Underwater adventuring

The Sea (and a few other bodies of sea water) contains a number of underwater zones which involve special mechanics.

Air supply

In order to access underwater zones, the player must equip a source of air such as old SCUBA tank or have an air-supplying effect.

Trying to adventure underwater without an air supply yields the message:

You can't adventure there without some way of breathing underwater...

Trying to adventure underwater with insufficient adventures remaining yields the message:

You don't have enough time to adventure there...

Trying to access The Sea Monkees' Castle without an air supply yields the message:

You can't visit the Sea Monkees without some way of breathing underwater.

Trying to access the Mer-kin Temple without an air supply yields the message:

You can't go in there without being able to breathe water.

Trying to access Anemone Mine with a Mer-kin digpick equipped yields the message:

You need some way of breathing underwater to mine there. Maybe something in your inventory can help?

Because of this, adventuring underwater can factor in a large penalty to Combat Initiative and Item Drops, as most current air supply equipment has those effects.

The following is a list of all sources of air:

Name	Source	Air duration	Notes	Restrictions
aerated diving helmet	Hat (requires quest)	Always	Serious Stench Resistance (+3) -25% Item Drops from Monsters Combat Initiative -50%	Cannot be traded All components other than the bubblin' stone can be traded
crappy Mer-kin mask	Hat (requires quest)	Always	Serious Stench Resistance (+3) -25% Item Drops from Monsters Combat Initiative -50%	Cannot be traded
Mer-kin gladiator mask	Hat (requires quest)	Always	Serious Stench Resistance (+3) -25% Item Drops from Monsters Combat Initiative -50%	Cannot be traded
Mer-kin scholar mask	Hat (requires quest)	Always	Serious Stench Resistance (+3) -25% Item Drops from Monsters Combat Initiative -50%	Cannot be traded
old SCUBA tank	Back	Always	-50% Item Drops from Monsters Combat Initiative -100% Sold by An Old Man Offered post-level 11 10,000 Meat	Flagged as Quest Item Often better than the other options (besides the crown of Ed) as back slot items tend to have smaller bonuses than head slot items.
oxygenated eggnog helmet	Hat	Always	-100% Item Drops from Monsters Combat Initiative -100% Also increased base stats to at least 200 during Crimbo 2019	Cannot be traded Only obtainable during Crimbo 2019
The Crown of Ed the Undying	Hat	Always	Maximum HP/MP +50 Combat Initiative +25% Ed's servants will level up faster Allows you to read thoughts	Cannot be traded Golden fish must be installed
Elf Guard SCUBA tank	Back	Always	All Attributes -25% Maximum HP/MP -100
really, really nice swimming trunks	Pants	Always	Muscle +100 Mysticality +100 Moxie +100	Flagged as Quest Item Obtained from An Old Man in 11,037 Leagues Under the Sea path While not underwater, stat gains are only +10
Driving Waterproofly	Asdon Martin	30 Adventures	Makes you a better diver Your familiar can breathe underwater	Costs 37 fuel
Mer-kinny Flavor	mer-kin paste	10 Adventures		Fills 4 spleen Level 4 required
Oxygenated Blood	ballast turtle	20 Adventures	Only Turtle Tamers can obtain this item	These items cannot be traded. Only one of each of these items may be used per day.
Pneumatic	pressurized potion of pneumaticity	20 Adventures	Only players with Deep Saucery can craft this item
Pumped Stomach	tempura air	20 Adventures	Only players with Tempuramancy can craft this item
Really Deep Breath	hyperinflated seal lung	20 Adventures	Only Seal Clubbers can obtain this item
	fish juice box	30 Adventures	Item also gives 20 adventures of Fishy
Hyperoxygenated Blood	powdered oxygen	10 Adventures		Fills 3 spleen Level 4 required

Adventure cost

Adventuring in an underwater zone costs two (2) adventures unless you have the Fishy effect active. This applies to any underwater encounter, including special holiday monsters encountered while adventuring underwater. At the end of any combat which costs two adventures, the following message appears:

"Being underwater makes it hard to move -- it's really slowing you down!"

This extra adventure cost is applied after the combat has been completely resolved. This means, amongst other things, that escaping from combat with items like tattered scraps of paper will still result in you losing one adventure, not 0 or 2, if you are not Fishy. Similarly, status effects gained at the end of combat, such as Beaten Up, will lose one more turn of duration than normal, if you are not Fishy.

Pressure Penalties

Furthermore, underwater zones all give a penalty to meat drops, item drops, and initiative, depending on how much pressure there is in the zone.

