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Visiting Antarctica had been a goal of mine for a number of years – but it wasn’t until after I learnt to SCUBA dive (and discovered I really enjoyed it) that I thought of combining both!So with the knowledge I would soon be diving in Antarctica I bought a Poseidon drysuit, completed the PADI Drysuit specialty, and bought more clothes than I could ever have possibly needed (there was no way I was going to be cold)!!

I did complete a number of dives after my course, but decided I wouldn’t be comfortable enough with my drysuit to dive with it in such an extreme and unfamiliar environment, so I decided to take the snorkelling option on the trip instead.

The trip I chose was an eleven day cruise departing Ushuaia (Tierra del Fuego, South America) via the Beagle Channel, sailing south across the Drake Passage, down along the Antarctic peninsula, and turning around to return to Ushuaia just before reaching the Antarctic circle.

Due to the always unpredictable environment our diving itinerary was not actually set. Our highly skilled and experienced Dive Master Henrik Lovendahl (PADI Master Instructor) was to assess suitable locations as we sailed.

The first snorkelling opportunity was essentially planned as a checkout dive for the divers to confirm correct weight and dive with their buddies. At the start some of the divers had weight and leakage problems, so I helped them out first, which meant it was a while before I was able to slip into the water and fin out away from the zodiacs.

The incredibly cold water stung my face for the first few moments, but I was more than warm enough in my undergarments and drysuit. A couple of minutes after getting in I looked up to see some of the divers already climbing back into the zodiacs. It was then that I looked back down into the water to have the shock of my life, as a two metre Leopard Seal swam to within a couple of arm lengths of me!! It had a good look at me, and swum around slowly doing arcs and swimming upside down. I was so excited I was yelling out to the divers on the zodiacs, but unfortunately still had the snorkel in my mouth so no one could understand me. I eventually managed to let everyone know about the seal and some of the divers jumped back into the water to see the seal swim around me a few more times, and breach the surface. A number of times I could clearly see the seal turn and look directly at me.

In the excitement of the moment I forgot all about the information we had been provided with earlier in the shipboard briefing – the fact that Leopard Seals are predators who eat other seals. I shudder now to think how much like a juvenile seal I must have looked in my black drysuit, but it was a terribly exciting few minutes.

My next opportunity was another shallow dive for the divers to ensure they were properly weighted. The mooring point for our two zodiacs was on some rocks along the shore. I slipped into the water and finned out to a small iceberg a short distance away as I had been wanting to snorkel around an iceberg to have a close look at one underneath the water. The water was quite murky, but I did manage to see 4 small krill (or rather what I believe to be krill). The iceberg itself was extensively pock marked underneath the water – like a golf ball. The most interesting aspect was the millions of tiny bubbles coming from all over the berg, and occasionally larger ones. There was also a piece of rock frozen into and protruding a little from the berg below the water line. There were furrows and jagged edges, but I was unable to see how far below the surface the berg reached.

After a short time my left hand became quite numb, as I had not put my mitten on properly, so I returned to the shore. I did however take the opportunity of standing on the shore before we left. I was at that moment actually standing on Antarctica!!

My third experience was off a beach on Cuverville Island where there was a penguin rookery. The beach itself was pebbly and there were chunks of ice and bergy bits floating in the water. There were hundreds of penguins on the beach and many constantly darting in and out of the water. I had been snorkelling around for a while wishing desperately to see penguins underwater, but never really holding out much hope. Again the water was a little murky with visibility about 5 metres. Eventually I spied some penguins standing on a rock looking like they were about to enter the water, so I finned slowly and quietly over toward a big chunk of ice I was going to use as a covert vantage point. It was then that I happened to see a penguin dart past me about four metres away! It was so fast it wasn’t much more than a blur. I waited for a while longer, but wasn’t fortunate enough to see another so I returned to the zodiac.

Whilst snorkelling around the beach I also saw what I think were limpets on the rocks and kelp.

I had other opportunities to snorkel on the trip, but my experiences had been so enjoyable that I decided to do some of the other activities instead.

Some of the divers on the trip had been disappointed with the diving. It seemed that some had expected almost endless visibility and diving under sheets of ice. These were never promised or even alluded to in the brochures or at any time on the trip. I think it might have been a case of having seen too many diving under ice documentaries.

It must also be remembered that the diving was reasonably shallow near shores or in bays where there were sometimes many icebergs and big chunks of ice, factors which would no doubt have had some impact on the visibility.

My snorkelling experiences in Antarctica were nothing short of fantastic!!

It is impossible for me to convey in a few words anything more than a shadow of the experiences I had.

I would highly recommend the trip to anyone who would like a bit of an adventure, and to see what must truly be the most beautiful place on earth. You can even have your passport stamped ‘Antarctica’, which is definitely something to brag about!!

Water temperature was about 1 degree Celsius at the surface.

Visibility (at the surface) was between 2 metres and 5 metres.

Trip taken between 28/11/00 and 8/12/00. Tour company was Aurora Expeditions

Belinda