The Coldest Plunge - Antarctica
The leopard seal charges the group, stopping inches from my face. He then tips his head back, exposing a row of icicle-like teeth lining the cave of his mouth.
Although this might seem like an aggressive gesture, I know this seal is simply playing, thanks to the lessons that Göran Ehlmé our guide and one of the world's foremost experts on these animals delivered before we suited up to dive off Pleneau Island, situated on the southwestern side of the Lemaire Channel in Antarctica. In addition to offering encounters with leopard seals, Antarctica offers opportunities to glide alongside barn-size icebergs, swim with chinstrap penguins, minke whales and other wildlife found nowhere else, test the limits of the sport in near-freezing water temperatures, and learn from those stationed here for research.
First we launched from our home base for the trip, a former Russian expedition vessel, and cruised the bergs in our Zodiac, threading around sculpted blocks with deep-blue furrows and feathered edges. Then we anchored next to one its side dimpled like a golf ball and dropped into the water, sliding down it to the bottom at 85 feet. There were spires of white and small pockets of cobalt, all of it glistening as if it had been rubbed with oil.
Diving Antarctica requires additional precautions due to the extreme environment. Water temperatures plummet to 28 degrees Fahrenheit near the freezing point for saltwater. For this reason, divers slather Vaseline on their lips to prevent them from freezing when in contact with the water. The initial plunge stings the face like a thousand pin pricks, but one grows accustomed quickly. One glimpse of the icebergs from beneath the water washes away any thoughts of discomfort and reveals why this is a must dive of a lifetime.
Quick Guide Antarctica dive trips depart from Ushuaia, Tierra del Fuego, Argentina reached via Buenos Aires. Amos Nachoum's Big Animals Photography Expeditions (biganimals.com) offers both a 24-day, 8-passenger trip aboard the 75-foot Pelagic Australis sailboat, and a 12-day, 45-passenger Antarctic Peninsula trip aboard the 210-foot expedition vessel Aleksey Maryshev. Oceanwide Expeditions' (oceanwide-expeditions.com) small, specially designed expedition ships allow remote access to Antarctica.