These effects are demonstrated in-game by dolphins snagging not-quite-dropped items, and some of the Meat sinking beyond your grasp:

You manage to grab X Meat, but the rest sinks into the murky depths.

Certain items and effects help to reduce these penalties. The reductions stack up to the penalty the zone imposes. For example, equipping a diving muff while having a Brined Liver in The Briny Deeps changes the pressure penalty of the zone to 0%; not a bonus of +5%. Penalty-reducing equipment and effects are labeled with the description "Makes you a better diver."

The following is a table of all known penalty-reducing effects.

Name	Type	Reduction	Requirement	Other
Goggles of Loathing	Hat	10%	150 mys	Combat Initiative +50% Superhuman Hot Resistance (+5)
cozy scimitar	2-handed weapon	30%	85 mus	Untradeable result of applying a scimitar cozy to a fish scimitar (reverts after ~50 combats) Muscle +15% Weapon Damage +50% Allows Harpoon! and Summon Leviatuga to dislodge dull/rough fish scales from enemies (first casting)
Staff of the Cozy Fish	2-handed weapon	30%	85 mys	Untradeable result of applying a fish stick cozy to a fish stick (reverts after ~50 combats) Mysticality +15% Spell Damage +150% Jiggling versus a Mer-kin enemy sometimes produces a Mer-kin item (?)
cozy bazooka	2-handed weapon	30%	85 mox	Untradeable result of applying a bazooka cozy to a fish bazooka (reverts after ~50 combats) Moxie +15% +20% Meat from Monsters Produces a sand dollar after winning a combat with Donho's or Brined Liver active
pantogram pants	Pants	20%		Obtained by sacrificing 11 sea salt crystal in the Middle section
Seawolf folder	Accessory	10%	over-the-shoulder Folder Holder	Other enchantments determined by folders in 2 other folder slots
aquamariner's necklace	Accessory	10%	85 mys	Regenerate 10-15 MP per adventure +15% Meat from Monsters
aquamariner's ring	Accessory	10%	85 mys	Regenerate 10-15 HP per adventure +10% Meat from Monsters
diving muff	Accessory	10%	85 mys
hand-knitted diving booties	Accessory	?%		Gave 15% bonus during Crimbo 2019 only
teflon swim fins	Accessory	10%	85 mus	Moxie -5% Combat Initiative +25% (independent of pressure)
gnomish swimmer's ears	Familiar Equipment	10%		Reagnimated Gnome equipment. Also allows gnome to breathe underwater.
saltwaterbed	Campground furnishing	10%		Replaces any other bed at your dwelling
Finstrong	Effect	30%		Obtained from Comet, the Roller Skate (30 turns, 1/day)
Brined Liver	Effect	20%		Obtained by drinking Salacious Cocktails (20 turns / 30 turns garnished) and other underwater booze
Donho's Bubbly Ballad	Effect	20%	AT song slot
Driving Waterproofly	Effect	20%		Asdon Martin effect
Hairless and Airless	Effect	20%		Obtained from using a shavin' razor (30 turns)
Swimming with Sharks	Effect	20%		+20% Meat from Monsters (independent of pressure) Obtained from using shark cartilage (15 turns).
Dreaming of a Wet Crimbo	Effect	?%		Obtained from eating Maki with peppermint eel sauce and/or a green and red bean, or a Bento Box with a tempura green and red bean and/or peppermint eel sauce (20 turns each) +50% Items from Monsters (underwater only) +100% Meat from Monsters (underwater only)
Festively Brined	Effect	?%		Obtained from eating flan del mar (30 turns) Crimbo 2019 only
Juiced Up	Effect	10%		Obtained from using Mer-kin fastjuice (10 turns)
Molasses Flooded	Effect	?%		Obtained from using a glob of salty molasses (1 turn) Gave 30 turns during Crimbo 2019 only
Salt Rush	Effect	?%		Obtained from using a salty gumdrop (1 turn) Gave 20 turns during Crimbo 2019 only
Salty Dogs	Effect	10%		Obtained from using a sea salt crystal (5 turns) or eating salty sushi (10 turns).
Sea Guts	Effect	?%		Obtained from eating a bowl of mernudo (30 turns) Crimbo 2019 only

Dolphins

Dolphins steal an item with a chance equal to the base chance of you getting the item, multiplied by the pressure penalty. So, if an item has a 30% drop rate, in a 50% pressure zone, dolphins will steal it 15% of the time post-combat. However, dolphins can only collect an item if you wouldn't have gotten it anyway (because of this, if you can cap an item to 100% drop rate, dolphins will never steal it). The steal rate does not change as your item increases: in the 15% example, if you have an adjusted 30% drop rate for the item, dolphins will steal it half as often as you get it, and if you had an 85% chance of getting it, dolphins will always steal it when you miss. It is important to note that despite the tie-in with the pressure, negating the pressure does not change the appearance rate of dolphins.
If multiple drops from a monster roll as being stolen by dolphins, then only one of those drops (at random) will actually be stolen, and the other will fail to drop entirely.

