News
Diving under the ice
Ice diving is one of the most adventurous types of diving and is a great way to immerse yourself in environments few other people ever get to see. It is challenging, different from most other types of recreational diving, and one to add to your liveaboard diving wish list for 2019.
Why go ice diving?
Ice diving offers the chance to experience dive sites like no other and enjoy marine life encounters you can’t find elsewhere. Surrounded by blue water and ice formations, there is nowhere as peaceful as under the ice.
Where can you go ice diving?
The Arctic and Antarctica are two of the best places to go ice diving. These unique destinations offer exceptional wildlife watching opportunities, varied diving and the chance to visit some of Earth’s last wilderness areas.
Antarctica
You can go ice diving around the Antarctic Peninsula and Weddell Sea during Antarctica liveaboard diving cruises, plus explore iconic destinations such as the Falkland Islands and South Shetland Islands. A liveaboard safari to South Georgia and the Sandwich Islands is not to be missed to explore areas that have never been dived before. These wild and remote areas are teeming with wildlife and dive trips include zodiac diving, shore dives, wall dives and ice dives.
The M/V Plancius and Ortelius both offer Antarctica dive safaris and diving is available during November to March.
The Arctic
Ice diving in the Arctic is more accessible than Antarctica for most people and the best dive sites are reached by Arctic liveaboard diving. There are varied dives on offer, including at Norway’s remote Svalbard archipelago, and you can enjoy ice diving, boat dives and even wreck dives. It is also possible to dive Scoresby Sund in Greenland; the world’s largest fjord system. Reaching depths of up to 1450 meters, this fjord is a unique liveaboard diving destination with ice and boat-based diving on offer.
The M/V Plancius offers Arctic liveaboard diving, with Scoresby Sund diving available during certain itineraries.
What can you see when ice diving?
A better question would be what can’t you see when exploring the Arctic and Antarctica. These species-rich destinations offer something for everyone to enjoy.
Antarctica hosts numerous seals, penguins, diverse bird life and around 15 whale species. Dive there and you have the chance to see sea lions, leopard seals and fur seals, plus various fish species and invertebrates. There are sea caves to explore, ice formations, kelp walls and bright blue water to immerse yourself in.
Head north to Spitsbergen and you can see equally diverse marine life, including invertebrates and plentiful fish, sea lions, bearded seals, walruses and various whale species. If you visit Scoresby Sund you might even get to see narwhals and beluga whales.
Can anyone try ice diving?
If you want to try ice diving you’ll need to be a PADI Advanced Open Water diver (or equivalent) and have a minimum of 30 logged dives. You also need to be experienced in cold water and dry suit diving.
How do ice divers stay warm?!
The water temperature in Antarctica is typically 0°C (32 °F), whilst the Arctic water temperature ranges from 5°C (41 °F) to 0°C (32 °F), dropping to -1°C (30.2°F) at Scoresby Sund. However, you shouldn’t be cold when ice diving. By using the right equipment and exposure protection, you can stay warm when diving and afterwards.
What dive gear do you need to go ice diving?
You need to bring your own dive gear, suitable for polar diving, if you want to join an Antarctic or Arctic liveaboard diving cruise. Your gear should include a dry suit, appropriate thermal undersuit, hood, gloves, boots, fins, buoyancy control device, mask, snorkel, dive computer, octopus set-up and weight belt. Other equipment that is recommended includes a compass, dive knife and underwater torch.
Discover liveaboard diving holiday solutions around the world at Liveaboard.com.
Blogs
TRAVEL BLOG: Jeff Goodman Dives SOMABAY, Part 3
Today we are diving one of the outer reefs from an inflatable. As we reach the bottom, a reef octopus eases its way into the cover of a small crack in the coral while displaying it’s incredible ability to change colour. They are arguably one of the most charismatic of reef dwellers and it is always exciting for me to simply hover and watch. I would have spent longer and waited for it to come and investigate me, but as dive time is limited we wanted to move on and find a turtle.
The waters around Somabay are well protected and hold a rich variety of marine life. The reef edges are thriving colonies of coral and shoaling fish, while nearer the sea bed plenty of wildlife is still to be found.
Then we located the turtles. They are very used to divers and so show little concern when slowly approached. In fact occasionally one will come over to see what you are doing. There is always huge excitement when diving with a turtle. The shear thrill of sharing a moment with another species.
What a fantastic way to finish a wonderful few days diving and I would like to thank SOMABAY, ORCA DIVING and THE BREAKERS for making my stay such a good one.
I had a great time, with diving everyday either on the house reef or on one of the offshore reefs by inflatable or larger day boat. Orca diving provided high quality equipment and facilities while the staff were all very friendly and welcoming. The Breakers was right on the coast with nice rooms, good food and once again friendly staff making the whole trip a real pleasure.
Soma Bay covers an entire peninsula and is home to several resorts as well as residential compounds.
As well as scuba diving, Somabay caters for many other sports and activities, and so is perfect for families as well as individuals and/or groups. And of course there is always time to lay peacefully on the beach under the Egyptian sun.
Book your next Red Sea dive adventure with SOMABAY! For more information, visit www.somabay.com.
Stay at the Breakers Diving & Surfing Lodge when you visit! For more information, visit www.thebreakers-somabay.com.
Find out more about ORCA Dive Clubs at SOMABAY at www.orca-diveclubs.com/en/soma-bay-en.
Blogs
TRAVEL BLOG: Jeff Goodman Dives SOMABAY, Part 2
Day three of my trip to Somabay and we were spending the day on the Lady Christina and diving on the wreck of the Salem Express.
Diving wrecks for me is always one of mixed emotions. The excitement of diving a wreck is more than often tempered by the thought of loss of life when she sank. The Salem Express was a passenger ship and a roll-on/roll-off ferry travelling from Jeddah, Saudi Arabia to Safaga, Egypt. Most passengers were of poor class travelling home from their holidays while around 150 people were returning home from their pilgrimage to Mecca.
The ship struck a reef and sank within 20 minutes. Passengers were trapped below deck and the ship was filled with fear and panic.
The wreck area is strewn with personal belongings from the crew and passengers such as a transistor radio and a flat iron for clothes. A diver at sometime has put them in a prominent place to be seen.
Tragically only one life boat was launched while the others went down with the ship. More than 600 men, women and children lost their lives here.
It’s a stark reminder that the sea can be unforgiving and so when we dive on such wrecks we should do so with humble regard.
Returning to the surface, shoals of fish are gathered under our boat and seem to be welcoming us back into the light.
Back at the Breakers I sat in the dining area with a beer and a very good meal while my thoughts still remained with the day’s dive on the Salem Express.
Check in for part 3 tomorrow for Jeff’s last day of diving with Somabay on the off-shore reefs looking for turtles.
Book your next Red Sea dive adventure with SOMABAY! For more information, visit www.somabay.com.
Stay at the Breakers Diving & Surfing Lodge when you visit! For more information, visit www.thebreakers-somabay.com.
Find out more about ORCA Dive Clubs at SOMABAY at www.orca-diveclubs.com/en/soma-bay-en.
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