Scuba Diving in Antarctica: A Rare Underwater Adventure
Dive into one of the most remote and extraordinary underwater environments on Earth. As the first expedition cruise operator to offer scuba diving in Antarctica, Aurora Expeditions brings over 20 years of experience guiding divers through this icy frontier.
Explore surreal polar dive sites where grounded icebergs, glaciers, and rare marine life create a truly otherworldly experience. From curious seals to vibrant sea stars and ethereal ice formations, each dive reveals a hidden world beneath the surface of the Southern Ocean.
‘Getting out amongst it’ is our philosophy, and that’s exactly what you’ll do. Weather permitting, you’ll dive while other expeditioners kayak, snorkel, or explore ashore. Our experienced dive guides are experts at identifying the best opportunities to dive, carefully navigating changing sea ice and weather conditions to ensure both safety and quality.
We aim to get you off the ship for up to two dives per day (excluding sea days), with each site offering something unique. No two days are alike—embracing the unexpected is part of the thrill of expedition-style diving.
Spaces for Antarctic diving are extremely limited and fill quickly each season. With only a handful of divers per voyage, this is a rare opportunity to explore one of the planet’s most remote underwater worlds.
What You'll See
You’ll be in safe hands with an experienced Divemaster, who will accompany your small group and provide surface support from a Zodiac, ensuring your dives are as safe as they are unforgettable.
Scuba diving in Antarctica and the Arctic reveals worlds of hidden ice, where you will observe glaciers, gigantic icebergs and fascinating marine life underwater, making for a very special experience.
In polar regions, the dive sites vary from shallow ice diving, diving along a wall or around a grounded iceberg. The maximum depth is 20 metres / 65 feet. The combination of sunlight and the extraordinary formations of ice cause an overwhelming, ever-changing spectre of colours, with a fantastic variety of shades and brilliance. Diving in polar areas offers opportunities to witness spectacular ice formations in addition to interesting marine life.
Required Experience & Fitness
Our diving activity is not for beginners. To dive in the polar regions, you must be at least an Advanced Open Water Diver and Drysuit Specialty certified diver with at least 30 drysuit dives. You are also required to complete a minimum of 10 dives in the 12 months before your trip, with a minimum of 5 of those dives in a drysuit.
Before departure, you must show an internationally accepted diving certificate, diver’s logbook and a current diving medical (no more than 6 months old) from your doctor confirming that you are in suitable physical health to participate in our diving activity. A divemaster will review your form for suitability and experience before approving your diving application in the program.
The initial dive will be a ‘check-out’ dive so each diver can check and adjust their weights and equipment. If our divemaster feels that you do not meet the necessary experience, they have the right to exclude you from participating in the dive program. This decision will be made for your own safety and for the safety of the other divers.
Why is so much experience required?
A higher level of diving experience is required for the polar regions because of the remoteness of the location. Diving is no fun if you are cold and uncomfortable. When you are diving in cold water, you consume more air, expend more energy, and can become more fatigued. You may also find it more difficult to perform complex tasks that require manual dexterity in cold water.
Safety
At all times, safety is our highest priority. Diving in remote polar areas is not more dangerous than normal scuba diving, but it is more equipment and labour-intensive. We don’t have a decompression chamber and offer only basic medical services on board, so we cannot accept risky ventures from any of the divers in this activity program.
All dives are conducted using a buddy system of two or three divers. If you are not travelling with a buddy who is diving, we will pair you up with other divers on your expedition. All divers are expected to have enough experience to read their compass, depth gauges and look out for each other in order to have a safe dive.
Before each dive, your Divemaster will brief you about the location, the weather, sea or ice conditions and the procedure of the dive. All divers are required to follow the instructions of the Divemaster and guides at all times. All participants are expected to fully understand and accept the risks involved in polar diving and participate at their own choice.
Weather Conditions
During summer, the air temperature in the Antarctic Peninsula is generally above freezing but can range from -4°C to +5°C / 24.8°F to 41°F. The water temperature in the polar regions is close to freezing, and winds sweep off the glaciers, making for a chilling experience.