You are slowed too much by the water, and a stupid dolphin swims up and snags <an item> before you can grab it. As it swims away, it flippers you off. What a jerk! or As it swims away, it wags its fluke as if to say 'fluke you, Adventurer.' Man. That dolphin is a jerk. or To add additional insult to insult, it sprays you in the face with a blast from its blowhole as it swims away. Man, dolphins suck.

In order to get the item, you must use a dolphin whistle from Big Brother and beat up the dolphin who stole your item.

While wearing Dolph Bossin's Crimbo hat, dolphins sometimes will return the latest stolen item after every successful combat with the following message:

A dolphin swims up, nods to your hat, and bats an item toward you.

You acquire... something. [[Data:{{{item}}}]]

Immunities

CLEESH

All monsters encountered while underwater are immune to CLEESHing. This includes special holiday encounters such as the Feast of Boris monsters. Trying to cast CLEESH on any of the monsters gives the message:

"You cast CLEESH at your opponent, but it apparently doesn't work on things that already live underwater."

Pickpocket

All items found on undersea monsters are, by default, unable to be pickpocketed. This includes pickpocket, divine crackers, and V for Vivala mask critical hit item steal.

Exceptions to this rule are bazookafish bubble gums, bottles of Alewife™ Ale and booze slugs from monsters in The Dive Bar.

Yellow Ray

Since most underwater item drops are pickpocket-immune, any effects that disintegrate an underwater monster will not force its items to drop. The only exception to this is the pulled yellow taffy.

Stealing items with Using the Force does, however, work on most Sea items.

Feel Envy does not work underwater.

Familiars

To adventure underwater, your familiar must be able to breathe underwater. Otherwise, this message appears:

"You can't adventure there now -- <familiar name> wouldn't be able to breathe!"

Most familiars cannot breathe underwater without help in one of the following forms:

Name	Type	Notes
das boot	Familiar equipment	-10 to Familiar Weight
Driving Waterproofly	Effect (Asdon Martin)	30 Adventures. Costs 37 fuel.
little bitty bathysphere	Familiar equipment	-20 to Familiar Weight
Wet Willied	Effect (willyweed)	30 Adventures. Sent by your pen pal.

Water-breathing familiars are innately able to breathe underwater and don't need your help. The following are the only water-breathing familiars in the game:

ID	Familiar	Effect	Underwater bonus
8	Barrrnacle	Delevels at the start of combat.
30	Emo Squid	Combines the properties of a Levitating Potato and a Barrrnacle.
100	Cuddlefish	75% Levitating Potato and 75% Ghuol Whelp on land.	100% Levitating Potato and 150% Ghuol Whelp underwater.
102	Imitation Crab	Attacks enemies 4 times per round. Caps at 10 damage per hit on land or 20 with imitation whetstone.	No damage cap underwater.
104	Magic Dragonfish	Boosts Spell Damage% equal to Weight x2. Damage bonus caps at 50 pounds (+100%) on land.	Spell damage bonus uncapped underwater.
106	Midget Clownfish	Sleaze alignment Star Starfish: 100% Star Starfish on land.	150% Star Starfish underwater.
114	Rock Lobster	Hot alignment Star Starfish: 100% Star Starfish on land; sometimes drops floaty sand at the end of combat.	150% Star Starfish underwater.
115	Urchin Urchin	Acts as a full Leprechaun on both land and sea.
116	Grouper Groupie	Acts as a full Baby Gravy Fairy on both land and sea.
117	Squamous Gibberer	Acts as a full Levitating Potato and Ghuol Whelp. Also grants bonus rollover adventures like the Wild Hare	Bonus rollover adventures counter is counted double while underwater.
119	Dancing Frog	Acts as a full Leprechaun/Baby Gravy Fairy.	Water-breathing with amphibious tophat equipped.
162	Reagnimated Gnome	Acts as a Baby Gravy Fairy.	Water-breathing with gnomish swimmer's ears equipped.
172	Adorable Space Buddy	Acts as a Spooky Lime/Ghuol Whelp with huge stat bonus every 300 combats.
209	Space Jellyfish	Drains your enemies and makes "delicious" jelly, delevels and grants the jump at start of combat.	100% Volleyball and 100% Baby Gravy Fairy underwater, plus some surprises.
211	Robortender	Acts as a Leprechaun, grants PvP fights, discovers new cocktail ingredients and more.	Water-breathing if fed either low tide martini or Bloody Nora.
266	God Lobster	Acts as a Volleyball or other basic familiars with familiar equipment. Gives 3 free fights per day that give familiar equipment, buffs, or experience.
275	Red-Nosed Snapper	Acts as a Baby Gravy Fairy. Allows you to track phylum-aligned monsters, and drops items based on the tracked monster type.	150% Baby Gravy Fairy underwater.

