Free-Immersion Freefall: A Poem
Deep in the ocean blue I'm alone with my thoughts, Sinking into an abyss, Falling towards the edge of something... A desolate path, But I travel it anyway...
Freedive Ascent – A Poem
I ascend from the ocean floor,
Through shafts of wondrous sunlight.
My mind dabbles in a state of pleasure,
And in marvelous rebellion.
Defying mind, breath and pressure,
I'm enveloped,
In a liquid elem...
Freediving Along the Wall
I approach a superb and mystical universe, rippling with animated sea goldies upon a wall of obscure and bulbous corals...
The Freedom of Freediving
Rhona McGregor Potgieter experiences the freedom of freediving for the very first time in Kilwa, Tanzania. An avid scuba diver, it is a moment of simplicity and joy, as she glides in supreme tranquility along...
Free-Diving at Walden Pond
Nothing is more fantastic than free-diving in the waters of my own beautiful homeland. Floating face down on the surface of Walden Pond, in the world I forcibly left behind, instructor, Nick Fazah, from Eas...
Shark Nostalgia – A Poem
Face to face, in depths quite deep, we stare squarely into the other's eyes,
It is there where we see everything,
where we achieve reality,
and share in it's kind existence.
From a world full of c...
Caught in a Metamorphosis
The sea falls down around me, then lifts me to the top of a coral wall. I gaze at the underwater landscape, a scene where novelty never declines, and am caught in a metamorphosis. The world passes away, whi...
Arriving on Pemba
Landing on Pemba Island feels as though we’ve been catapulted backward in time. Apart from the occasional new model vehicle, it could easily be the 1960's. Retro architecture juxtaposes the Arabic mosques a...
Limitless Pool of Life
As the sun rays shine through, blue chromis viridis fish shimmer in the shifting shadows. I look at them, glinting and teaming with life, before remembering where I am. I inquire. The goal; to get at what's...
An Underwater Wall
An underwater wall, of endless coral cities, silty textures and pastels, cradled by warm currents and vibrant fish galore. The scene of the fathom deep, beckons me, a butterfly fish shoal appears, glitterin...
Mantis Shrimp
I arrive at the emerald warrior of the sea, launched from its fortress of sand and stone with threatening fists of lightning, hovering humbly in readiness for a punch. Decorated with segmented, roving eyes,...
Purple Puffer
From ledge to ledge and reef to reef, I move slowly in the watery deep, where depth robs colors on descent and ancient rocks fade in silence. I pause and hover to gaze at a pufferfish, swimming unpuffed yet...
The Toby and I
I'm captured and held in place... a small, yet dazzling black saddle toby juxtaposed against a backdrop of unpolished coral. The ocean's offering at the tail end of an adventurous drift dive off the coast o...
My First 18 Meter Free-Dive
I stare up into the vast blue sky littered with puffy clouds and repeat one word over and over to myself. Relax, relax, Renee, relax. Moments earlier, with guidance from friends, Kjartan and Rob, I succeeded at...
Giant Jellies
I'm frozen, captivated by the giant, fluctuating mercurial creature before me, which appears to be dissolving into itself. The receding layered tenticals and a silken membrain coasts, radiantly along the surfac...
Infinitely Bound Poem & Photos
Infinitely Bound
Beneath the surface, I’m encircled
In sparkling specks of wonder.
Filtered light, made gentle by the depths,
Form sunset colors down under.
I plunge from a world of land and sky,
To one w...
3.2AWESOME
A Land Where Sea Fans Lie
As daylight breaks over sleepy Bagamoyo’s coast, tired eyes open to greet a rare and glorious day. A break from weeks baring burdened clouds of mournful grey, we forge through crisp, foam waves, until the shore...
Lionfish Make Love to the Camera
Lionfish are unquestionably one of the most photogenic fish in the sea, with an eccentric, gaudy profile, elaborate, vibrant stripes and a cantankerous, unhurried demeanor; they glide along reefs like an underw...
Underwater Photo Gallery
Being an avid ocean swimmer, diver as well as the creative type, I've arranged a collection of underwater photos to share my latest and most intimate underwater experiences. The photos were taken in Tanzania fr...