Why yes, yes he did! And it was all in pursuit of inspiration for creating undersea scenes in glass. Actually, the real reason he does this is that just working with molten glass and fire, flying airplanes, fending off the incessant demands of a co-author (c'est moi!), and keeping a passel of employees engaged and happy, all of this is not dangerous enough for him. So away he must go to hang out with sharks... once in a cage but other times free diving--when no one wanted to stop and take a photo of him with sharks swiming all around!
The beautiful worlds he observes while scuba diving provide great ideas to translate (abstractly, of course!) into his Waterworld Planets, Inhabited Vases, and Tektites that evoke the shimmery interior of seashells.
