The Netflix film My Octopus Teacher has captivated millions who long to connect with the natural world. Now, with Underwater Wild, the divers behind the film reveal a new vision of the sea, one full of wonder, insights into marine biology and life-changing teachings for even the most land-bound of us.
Today, we’re featuring an extract from the preface of Underwater Wild. Read on to begin exploring the ocean floor …
Underwater Wild
by Ross Frylinck
There is a vast undersea forest living at the tip of Africa. One of the richest ecosystems on the planet, it is home to countless strange and wonderful creatures. However, because the water is cold and often rough, and sharks and stingrays as big as cars patrol the fringes, few people ever venture there.
As a child, Craig Foster lived in a tiny wooden bungalow overlooking the ocean. He learned to dive at a very young age and it wasn’t long before he became enchanted by what he called his ‘golden forest’.
I also grew up near the sea, not far from Craig’s house, and often went diving in the forest. Although I was scared of the mythical great white sharks, giant bull seals, poisonous jellyfish and strong currents, I felt drawn to the hauntingly beautiful forest depths. When we met in my late 30s, Craig had returned to the forest and was free-diving on his own without a wetsuit – just as he had once done as a child. He believed that this was the only way to dive with any freedom and he encouraged me to do the same. I hated the cold and was reluctant but, inspired by Craig’s passion, I started to join him on swims through the swaying canopy.
As the years passed and our friendship grew, Craig took me into his confidence and began to introduce me to what he called ‘forest mind’. He had once learnt how to track with San masters in the Kalahari Desert and he told me that he was now trying to pioneer a method of underwater tracking. He explained that tracking was a way to enter into the deeper workings of the biological mind of the forest. Although I thought he was being eccentric at best, I continued to dive with him.
To my surprise he made a series of stunning breakthroughs, which got the attention of some of the brightest scientific minds on the planet. He patiently continued to share his findings with me and soon I began to see into a secret world of bizarre and cryptic animals.
I was amazed to discover creatures that see with smell and hunt with electricity and solar-powered animals that grow their own food inside their bodies. I saw air-breathing fish that hunt above the water and animals that can brilliantly mimic other species and use tools in ingenious ways. I started to learn about secret languages of colour and texture and witnessed behaviours that defy belief.
During this time Craig was also taking photographs and creating perhaps the world’s most impressive body of sea forest imagery. He was dedicated to diving every single day and found that this commitment to taking photographs, studying the biology and getting cold was changing his mind and body. I also started taking photographs and committed to a daily practice of diving.
I too found that immersion in ocean wilderness was changing me, but in some strange and disturbing ways. Memories and instincts that had been frozen and forgotten for most of my life were beginning to thaw, and forces that I didn’t understand and couldn’t control were awakening. I was being pushed to the limits of my endurance and into an alien world that amazed and frankly sometimes terrified me. Here many of my beliefs dissolved and boundaries that I had taken for granted ceased to exist. Powerful images of my missing father started to surface and I decided to embark on a search to find him. This decision swept me along on a crazy ride with my friend through untamed regions of the sea and of my own psyche.
I have tried to write an open account of these strange years, and I hope that you enjoy the story. It’s been a great pleasure to work with Craig on this book and I am sure you will find his captions and photography enthralling.
Finally, I hope that Underwater Wild encourages you to deepen your connection to the ocean and that you experience the sense of wonder and freedom that I believe is the essence of wilderness.
—This is an extract from Underwater Wild by Craig Foster and Ross Frylinck, published by Black Inc.
Underwater Wild
From the creators of the Academy Award-winning documentary My Octopus Teacher.
Craig Foster and Ross Frylinck regularly dive together in the awe-inspiring kelp forests off South Africa, without wetsuits or oxygen tanks. Craig had dived this way for years, including alongside the octopus that inspired My Octopus Teacher...
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