The coldest place on earth, and the site of 24 hours of sunlight in summer and 24 hours of darkness during the winter, Antarctica is also an amazing place to dive. While diving here does involve plunging into freezing cold water, sometimes during adverse weather conditions, and while it is often unpredictable, it is home to incredible marine life and wildlife; plus special equipment can help make the environment more comfortable to explore. Let’s take a look.
Conditions, Equipment, and Qualifications
Every year, ice and weather conditions change; conditions are never the same from year to year, in this land of the Southern Lights, or Aurora Australis. As dive sites are remote, and conditions are challenging, only experienced divers will find themselves capable of enjoying all the continent’s waters have to offer.
Normally, diving is conducted on the East Antarctic Peninsula, as there are many islets to explore, which offer the advantage of protection from outside conditions and predictably calm conditions. The Antarctic summer, between November and March, is the best time to dive.
Expect to experience water temperatures between 28 and 34 degrees Fahrenheit; even though temperatures are often below “freezing”, the sea water here has high salinity which allows it to remain in a liquid state. Early in the season, before the plankton blooms, visibility can be as far as hundreds of feet, and even at the end of the season, visibility is fair, usually between 40 and 80 feet. Topside temperatures during the summer are normally in the 30’s during the daytime and in the 20’s at night, when the sun is closest to the horizon. Despite these freezing cold temperatures, sunscreen is an absolute must. The hole in the ozone layer is situated directly above Antarctica, and there is no atmospheric protection to help keep your skin from burning.
The ice in the Antarctic is like a living thing; rather than being a static sheet, it is always in motion. Certain bays and fjords may be open during some years and inaccessible at other times. Every dive offers opportunities for challenge and discovery; don’t be surprised if you learn that you and your companions are the very first divers ever to visit a site! Usually, sites are accessed via Zodiac. You may find yourself exploring floes, diving from barren beaches, or inspecting the vast, monolithic sides of ancient icebergs, where the colors and play of light are simply spectacular. Most of the time, sites are fairly shallow, just 10-20 meters deep. Diving outside recreational depths is basically unheard of, as the combination of DCS and cold can prove to be fatal, particularly as the Antarctic is such a remote place.
Divers hoping to experience an Antarctic expedition must hold advanced qualifications with experience in deep diving, wreck diving, night diving, and underwater navigation; and if you’re not a qualified ice diver, you must have completed a dry suit diving course prior to your trip.
Besides accumulating experience prior to diving the Antarctic, you’ll need to accumulate and practice diving in special equipment designed to keep you as warm and comfortable as possible. Layering is important; beneath your drysuit, you will need not just one, but two layers of thermal wear. A hooded drysuit is best, and an extra hood should be worn. A drysuit with attached gloves and boots is best, and although dexterity will be affected, inner gloves can help prevent hand pain from setting in and ending a dive early. Here, your level of cold and pain tolerance often dictates the length of your dives, rather than concerns about air levels.
In addition, you will need to use double tank valves equipped with independent primary regulators, each with sealed primary stages. Redundancy is vital. Be sure all your electronic devices have fresh batteries, and carry spares, as the cold temperatures here can cause low battery electronics to fail.
Be prepared – your air intake will increase, your manual dexterity will probably decrease, and your responses may be slower than normal. In addition, you will find that fatigue sets in on these cold dives much sooner than it normally does. Depending on your level of experience and conditions, you will probably be able to make between one and three dives per day.
Your dive operator will provide you with a complete list of required and recommended equipment – be sure to take advantage of the advice they offer and remember that staying dry and warm is your first priority.
Marine Life and Wildlife
The Antarctic is home to a surprisingly fantastic array of marine life, including sea snails and sea butterflies, which are translucent swimming sea snails without shells, many different crabs and other crustaceans, sponges, squid, jellyfish, and finned fish, including some cryptic species which blend in very well with their surroundings. Nudibranchs are here in abundance, as are gastropods and limpets. The sea stars are amazing; often enormous, they thrive in a rainbow of colors.
Fortunate divers may even encounter diving penguins and albatross, along with leopard seals, fur seals, and the placid Weddell Seals which have catlike faces with smiling, upturned mouths; in addition, you may hear whales vocalizing or even catch a glimpse of them as you explore. Humpback whales are often seen feeding; as you transit from one site to the next, an excited shout of “Whales!” begins what can sometimes be extended periods of whale watching, in which you’ll see these immense, yet graceful creatures breaching, diving, and often coming right up to your boat. Sadly, their numbers are dwindling; where once hundreds of whales could be seen, groups of two or three are most commonly encountered. The Blue, Minke, and Orca whales which once traversed the area annually are now gone.
While expeditions to the Antarctic must be set up well in advance, the possibility does exist for itinerary changes due to weather and ice conditions. The companies that provide tours are extremely safety oriented, and do everything possible to prevent accidents from occurring. A camera and basic photography knowledge are essential, as you’ll be given the opportunity to spend time exploring the topside environment as well as the underwater world. When you visit the scientific stations, expect to be warmly welcomed, regaled with tales of adventures, and provided with insight from some of the world’s most knowledgeable and friendly Antarctic experts. A once in a lifetime opportunity, a visit to the Ice Kingdom is one excursion you will never forget.