5 cold-water adventures

By Megan Padilla

updated 7:08 p.m. ET Nov. 2, 2005

Mission Possible
Thermal underwear: check. Drysuit: check. Gloves and hood: check, check. Two sets of environmentally sealed regulators: check. Gearing up for a cold-water dive is a lot like planning an undercover mission — preparation is essential for success. As divers, we’re lucky; we can acquire the skills and special gear to mastermind our own mission to alien environments. Whether to an inland lake in our own backyard or a journey to the end of the world, every cold-water dive takes on the exploratory shades of an expedition.

ANTARCTIC: Lifetime Bragging Rights
Nearly 90 years ago, explorer Sir Earnest Shackleton and his crew set out to attempt the first crossing of the Antarctic continent by foot. But before they even reached its shore, their objective swiftly shifted to survival when their ship, the Endurance, became trapped and was slowly crushed by ice. Shackleton and a skeleton crew set out on an 800-mile open-ocean crossing in a lifeboat followed by a 22-mile walk across the treacherous and uncharted South Georgia Island to reach the whaling station at Stromness, a rescue mission that saved the lives of all 28 crew who’d been stranded on Elephant Island for 138 days. Their story of endurance and survival against all odds stoked the world’s imagination then, and it still burns today.

Their story would be different if they set out today. First, they probably wouldn’t be stranded for too long. Tourism is inarguably Antarctica’s premier growth industry: Just a few years ago, more than 13,000 tourists visited, many no doubt inspired by the legend of the Endurance and its crew. Further, today’s explorers travel in vessels ranging from Russian icebreakers to expedition cruise ships with hulls strengthened to withstand ice.

And while a ship is essential to experiencing the singularity of Antarctic’s extremes, recreational divers who are drysuit-skilled and equipped with cold-water dive gear are the ones holding the golden ticket. They can slip into holes created and kept open by Weddell seals (divers sometimes have to hold a safety stop while seals fill their lungs at the hole) and snorkel alongside icebergs the size of a city block. Divers can abandon the observation platforms where landlubbers are wrapped like mummies, gripping binoculars through which they peer at leopard seals hunting their penguin prey. Instead, divers can join the seals as playmates (or playthings?), plastic fins being nipped by pinnipeds and ports being poked by curious noses.

Slide show   A Mermaid’s Playground Presented by Sport Diver Magazine. more photos

OK, so jumping into 28°F water feels like your blood is crackling to a halt inside your veins and a million needles are pricking the thin line of exposed skin around your lips. But the sensation soon passes, and the payoff is sublime.

That goes for above the water, too. The frozen contnent is surrounded by the Southern Ocean, where an abundance of plankton supports the world’s largest concentration of marine wildlife. Millions of seabirds, penguins, seals and whales appear in glorious abundance with the coming of the Southern Hemisphere’s spring season. Always be on the lookout for orcas spyhopping through the broken ice, their bodies thrust vertically, high above the water, as they scan for prey. If a humpback appears, guard your spot at the rail and wait. An entire pod may be nearby.

Ports of call may include South Georgia Island, home to the wandering albatross — the world’s largest flying bird — and an enormous king penguin colony (over 100,000 strong). Though this island was once a major whaling station it is now mostly uninhabited. King penguins are now the only pedestrians on the streets of  Grytviken, a former fishing village. And at King Edward’s Point is the lonely grave of Shackleton, who died on a later expedition — a poignant reminder of one of the Antarctic’s most enduring stories.

MUST DO

Jail at the End of the World
Criminals not only built the jail, but those with good behavior were rewarded with paid work outside. Ushuaia literally grew up around the jail — now an informative museum called Museo Maritimo y ex Presidio de Ushuaia and a potent symbol of Ushuaia’s colonization.

FOR MORE INFORMATION

Ultimate Antarctica With Sport Diver: Fast Facts
Dates: Dec. 27, 2006-Jan. 17, 2007 Must be a PADI advanced diver with at least 20 drysuit dives logged Maximum 44 guests (divers and nondivers) aboard the 210-foot Grigoriy Mikheev Up to 14 days of diving, with one or two dives per day, conditions permitting Excursions to visit with penguins, albatross and seals Glacier hikes and trekking along Shackleton’s route on South Georgia Island Trip begins and ends in Ushuaia, Argentina Web: www.sportdiver.com/adventures

CLEAR LAKE, OREGON: Clarity in the Cascades
If you could pull the plug on Oregon’s Clear Lake, you’d be hiking through a 3,000-year-old petrified forest, preserved by the cold, mineral-free water and light currents that course through its depths. But since the lake is fed by snow runoff that passes through miles of volcanic rock and is contained by a dam formed from lava flow as old as the submerged forest itself, this mystical realm is exclusive to scuba divers — who must feel like birds aloft an ancient forest canopy. Divers brave the year-round 40ºF (give or take a couple of degrees) to explore this lake, where visibility regularly exceeds 200 feet.

Only two hours east of Salem, Oregon, and at an elevation of 3,100 feet, Clear Lake is part of the headwaters of the McKenzie River, known to kayakers for its rapids and to day hikers for its varied beauty, including some exceptional waterfalls. In the surrounding streams, forests and hills, people have found arrowheads, fish-eyed agates, seventy different kinds of petrified wood, fossilized leaves and crystal geodes. Landlubbers picnic around Clear Lake or fish for stocked trout, all the while being astonished by blue-green water clear enough to see to the bottom. But it’s divers who are the lucky ones: By layering thermals and donning drysuits they immerse themselves in one of diving’s rarest sensations —the near absence of life and sound.

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