Pongo watched impassionedly as the man stripped down and leapt into the water.  Flopping on his belly Pongo slid towards the water, building up a great deal of speed until he hit a small berm and was launched into the air. A second later the majestic penguin dove into the water with nary a splash. 

In several powerful strokes he was moving at a good clip. Bass are high in burst speed but are generally slower swimmers overall. However a Bass was faster than a penguin. But Pongo wasn’t worried about speed, he knew he had to go down 600 feet, and his body was designed for diving relatively deep, over a thousand feet.  As soon as he hit the water he was diving at a slow angle, even as fast as the human appeared to be, diving deep would be the issue as would be returning to the surface.

That was the insidious trap of the challenge, should the human contend with the Leopard seals he would rise fast . . . rise too fast and he would get the bends. Rise too slow and he would strain his oxygen and fatigue levels in the deeps. 

And then there was the matter of seeing the Orcas in the gloom at 600 feet. Even Pongo was limited but he was more adept at seeing at that depth than the human. Or was he? Only time would tell as he continued a steady pace at a down angle towards the thermal vents.