By Sarah Gauthier
Diving in the coldest continent in the world isn’t everyone’s cup of tea. But for Sarah Gauthier, it was her most exciting challenge yet. We spoke to Sarah to hear more about what it was like diving under the surface of the White Continent, and to see some of her incredible photos from when she was there.
The underwater scene is completely different in Antarctica, to anywhere else in the world. Diving next to icebergs, observing unique animals and being so far away from anything else is unique to anything I’ve experienced before.
The rational part of me was excited to find out what I was going to see. I was confident because I knew I had the proper training and experience. The irrational part of me was thinking: “What if something happens?”.
The water I was diving in was a temperature of -2ºC. I remember getting brain freeze every time I would do my back-roll entry into the sea. At first, it’s a thermal shock, especially for your face. I had two little spots on my cheeks that were directly in contact with the -2ºC water, but after a minute or so they would become numb and I wouldn’t feel the cold anymore.
I also had to wear a dry-suit with a lot of undergarments beneath it, which made me feel like the Michelin Man and I wasn’t used to that either! To compensate for the positive buoyancy, I would have to wear a lot of weights which would make it harder to move freely. But the dry-suit gloves also made it incredibly hard to move my camera buttons and the buttons on my equipment, so that was something I had to get used to as well.
I can’t say diving in Antarctica wasn’t a challenge but once I was in the water, I knew I’d never forgotten it. During my dive I came face to face with a leopard seal, carrying a dead penguin. It was the most intense encounter I’ve ever had with an animal. I could see his massive teeth less than 2 meters away from me, his giant eyes were curiously looking at me probably wondering what this weird animal was, with pink accessories! He left the penguin in front of me, went to the surface to take a breath, grabbed his meal back and left. I will forever remember this moment.
Diving in Antarctica is one of the most special things I’ve ever done and it’s one of the most magnificent places I’ve ever been to. It has opened up a whole world of cold-water diving that I hadn’t previously thought I’d be capable of doing, and I’m excited to plan adventures in Russia, Scotland and maybe even the Arctic one day!
Read more stories about Sarah Gauthier: Taking the Plunge Against Plastic
