The Blue Edge (Paperback)

by Carlos Eyles (Author)
Key Phrases: blue water hunters, pez fuerte, pacific manta ray, Cabo San Lucas, San Benedicto, Sea of Cortez (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review
Breath-hold diving internalizes the underwater experience. Eyles draws on this perspective to explore the soul of nature. -- Immersed, The International Technical Diving Machine

Moments of deep intimacy with the ocean. Carlos is an underwater guru. -- California Diving News

Product Description
As one of the last blue water hunters, the author returns to the bountiful Sea of Cortez he knew decades ago, and finds it empty. In this mystical journey of man’s spirit, the ocean beckons to a distant archipelago in search of the great sharks, mantas and whales. Casting off the world of man, Eyles takes us into the pristine but dangerous depths on breath-hold dives to find our deepest fears and longings.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 360 pages
• Publisher: Aqua Quest Publications, Inc. (January 25, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1881652270
• ISBN-13: 978-1881652274
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #405,458 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Diary of a diving trip and a diary of a lifetime, November 24, 2006

By	Conrad H. Blickenstorfer (Sacramento, CA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Now for something different. This is a breath-hold diver recollection book and one where scuba doesn't always looks so good. It's as different from the stack of northeastern wreck diving books I've recently read as is possible, and so is the author, Carlos Eyles. Eyles was born in Hawaii where he began his love affair with the sea, then relocated to Southern California where he never was quite happy. Born in 1941, Eyles' life meandered here and there, with far more extreme undulations than most. He was a family man on a career path, a dedicated spearfisherman, a near-drifter living on a small craft in a marina, went back to a successful career and the conventional American dream, dabbled in Timothy Leary-like explorations, gave it all up again to live in and on the sea, sailed and explored for years in hermit-like fashion, lived on a beach in the Fiji islands, returned, got married again and sort of settled into a career as a writer and underwater photographer. Whew.

The Blue Edge chronicles his life in an interesting fashion. Presented as a day-by-day diary of a two-month journey in the mid 1990s through the Sea of Cortez, the wild waters between Mexico and the Baha California, and the island of San Benedicto Eyles uses the trip as a framework for reflections on everything he experienced, everything he saw and felt and believes in. Much revolves around his lifelong fascination with breath-hold diving and spearfishing. We witness his development as a man, never quite finding himself, or finding undue obstacles in his way, like dwindling funds, friends and partners who do not understand, and, perhaps most cruelly, a near-fatal fish poisoning that leaves him permanently limited and unable to ever eat seafood again. An ironic fate indeed for a man who hunts and lives off the sea. Eyles also presents a disconcerting account of how commercial fishing and other activities by men have ravaged and nearly eliminated the once teeming variety of nature found under the sea. The wilderness he had witnessed in his early days vanishes before his very eyes, and he is angered and deeply concerned.

Scuba diving readers will find in Eyles a man completely dedicated to breath-hold diving, one convinced that this is the only way to become one with nature and truely experience it all. Scuba is just another excess of technology, one that slows us, separates us from nature, and squelches our natural instincts and senses. In that sense, The Blue Edge reminds of Cousteau's constant praise of the freedom and weighlessness the "aqualung" provides over the clumsy, ponderous gear that weighs down helmet divers. Only this time it's scuba equipment that is robbing the diver of freedom. Depth gauges and such, bah, humbug.

The shark is a constant theme in The Blue Edge. Eyles fears them as a child, and only gradually overcomes the fear, never being comfortable with sharks. That is, of course, in part due to the spearfisherman's very difference experience with sharks. When you battle a bleeding fish, sharks will come; you're practically bait. So Eyles tells us a lot of sharks, what they do, how they move. And unlike most scuba books that describe sharks as a non-issue as long as you behave properly, Eyles relates many dangerous and potentially fatal encounters, even without bleeding fish. Yet, he seeks them out, even becomes "one of the pack" in beautifully described sequences of encounters with hammerheads.

The Blue Edge is interesting reading. There's adventure, wonderful description of sealife (mantas, whales, sharks, numerous others), different species and their behavior, the essence of spearfishing, and, always, the philosophy behind it all. It's tempting to view Eyles as a man of the 60s, a hippy who never quite got over it, but that's not it. What he describes is simply the life of a man hopelessly dedicated to the sea, and his struggles to be one with it, regardless of the cost which, at times, is high. There is a good degree of mystical elaborations, but it never takes over. There is much bitterness over the commercialization of once pristine lands and seas, and especially the shortsighted exploitation that threatens to leave the oceans barren, lifeless dumps. But that, too, never completely takes over and certainly never mars the enjoyment of this remarkable book that is both the diary of a diving trip and a diary of a lifetime. -- C. H. Blickenstorfer, scubadiverinfo.com

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Compelling First-hand Ocean Experiences, October 29, 2005

By	Samba Ker Man (USA) - See all my reviews

I have a bias towards this book: I have met Carlos Eyles and taken his free dive class in Hawaii. Relating to a book is different once you have met the author.

