Famous (and lovely) record-setting freediver Tanya Streeter was interviewed on NPR a few days ago about her plans to descend 400 feet down and Austrian lake and then return to the surface, all on one breath of air. This will set a new world’s record for “no limits” depth free-diving.
All sorts of GQs are suggested by this sport, but mine is about the eyes.
Streeter said she doesn’t wear a mask for such dives, because at those depths it would be like a vise…she can’t spare the air it would take to equalize it.
Okay, fair enough. But I can’t help thinking about the effect of such pressure on the rest of her body, especially her eyes. I know our bodies are mostly water, which is incompressible, and so are the eye fluids: vitreous humor, aqueous humor and blood.
But aren’t there cavities in the head behind or near the eyes? It seems like the eyes could be pushed back in their sockets or something. And aren’t there small hollow spaces in the eyes too, like near the lenses, which could collapse under that kind of pressure? Are there any documented diving-related eye injuries?
I’m sure Streeter and other freedivers know what they’re doing, but I’m having trouble getting my head around this concept.
[sub]Thank you, pldennison. Your new SCUBA thread reminded me to post this.[/sub]