> Cave diving was like being an astronaut. At age 16 (or so), I dived into an undersea cave in Sardinia, pretty much completely unprepared. I had scuba gear,

> Cave diving was like being an astronaut. At age 16 (or so), I dived into an undersea cave in Sardinia, pretty much completely unprepared. I had scuba gear, but only a "waterproof" flashlight (read: not a proper diving lamp by any means), no line, no backups, no nothing. Just a teenager's sense of invincibility. It was almost literally otherworldly, floating through bone-white passages full of strangely shaped rocks, and being so palpably close to my own fate. It was also very scary for reasons both objective (I knew it was monumentally stupid going in) and imagined (the darkness beyond the cone of your lamp is full of sharks, giant kraken, and Cthulhu). I turned around after five minutes. On the way back, noticed a fork in the cave. Had a horrible sinking feeling and cursed myself for not looking back on the way in. Picked a path at random, and apparently picked right. It was the best experience I never want to repeat again.