How to Book
The Scuba Diving activity is available for an additional surcharge and includes guided excursions, fares for this activity start from US$940 / AU$1,300 / £770 / €860.
Prices are indicative only and are variable. They are calculated based on the days of voyage, ability to carry out the activity and exchange rates, reach out to our friendly team for voyage specific pricing.
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Polar Scuba Diving FAQs
We limit our diving groups to a maximum of 6 divers in cold water destinations and 8 divers in warm water destinations. While you are in the water, your guide will be on board the Zodiac keeping a close eye on the group, ready to provide assistance and to give you advice and tips on how to maximise your experience on each of your dives.
You should be 14 or older to participate in our scuba diving program. Please note the minimum age required to complete most Junior Advanced Open Water Diver courses is 12. Drysuit Diver specialty courses require a minimum age of 10.
Aside from days at sea, we plan to dive up to twice per day. However, there are certain factors that are out of our control, including weather conditions and availability of anchorages. Voyage itineraries are only a guideline and safety is always the priority.
Weather can be hard to predict and can vary from day to day. Because of this, we often need to adjust our ‘itineraries’ to take advantage of favourable weather and ice conditions. Our flexible approach means we can alter the itinerary to incorporate wildlife sightings and other one-of-a-kind opportunities. Embracing the unexpected is part of the excitement of expedition-style travel. A flexible approach and a sense of humour will make the voyage more enjoyable for you and your fellow expeditioners.
Exclusive Zodiac cruising will be offered if the conditions for diving are not suitable.
English is the main language used for our dive operation. For safety reasons, you must be proficient in English in order to participate in our scuba diving activity.
In the polar regions, you will encounter marine life seemingly from another planet, such as the giant isopods and salps. Take your time to explore and enjoy an environment few divers have ever experienced. Observe kelp walls, sea snails, spider crabs, sea butterflies, jellyfish, squid, sea squirts, squat lobsters, starfish, krill anemones, peacock worms and countless fish species. In Antarctica you may have the opportunity to dive with penguins, whales and seals, which race fearlessly by, graceful in a way that’s not possible above the surface.
No. Each diving place is for one person only.
What equipment is provided?
While diving is generally an equipment intensive activity, diving in polar regions requires an extensive amount of additional equipment because of the cold weather and water. On board we have two compressors, steel cylinders and lead weights. The cylinders we provide are steel 12.2 litres by Faber, with dual outlet valve, yoke and DIN compatible filled to 220 bar. Lead weights are available in 0.5, 1, 3 and 4 kilograms (1, 2, 6.6 and 9 pounds).
All divers must bring their own personal equipment. This will depend on where you are diving and a detailed list will be shared with you when you express interest in adding this activity to your voyage.
In polar regions, where the ocean water can be as cold as -1˚C/30˚F, a drysuit is the only thing that will keep you dry during a dive. The type of dry suit you use is not important so long as it fits you correctly and you are proficient in using it.
Insulating undergarments will trap air against your body to keep you warm. The colder the water, the more (or thicker) layers of undergarments you will need. We recommend wearing two or three layers, depending on your drysuit. The first layer should be a type of material that helps wick any moisture away from the body, while the second and third layers should be should thicker insulating material, such as fleece, synthetic pile or thinsulate. The one-piece jumpsuit style is the most common and comfortable configuration of dive wear and is available in a variety of thickness depending on your drysuit and the water temperature.
The right accessories will also help you have a more comfortable experience. We recommend a 5-10mm neoprene hood with face and neck seal, regular 5-7mm neoprene semi-dry gloves or mitts, and three-finger mitts over five-finger gloves.
Finally, it is important to bring a warm hat and gloves to wear before and after each dive, and a wind and waterproof spray jacket to keep the cold wind off your drysuit.
Aurora Expeditions is proud to have some of the world’s best dive masters on our staff, so you can rest assured that you are in safe hands. Our guides have dived all over the world and in some of the most remote and challenging locations. Our team of experienced Divemasters has over 20 years’ polar diving experience.
Your Divemaster will ensure that you adhere to Standard Safety Diving Practices at all times, provide you with detailed briefings and share best practice procedures to ensure a safe diving experience.