The Arctic Kingdom Ice Diving Experience

June 15th, 2009 | By Nora Sawyer | Filed in ACTIVITIES, AK PRODUCTS & SERVICES, Dive Training, Diving, Gear, TECHNOLOGY

Following up on Brian’s post on ice diving, I thought I’d talk a little bit about what distinguishes Arctic Kingdom’s ice dive training and expeditions from all the other diving services out there. I’ve mentioned this before (in the context of this video), but it bears repeating: on the ice, the Airboat changes everything.

AK expedition members ice diving in Arctic Bay 2004

Most ice dives take place in frozen lakes — divers cut a hole in the ice, and dive from a single location, experiencing only the scenery and conditions one lake can offer. But after more than a decade diving in the Arctic, we just aren’t satisfied with those kinds of limitations. That’s why even our training dives offer more than just a hole in the ice. Our Ice Diving Course replicates the Arctic experience as closely as possible, using our state-of-the-art airboat to access a wide variety of dive sites beneath a variety of ice conditions.Taught through a series of mini expeditions, the course covers everything from dive site preparation to emergency scenarios and lost diver drills.

Film/Dive expedition in Galatee 2007

For both our training dives and our ice diving expeditions, the airboat opens up a whole new world of ice dive opportunities. Traveling via airboat, we’re able to travel safely across all sorts of ice conditions, accessing areas would otherwise be off limits to boats or snowmobiles.

Once we’re under water, another piece of gear comes to the fore: the rebreather. The AP rebreather, distributed by Silent Diving Systems in North America, has revolutionized recreational and technical diving. With the rebreather, divers are able to dive longer and deeper, with shorter decompression times and greater comfort than has previously been available.

But for filmmakers, scientists, and photographers in particular, the rebreather opens up a whole new world of possibilities beneath the ice. By eliminating bubbles and operating in near-silence, rebreather divers are able to approach, document, and study wildlife with greater ease than ever before.