Diving in a natural medium modifies the equilibrium and perception of the body. Divers – often convinced to practice a safe activity – expose themselves to potentially mortal risks. On the basis of an ethnographic survey the author shows that this sport leaves room for an infringement of norms where risk is progressively neutralized. This implies that divers master the neutralization techniques that enable them paradoxically to maintain a normative system and to violate it at the same time. Infringement of safety norms thus appears to be an individual act rather than a behaviour determined by the divers’ social organization.