Familiar Equipment

Certain special pieces of familiar equipment have unique effects when adventuring underwater:

Equipment	Effect
fishy wand	Causes damage or produces meat sometimes
Li'l Businessman Kit	Produces a sand dollar sometimes
oversized fish scaler	Produces a dull fish scale sometimes

Underwater-specific items and effects

Besides the pressure penalty mitigation effects and familiar equipment listed above, there are other items and effects which operate differently underwater.

Source	Source Type	Underwater effects	Duration	Cost	Prereq	Notes
Anemoney clip	Accessory	+50% Meat Drops (Underwater only)	Always		15 Mys	+25% Meat from Monsters (when not underwater)
Busker Do	Effect	Acquire a sand dollar at the end of every underwater combat.	30 turns		None	Obtained from visiting The Bandshell 1/day
Colorfully Concealed	Item	Monsters will be less attracted to you. (Underwater only)	10 turns	Item loss	None	Obtained from Mer-kin hidepaint
Crocodile Tear	Item	Familiar weight +10 lbs (underwater only)	15 turns	Item loss	None	Obtained from temporary teardrop tattoo
eelskin shield	Off-Hand Item	Damages Attacking Opponent (Underwater Only)	Always		85 Musc	Maximum HP/MP +55
eelskin hat	Hat	Damages Attacking Opponent (Underwater Only)	Always		85 Mys	Spell Damage +15%
eelskin pants	Pants	Damages Attacking Opponent (Underwater Only)	Always		85 Mox	Mysticality +5%
Emotion Sickness	Item	Item drops: +X% Item drops from Monsters Meat drops: +2X% Meat drops from Monsters	5/50 turns	Item loss 1 Spleen or 3 Spleen	None	Obtained from bottle of melodramamine/bottle of extra-strength melodramamine X is equal to 25 minus your Drunkenness, minimally 0.
Eyes of the Dragon	Effect	Item Drops: +100% Item Drops from Monsters (Underwater only)	20 turns		None	Obtained from Dragon the Line
Familial Ties	Effect	Familiar weight +10 lbs (underwater only)	30 turns		None	Obtained from visiting The Eclectic Eels 1/day
Fishbreath	Item	Monsters in The Briniest Deepests flip out, increasing their attack. Allows shark cartilage, eel battery and temporary teardrop tattoo to drop.	5 turns	Item loss	None	Obtained from Bazookafish bubble gum +15 Stench Damage
Fishy	Several (items + effect)	Underwater adventures take one turn instead of two	Varies	Varies	Varies	Many sources, see the Fishy page for details. The Warm Belly effect grants 10 additional turns of Fishy when eating either sushi or fish meat.
Dancing Dolphins folder	Accessory	+50% Item Drops (Underwater only)	Always	over-the-shoulder Folder Holder	None	Other enchantments determined by folders in 2 other folder slots
Catfish folder	Accessory	+15 to Familiar Weight (Underwater only)	Always	over-the-shoulder Folder Holder	None	Other enchantments determined by folders in 2 other folder slots
Glowing esca	Off-hand item	Item Drops: +20% from Monsters (Underwater only)	Always		85 Mys	Obtained from Fisherfish
Greased-Up Familiar	Item	Familiar weight +5 lbs (underwater only)	40 turns	Item loss	None	Obtained from sea grease
It's Electric!	Item	Damages Attacking Opponent (30-40 damage above water, 60-80 damage underwater)	15 turns	Item loss	None	Obtained from eel battery
Mer-kin begsign	Off-Hand Item	+40% Meat Drops from Monsters (Underwater only)	Always		85 Mys	Delevels opponent on attack
Mer-kin dragbelt	Accessory	+20 Muscle Stat(s) Per Fight (Underwater Only)	Always		85 Mus	Combat Initiative -25%
Mer-kin eyeglasses	Accessory	+20 Mysticality Stat(s) Per Fight (Underwater Only)	Always		85 Mys	Maximum MP -300
Mer-kin gutgirdle	Accessory	+20 Moxie Stat(s) Per Fight (Underwater Only)	Always		85 Mox	Maximum HP -300
