Diving in Antarctica

Our main reason to visit Antarctica was for diving. So we could not wait to go into the ice-cold water. Diving in the Antarctic is quite an undertaking. You will dive, two times a day, from Zodiacs under sometimes tough conditions.

Divers will get briefings during all stages of the trip. During the first briefing all regulators are checked by the dive guides. You should have a maximum of 5 hoses connected to two first stages. This is rule number one for diving here. Frozen regulators can cause massive problems. So always have a backup set ready.
To prevent you from accidents by frozen stages one first stage has to be connected with your BCD, the other one to your drysuit. Because of the temperature of the water drysuits are mandatory. You will also be briefed about the do’s and dont’s while diving in Antarctica.

Before each dive the divers will get a mandatory briefing about the divesite. For photographers it’s wise to ask upfront what the divesite will be like; is it a wideangle site or is it a critters site? Diving scheadules are very busy and you will have to prepare your camera upfront the briefing.

The tour the ship will make and the divesites that will be visited can not be determined up front. Of course there is a planning made by the expedition leader, but it’s alway possible that this planning is not met. Every trip to Antarctica is an expedition. Ice, local weather etc. can and will always influence the trip. Divers will have the possibility to make a maximum of ten dives; if weather allows.

Our first dive of this trip is made on Deception Island. In history this Island takes an important place. One of the main explorers in the area, Shakleton stranded on this Island in his attempt to reach the south pole.
The first dive of each trip is always a check-up dive. Because diving here is very extreem the dive leader will choose an easy spot to enter the water. First to check wether the equipment is working well. After this check we go under.
During this first dive we really got a good impression of diving the Antarctic sea. Beautifull starfish, anemones welcome us in their world. Some divers are lucky to meet Seals underwater during this first dive.

Diving in the Antarctic sea is very divers. During one of our next dives we visited the wreck of an old Whaling vessel. In clear water we could see the wreck very well. On the wreck we found a lot of beautifull sponges.

Ice diving is an important part of the dives we made. Every time the dive-leader searched for suitable Icebergs to dive around. Diving around the ice can be dangerous.To minimize the risk they search for an ice berg that is stable standing on the ground. Diving around other icebergs may increase the chance that it wil roll over while diving around it.

Diving around the Ice had made an enourmous impression on all divers on board. Every Ice berg has a different structure and color. With the sun shining on it you will be impressed by the beautiful colors it will get.
In time the form of the Ice is changing; During one of our dives we found one that almost had the form of a face. We laughed about this back on board; we really found the Ice-face.

For divers who love to search for critters there is enough to see. Starfishes can be found in very different colors. Also anemones get beautifull colors here. Shrimps, nudibranches, isopods, small fishes are only a brief list of what you can see here.

For wide angle fotographers the antarctic is absolutely a treat. The Ice bergs we mentioned are nice fotoobjects. But also the ice-fish we encountered was amazing with it’s bright orange color. And of course diving with seals. Several sorts of seals can be found in the Antarctic. We had the pleasure to find some elefant seals and some weddel seals during our trips around the ice.