Diving in the Icy Waters of White Sea, Russia

You may have the skills for the usual scuba diving, but you might find it overwhelming to dive in an overhead environment, such as the White Sea in Russia. As it might be a new underwater world for you, you must have the ability to remain calm while diving in these waters. Here are things to keep in mind to ensure your ice-diving trip to this sea one of the most memorable experiences that you will have:

• Preparing the Right Equipment

Diving is on a single cylinder that is equipped with two outlet valves, so you should have a separate regulator for your secondary demand valve (octopus). It is also good for each regulator to have its own content gauge and your buoyancy control device (BCD) inflator to be attached to one regulator with the dry suit inflator to the other.

• Wearing Appropriate Suit

For this type of dive, it is best to wear a dry suit with an ice hood and dry gloves. No matter how many millimeters of neoprene it has, a wetsuit is not good for ice diving.

• Initial Breathing Underwater

Remember to place your ice diving regulator in your mouth only when your face is underwater, as breathing from it in cold temperatures in open air will turn the moisture from your breath to ice in your mouthpiece, causing a malfunction.

• Final Preparations Before Diving

Before you head down, you should acclimate yourself to the conditions by deflating your  BCD and drysuit, exhaling gently, easing yourself down, wedging yourself gently under the ice shelf and doing a final check of your equipment.

• Maintaining the Line and Communication

While you are diving, make sure you maintain constant contact with the line, while making sure you will not get entangled by holding it up and away from your body. Also, make sure that the right line tension is being maintained, as a loose line could mean that something is wrong with your tender, which can be a bad thing as this individual is very important in your dive. As you can see, this person holds onto the line and serves as your surface communication, pulling you out of the water in case of emergency situations.

By keeping these things in mind, you will be good to go for an ice dive in Russia’s White Sea!