Following a conversation with a friend who shared her impressions from a diving experience, back in 2020. I was struck by her decade-long story about the sense of peace that comes underwater. Something shifted in me after listening. Although I am a person of action and always a curious “nerd,” this time it was a search for silence.

I enrolled in a three-month diving school at the “Sebastian” club, and passed my final “open sea dive” exam in Egypt. After four dives I obtained my diving license, and since then diving has become my ritual and personal practice of silence. I have dived in the warm seas of Egypt and Zanzibar, but this year I chose a different experience – diving into the cold Adriatic Sea.

Because silence does not choose temperature. It only seeks space.

Mentally, I feel reset after diving. My mind is quieter, clearer, and more present for days after each dive. That sense of peace does not stay underwater – it comes home with me. People around me notice that I am lighter, more grounded, slower to react. The stress that usually tightens my body… disappears. I sleep more deeply, breathe more easily, and move through life with greater ease.

Physically, diving strengthens the whole body. Swimming against the current builds endurance and core stability. It improves circulation, breathing, and lowers blood pressure. But perhaps even more importantly – it reconnects you with your body in a way that is both empowering and calming.

What diving teaches you – presence, trust, surrender – you carry into everyday life. You learn to pause. To observe without reacting. To breathe and simply be. And in a world obsessed with speed and productivity, that feels like a quiet rebellion.

For anyone who has never considered diving: try it. Not just for the corals, the wrecks, or the thrill – but for the silence. You don’t have to be an adrenaline addict. All you need is curiosity, a willingness to let go, and the desire to meet yourself – on a deeper level.

Because when you return to land, you are not just lighter – you are changed.


Molunat – Six Days in the Silence of the Adriatic

The first two days of diving were dedicated to preparation and relaxation. Descents to depths of 15–25 meters were accompanied by encounters with Mediterranean moray eels, schools of seabass, saddled seabream, salema porgies, painted combers, axillary seabream, and rainbow wrasse. Starfish covered the rocks, peacock worms spread their fans, and lobsters peeked from the cracks. At the end – Triton’s trumpet and a small octopus. Diving, however, is not just observing. Divers are guardians of the sea – disturbing marine life or destroying flora and fauna is strictly forbidden, and it is common to remove lost nets or trash found on the seabed.

The third day brought a dive to the legendary wreck of the Franc Josef, a cargo ship sunk on October 17, 1919. At a depth of 28–44 meters, covered with algae and inhabited by fish, the wreck was both haunting and majestic. Swimming through its rusted corridors felt like passing through history – metal fused with coral, past intertwined with present. Moray eels peered from cracks like secretive gatekeepers, and time became elastic – minutes and hours lost meaning.

On the fourth day the dive at Veliki Školj revealed peaceful schools of seabream and a slope covered with fan-like gorgonians. Their bright red and orange branches swayed with the rhythm of the sea, fragile and surreal. Light from the surface filtered through the water, sparkling on the coral like a quiet fire. In that underwater dance it was impossible to think about deadlines or obligations – the sea does not care for those. The group moved in harmony, relying on the signals of the dive leader, and the sense of trust and surrender made each dive safe and calming.

The fifth day brought an encounter with the Žigant caves – natural chambers carved by time, salt, and silence. Light played tricks, casting shadows as the divers moved through narrow passages. Inside, sounds faded, thoughts stopped, and only one’s heartbeat could be heard. Between two caves three large scorpionfish were hidden in the sand, while emerging into the sunlight was a scene that inspired gratitude and relief. The water clung to the body, reluctant to let go, as if it knew how many worries it had absorbed.

The sixth day rounded off the adventure at sites rich with walls and marine life. Each dive was a new story, a fusion of silence and wonder, meditation and adventure.