Ice Diving is no sport for the warm-blooded, nor for the faint of heart, but for those divers who do enjoy it, Hokkaido is an excellent place to do so. The northernmost of Japan’s major islands, Hokkaido is surrounded by pristine ocean and has a landscape that includes mountains that soar up to touch the sky. Each winter, ice floes that originate in Siberia’s Amur River are blown to Hokkaido, across the Russian Sea of Okhotsk. Don your dry suit, and let’s take a dive beneath the ice floes.
Diving Hokkaido’s Ice Floes
As the ice floes travel to Japan from Siberia, their edges soften, and their profiles become more rounded. On sunny days, the sun penetrates, causing the blue and green hues to intensify, and creating the perfect opportunity for photos.
While there are quite a few smaller chunks of ice to dive around and between, the largest portions of the ice floe are enormous platforms between 30 centimeters and two meters thick. Dive operators use chainsaws to cut enormous triangular holes for entry and exit, after which divers plunge into the icy depths, where visibility is best near the surface. Divers normally remain at depths no greater than 15 meters, and as temperatures are between 0 and -2 degrees Celsius, the average dive lasts no longer than about 10 minutes.
While you might see a few fish while ice diving here, the real star of the show are the sea angels, or clione. Tiny swimming sea slugs whose feet have evolved into little wings, they are transparent – you can see their brains and organs inside their bodies.
In order to ice dive at Hokkaido, you don’t need to be qualified for diving in overhead environments, and you don’t even need to be certified prior to your trip, although being pre-qualified enhances enjoyment. Local dive operators offer one day, two dive programs for about twenty to thirty thousand Yen, and if you need to rent dry suits, BCD’s, masks, or fins, you’ll need to pay a bit more. Most programs offer lunch and freeze resistant regulators are normally provided.
In addition, PADI certification courses are offered, as are more extensive dive trips with several ice dives over the course of a weekend. Some of the same people have been doing the Hokkaido ice dive for years, but as the popularity of all types of diving in Japan increases, operators are seeing more newcomers.
There are fantastic bilingual dive operators and resorts here, many of which are happy to take large groups out for a day of fun on and under the ice floes. Be sure to bring lots of warm clothes, including long underwear, boots, and outerwear. Dive operators do set up warming tents on the ice so you can change after your ice dive, and at the end of the day, you can enjoy a soak at one of the traditional Japanese Onsen, or hot springs nearby. Be sure to make reservations in advance; and visit as soon as possible to experience better ice. In recent years, global warming has reduced the size of the ice floes, and until a solution to the problem is found, they are likely to continue to decrease in size.