There’s something timeless about the pull of the sea. We stand at its edge and feel both small and infinite, soothed and awakened. For centuries, the ocean has been our muse — inspiring songs, myths, art, and poetry.
In Deep Blue – Why We Love the Sea, Veruska De Vita captures this enchantment with delicacy and depth, reminding us why the ocean continues to fascinate us simply by being itself. Deep Blue is, at heart, a love letter to the sea – exploring humanity’s connection with salt water and the bliss of swimming, diving, dipping, and simply being held by it.
De Vita writes not only as an author but also as a learner freediver and open-water swimmer. Her own passion infuses the pages, as she curates magical and empowering stories of people who find life lessons in the ocean’s embrace.
Lessons from the Swimmers
Take the story of Carina Bruwer, an endurance athlete known for attempting daring “firsts” across the world’s oceans. For her, the sea is both challenge and teacher. When she swam the English Channel, she aimed to finish in under ten hours but touched shore only after twelve. Reflecting on the experience, she said: “That’s open-water swimming. You can’t always plan perfectly and it’s a mirror for life. You expect one thing and get something completely different — and you just have to go through it, stroke through it, and enjoy the process.”
Her Mediterranean swim from France to Italy tells a similar story. Despite meticulous training and support, she faced unrelenting currents and finished in seven hours instead of the expected five. Looking back, she realised that swimming the opposite direction would have made her faster — perhaps even the first to break the five-hour barrier.
Carina’s experiences reveal the sea’s quiet but profound wisdom. No matter how much we prepare, the ocean humbles us. It shows that conditions shape outcomes as much as effort does, a lesson as true in life as it is in swimming.
Then there is Amber Fillary, a Guinness World Record holder for the longest horizontal freedive under ice — done wearing nothing more than a swimsuit, cap, and goggles. For Amber, the sea is not just challenge but healing. “I’ve had many struggles with mental health and addiction, but freediving has given me a purpose and a way to push my limits,” she told De Vita.
Despite her struggles, and even as a smoker – a supposed disadvantage for freediving – Amber finds peace and presence as soon as she slips into icy water. Science may not be able to explain it, but for her, immersion is nothing short of a miracle.
These stories show us the many ways the ocean loves us back: as teacher, healer, and mirror.
The Paradox of Love
But there is a harder question beneath the beauty: There are many reasons we love the sea, but is our love of it good for it?
When I posed this to Veruska, her response came with a sigh and a shadow of sadness: “You can love something so much, and love the bounty it gives you so much, that you end up killing it. The sea is no different. We adore it. We wade into the ocean for healing, harvest the fruits of the sea for nourishment, include the salty water in ritual. But love can become a taking. We dredge, we drill, we trawl, we dump. The paradox is this: the more we love the sea for what it gives us, the more we risk damaging it. True love requires restraint and awe. It requires protection. To love the ocean is to let it be wild, let it breathe.”
This is the paradox at the heart of Deep Blue: the very passion that connects us to the ocean could become the force that destroys it — unless we learn to love differently.
Why This Book Now?
So why did De Vita feel this book was necessary, especially at this moment?
“Earth is entering an interglacial phase far too quickly,” she explains. “What should take millennia is unfolding in decades, and the sea is changing before our eyes. Yes, I have loved the ocean since I could crawl toward its blue edge, and I wanted to inspire this love in others. But beneath the surface stories of freedivers, extreme swimmers, and recreational swimmers, there is another current — one of reckoning. I hope Deep Blue inspires people to respect, enjoy, and protect the ocean.”
A Call to Love Better
The stories in Deep Blue answer not only why we love the sea but also reveal how the sea loves us — through its ability to teach, to heal, and to remind us of our own smallness. It is a mystical, invaluable presence for humanity.
But admiration alone is not enough. The question that lingers is this: Do we love the sea well enough to let it thrive?
Deep Blue is available at all major book stores nationwide and on Take a Lot.