Ice Diving

I will tell you about ice diving. Ice diving means scuba diving under a thick ceiling of ice.

In the past, I was invited by my friend to go ice diving. I had gone diving many times in the cold winter sea of Izu so, without hesitating, I decided to go. The place was Utoro in Hokkaido. The seas of Hokkaido were covered with ice 2-3 meters thick.

First, before diving, I was given the information I would need for the dive. Divers had prepared a hole for the dive several months before. Because the gear we usually use would freeze in these conditions, most of the people rented gear. Also it was necessary that we dive with a buddy. A rope called a lifeline was tied around the divers; this rope would send signals we were taught to another person on the ice. Also, because the hole which was the entry and exit for the divers would freeze over quickly, someone had to constantly keep scooping out the ice that formed over the hole with a shovel.

My impressions of going ice diving were that; even though we wore dry suits, we became numb with cold after only 15 minutes and couldn't relax under the water. However, because the sunlight couldn't reach us under the sea, I couldn't see anything familiar and there were a lot of colorless, gray fish. Also, from the dark depths, I could see the sun hitting the ice above and it was like a beautiful chandelier. If my friend asks me to go again I think I will refuse, but it was a very good experience.
(YumikoS)