"Water - the ocean - is our most natural environment. 
We are born naked from the miniature ocean of the mother's womb." 
Jacques Mayol, 1927-2001

With all the misery in the world, the misunderstanding, intollerance, fanaticism, greed and abuse, it is wonderfull to appreciate that this is not the way of the universe, and not the way God, your God, meant it to be. The smile of a child tells us that. 
Peter Stone, author, diver.

The sea was the cradle of primordial life, from which the roots of our own existence sprouted. Billions of years of evolutionary development brought forth an enchanting variety of forms, colors, lifestyles, and patterns of behaviour. 
Werner Gruter, Life In The Sea. 

There is only anecdotal evidence of the number of Grey Nurse Sharks with hooks in them.
Steve Dunn, NSW Director of Fisheries (on ABC Radio, 28 May, 2002).
(The man is challenged with a deficiency in functioning cranial neurons). 

Yes, I love it. The sea is everything. It covers seven-tenths of the terrestrial globe.
Its breath is pure and healthy. It is an immense desert where man is never alone for he feels life, quivering around him on every side.  There is supreme tranquility. The sea does not belong to despots. On its surface iniquitous rights can still be exercised, men can fight there, devour each other there, and transport all terrestrial horrors there. But at thirty feet below its level their power ceases,  their influence dies out, their might disappears.
Ah, sir, live in the bosom of the waters! There alone is independence.
There I recognise no masters! There I am free.
Jules Verne. 2000 Leagues Under The Sea.

I can only think of one experience which might exceed in interest a few hours spent under water, and that would be a journey to Mars.
William Beebe.
(Did William Beebe have any children?)

I am not at home, nor near any city or people; I am far out in the Pacific on a desert island, sitting on the bottom of the the ocean; I am deep down under the water in a place where no human being  has ever been before; it is one of the greatest moments in my whole life; thousands of people would pay large sums, would forego much for five minutes of this!. 
William Beebe. The Arcturus Adventure.

Underwater men will walk, will ride, will sleep, will talk.
Mother Shipton, a seventeenth-century prophetess.

The Sea, biologists tell us, holds the key to the mysteries of life.  In some unknown time and way a molecule of matter crossed an unknown line and became a living cell.  Other scientists believe that the human mind has a dim awareness of long tenuous roots that stretch back into the sea.  When we dream of being in water, they say, of diving into it or coming out of it, we are reliving the mysteries of our own birth.  Our language reflects the uneasy awe we feel towards the unknown world which covers most of the planet.  When something is beyond our understanding we say it's "too deep" or that "we just can't fathom it"!
Lil Borgeson and Jack Spiers. Skin Divers Handbook, 1960

A method of escaping in tempest and shipwreck at sea.  Have a coat made of leather, which should have the part over the breast in two layers, a finger's breadth apart; and in the same way it must be double from the waist to the knee; and the leather must be quite air tight.  When you leap into the sea, blow out the skirt of your coat through the double layers of the breast; and allow yourself to be carried by the waves; when you see no shore near, give attention to the sea you are in and always keep in your mouth the air tube which leads into the coat; and if now and again you require to take a breath of fresh air, and the foam prevents you, you may draw a breath of air within the coat.
Leonardo da Vinci. A very intelligent Italian fellow. 1499

Between the air and the water a steel wave quivers.  What people call the surface is also a ceiling.  A looking glass above, watered silk below.  Nothing is torn on the way through.  Only a few bubbles mark the diver's channel and behind him the frontier soon closes.  But once the threshold is crossed you can turn back slowly and look up: that dazzling screen is the border between two worlds, as clear to the one as to the other.  Behind the looking glass the sky is made of water.
Philippe Diole. The Undersea Adventure. 1951

Capt.  Nemo: 'You know as well as I do, Professor, that man can live under water, providing he carries a sufficient supply of breathable air.  The workman, clad in impervious dress, with his head in a metal helmet, receives air from above by means of forcing pumps and regulators.'
Prof.  Arronax: 'That is, a diving apparatus.'
Capt.  Nemo: 'Just so, but under these conditions the man is not at liberty; he is attached to the pump which sends him air through an india rubber tube, and if we were obliged to be held thus to the Nautilus, we could not go far.'
Prof.  Arronax: 'And the means of getting free?'
Capt.  Nemo: 'It is the use of the Rouquayrol apparatus, invented by two of your countrymen.'
Jules Verne.  20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. 1869

Only when we have developed a full understanding and appreciation of the animal kingdom can we regard ourselves as being truly civilized.
Peter Stone, Yarram, 2000
With due respect, I think, to an Indian prophet.

A vivid sense of delight takes hold off one, when for the first time one penetrates the surface. After thousands of years of fear and effort Man has at last succeeded in getting beneath the top layer of the sea, winning a long battle against asphyxia and terror. A palace untouched by human hand, with its gardens of rock and water where living creatures play the part of flowers, is the goal of all our striving.
Philippe Diole. The Undersea Adventure. 1953.