 56 underwater video cameras as well as two recompression chambers at different depths within the dive pool in case a diver needs recompression from nitrogen toxicity in the blood.

As soon as I put my head underwater, it was like a kid in a candy store. In my experience, diving visibility is typically 30’ to 40’ at best. In fact, I learned to dive in Kansas where visibility is about 12 inches and that was a good starting point. In contrast, today’s dive was surreal, exhilarating, and overall a ton of fun. Can you imagine a 20 story deep swimming pool with underwater music? Crazy. And an absolute blast. I have jumped out of an airplane and bungee jumped– each of those, one time only. I figure after the first time, it can’t get better than that. But after today’s surreal experience, I might want to return someday to continue the exploration.

My guide and divemaster was a very professional, attentive, and super fun guy named Ramadan. During the forty-five minute dive I was awestruck watching free divers descend past with only a single HUGE DEEP BREATH of air – somehow, enough to last all the way to the bottom of a 200’ column of water. As I exited the pool, attendants greeted me with a warm robe. All in all, I can’t remember a more thrilling or wondrous experience.

Later I noticed a large group of parasailers catching wind and reaching great heights just off the Gulf coast. Perhaps that could be my next Dubai adventure. At the end of the day, it seems all things had come full circle, as I had started the day thinking of my good friend Larry, an aircraft pilot, parasailer and, most recently, a glider pilot.

To Larry, to my cousins Tom and Jay (in his inimitable spirit), and to my want-to-be-pilot friend Jeff: next time you find yourself flying through the air, think of me soaring into another world.

And to you all: may you feel the inspiration to follow your own passions.

Peace,

Wandering Gar ✈️