DAY 2007
By Jeffrey Gallant

Foreword by Dr. Phil Nuytten (OBC, L.L.D.)
Publisher - DIVER Magazine
www.divermag.com


It is a relatively modern myth that man is tough, resilient, and (like the cockroach) can survive anywhere. What nonsense! We are actually the most fragile of creatures: big soft jellyfish full of chopsticks, arranged in a physical design that is millions of years old. Our cranial software has evolved at quite a respectable rate but our chassis' - the vehicle we use to truck the hard-drive around - has barely changed, and is very specific and inflexible.

We 'tough', 'resilient' humans can't survive anywhere close to the extremes of our home planet, as we were designed. We can't go to the top of Mount Everest as we were born - naked and without oxygen - and we sure as hell can't breathe water, nor survive the crushing pressure of the Challenger Deep. But we do go there - just as we routinely fly from continent to continent and, less routinely, walk on the face of the moon!

We do it by using the armor of technology to allow us to venture far outside of our primitive design specifications. We build devices, contraptions and 'stuff' that allows us to carry our optimum temperature, breathing gas, and sometimes, even our pressure, with us. Our ability to adapt simple things to complex purposes surrounds us with a life-preserving layer of that warm, sea-level, swamp where we were conceived.

And that's what I (and others like me) do: build the 'stuff'. I've spent most of my life developing and building everything from saturation systems to one-atmosphere pressure suits - from deep submersibles to submarine rescue systems. In the course of doing so, I've reached some conclusions, the most important of which is that we haven't yet even scratched the surface of the bottom! The real exploration of the major part of Planet Ocean is just starting and I have no doubt that some of you younger readers will be 'deeply' involved.

While my day job is as a blacksmith, building the armor that allows scientific, military and commercial divers to dive deep, stay long and come back safely, in my heart of hearts, I'm simply a diver. The thousands of hours that I've spent underwater working, testing or just simply drifting and looking, have confirmed what I knew the first time I swam through a kelp bed and watched the sunbeams revolve and refract as the kelp fronds shifted: this is the most beautiful part of our planet.

This almanac has placed its emphasis on diving activities around the world. By knowing what has happened and what is happening, you have the best possible perspective on what's likely to happen - and that's what almanacs are all about. We divers are a curious lot (and I mean that in both of its senses!). Curious and eager to see what lies beyond the next bend in the road, and the next bend in the galaxy.

This work by Jeffrey Gallant promises to satisfy some areas of your curiosity even as it piques others.

Enjoy yourselves!