For this review, I'll assume there are three categories of readers who may find this type of book worthwhile: ocean adventurers, armchair explorers, and environmentalists.

The ocean adventurers will be inspired by this book to go deeper into their ocean forays, that is, to challenge themselves by pushing their comfort zones. The armchair explorers will enjoy the ride, vicariously experiencing the thrills, chills and amazing insights Carlos shares along his journey. The environmentalists may be moved to take action to help protect the sea when they read about the mindless destruction some humans have caused (and are still causing) and what this portends for the ocean ecosystem.

As for the writing, it mirrors the author's moods based on what he's sharing with the reader during any particular passage: the story drags during the parts where Carlos himself dragged on his journey, and it shines when Carlos himself was inspired and living on the edge, literally and metaphorically. He's not an experienced writer, but his storytelling can be compelling.

To own the book for the last section, which chronicles the author's explorations around San Benedicto Island, is reason enough. In that section his descriptions of sea life encounters (sharks, dolphins, mantas, etc.) are so vivid that the reader cannot help but be gripped, transported, and enlightened in the process.

Carlos is a unique person, a true pilgrim. This book is a gift from a "life artist" who has gone places and done things that few humans have. And if you as a reader fall into one of the three categories mentioned above, it's a gift well worth receiving.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Into the Blue Edge, October 3, 2001

By	Michael Otsuji (Honolulu, HI) - See all my reviews

The Blue Edge is Carlos Eyles latest book. It is a pseudo-diary of the authors sixty-five day journey aboard the Nirvana with his friends Jack and Pam. He journeys through the Sea of Cortez to the San Benedicto islands. The journey is on one level a journey from the once bountiful Sea of Cortez to near pristine San Benedicto islands. On another level it is a journey through man's impact on the ocean in the infinitesimal slice of geographic time that man has populated the planet. On an introspective level it is a journey through one man's search for balance and his link to the ocean, and to himself.

The word "mystical" has been used to describe the writing of the book. "Mystical" implies something apart from the human experience. The Blue Edge is experiential. It is about experiences that we all face. It is apropos that the boat is named Nirvana, which is the Buddhist term for "enlightenment." Some of the things that the Buddha realized on the road to enlightenment were, that the world is suffering, all things are impermanent, and that there is no Self. The Blue Edge takes us through part of that journey. It shows us the pain, and the joy, as one man struggles with finding his place in the world. As he tries to balance his love for the ocean, his love for his family, and his love for himself.

Carlos leads the reader through the fragile, and thus transitory, illusion of the permanence of job, family, possessions, and our natural resources. He describes how man's greed, and ego, has affected the balance of the once pristine waters of the Sea of Cortez, and how it also is taking its toll on the San Benedicto islands.

For the spearfishmen this is the journey that some of us go through in our diving careers. Our pictures of full stringers of fish on our desks and walls. Our attempts to give permanence to a moment in time. Our attempts to catch the "most" fish. As our diving careers progress we find we take fewer and fewer shots looking for the "right" fish. The contrast Carlos paints with Jack, who is struggling to find his place in his relationship with Pam and with the ocean, and the spearfishermen aboard the Ambar III that are dumping the carcasses of the filleted fish into the water, to Brian Yoshikawa not taking any shots waiting for the 200 pound tuna.

The Blue Edge may be difficult reading for people who have no ties to the ocean, since the sixty-five day journey is aboard a boat. It, however, is must reading for anyone who spends any time with the ocean. The book encapsulates our life journey in those sixty-five days. It gives us glimpses of Nirvana (enlightenment) through Carlos's eyes. It is this poignant glimpse which is what wraps us up page after page, because we feel from the very beginning of the book that Nirvana is not to be attained for Carlos at this time. The struggles through the grinding teeth of sharks, and lawnmowers, is something the ocean takes us through. The longing to play in the ocean, the longing for wealth, the longing for pleasure, the longing for the kill. The experiences Carlos goes through in The Blue Edge shows us that "Nirvana", on one level, or more simply the struggle to find balance with the ocean, on a lower level, is unattainable as long as we long to possess it.