Mer-kin hookspear	Weapon (1H, melee)	Extracts 15-20% of the monster's base Meat drop on the first critical hit of the fight (25-35% Underwater)	Always		85 Mus	Combat Initiative +20% Bonus Weapon Damage +40
Mer-kin sneakmask	Hat	Monsters will be less attracted to you. (Underwater only)	Always		85 Mox	Moxie +5% Combat Initiative +30%
Mer-kin stopwatch	Off-Hand Item	+50% Combat Initiative (Underwater Only)	Always		85 Mys	+3 Adventure(s) per day when equipped
Mer-kin takebag	Off-Hand Item	Item Drops: +5% Item Drops From Monsters (+15% Underwater)	Always		85 Mys
octopus's spade	Weapon (1H, melee)	Enables the Sunken, Buried adventure in An Octopus's Garden	Always		85 Musc	+5% Item Drops from Monsters Combat Initiative +10% Weapon Damage +15
pearl diver's necklace	Accessory	+30% Item Drops from Monsters (Underwater only)	Always		85 Mys	+4% Chance of Critical Hit +20 to Monster Level
pearl diver's ring	Accessory	+20% Item Drops from Monsters (Underwater only)	Always		85 Mys	+3% Chance of Critical Hit +15 to Monster Level
Peppermint harpoon gun	Weapon (2H, ranged)	Weapon Damage +100 (Underwater only)	Always		None	During the events of Crimbo 2019, it additionally gave +100% Item Drops from Monsters (Underwater Only).
plush sea serpent	Accessory	-100 to Monster Level (Underwater only)	Always		None	Obtained from PirateRealm Fun-a-Log Damage Reduction: 10
Possessive Pressure	Item	+30% Item Drops (Underwater only)	5/10/15 turns	Item loss	None	Obtained from Pressurized potion of possessiveness
Red Around the Gills	Item	Regenerate 140-150 HP and MP per fight (Underwater only)	25 turns	Item loss	None	Obtained from Mer-kin lipstick
Sea cape	Back Item	+50% Combat Initiative (Underwater Only) +15% Chance of Critical Hit (Underwater Only)	Always		85 Mox	Moxie +5% Maximum HP/MP +30
Sea mantle	Back Item	+150% Physical Damage (Underwater Only)	Always		85 Mus	Muscle +10% Maximum MP +50
Sea Seeing	Item	+30% Item Drops from Monsters (Underwater only)	20 turns	Item loss	None	Obtained from Mer-kin eyedrops
Sea shawl	Back Item	+150% Spell Damage (Underwater Only)	Always		85 Mys	Mysticality +15% Maximum HP +100
straw hat	Hat	Enables the In the Shade adventure in An Octopus's Garden	Always		85 Mox	+10% Item Drops from Monsters +15% Food Drops from Monsters +15% Booze Drops from Monsters
Swimming Head	Effect	Item Drops: +25% Item Drops from Monsters (Underwater only)	30 turns		None	Obtained from visiting A Merry-Go Round 1/day
Trusty seahorse	Special	Combat Initiative effectively increased by +100% (Underwater only)	Always		None	You must tame a wild seahorse by using 3 sea cowbells followed by a sea lasso while having 20 lasso skill.
Ze™ goggles	Hat	Item Drops: +25% from Monsters (Underwater only)	Always		None	Found while diving for treasure in an Olympic-Sized Swimming Pool

Combat Items

Some combat items work differently or only when used underwater:

• Imitation crab meat
• Ink bladder
• intact anemone spike
• Live nautical mine
• Mer-kin killscroll, Mer-kin pinkslip and Mer-kin healscroll have special effects on mer-kin enemies.
• Mer-kin sawdust
• Pool torpedo
• various colours of pulled taffy
• S.A.V.E. flyer
• underwater slingshot

Notes

• Violet Fog flashbacks can happen even if you lack the ability to breathe underwater.
• An extremely helpful guide to Seaventuring was compiled by cannonfire40 and is available here.
• The May 22, 2013 trivial update rescinded the previously existing 10 turn refractory period between dolphin whistles. You can now obtain any item a dolphin steals, regardless of how often he appears.