Great story, Gary.
I can very well imagine how that SEAL felt.
Freediving into caves is really hard core.
My first cave dive was in Israel, in a hot spring fed lake.
Really nice place, water temperature always about 2 degrees above body temp.
Mail order bride and I used to go down there at night and swim naked.
Once a whole bunch of Palestinian males showed up and we had to hide in the bushes for hours.
A naked female would have sent them into sexual crazyland and there were too many for me to do anything about, so sitting and shivering in the dark was the only way.
Anyway, the cave dive.
I was told there was a fine limestone cave next to that lake, like 45 feet in.
So I trusted the guy who told me enough to hyperventilate for a bit and go into the opening.
Man, that was a looooong 45 feet
Nice cave, though.
Dark as hell, but breathable air.
Next time I went, I brought a candle and some matches in a film canister.
Cave was even better with a bit of light.
Today, almost any flashlight is waterproof, sure makes things easier.
Remember those film cans?
Before everything went digital, those little cannisters were the thing for storing all the small stuff in your back pack that you wanted to keep dry.
Weed and paper and such