Ice Dive

We have become acquainted with a dive team that looks at what's in the ocean here under the ice. The have two dive huts off the shore on the ice here.

Inside the hut on the left is the hole for the divers to descend. Inside the hut on the right is the hole where they lower the self-propelled camera that is steered by a person who stays above. They can see on a screen in the hut what the camera sees below.

Here's the hole that the divers use. Looks chilly, doesn't it. The ice here is 20 feet thick. The water below it is 28 degrees.

These divers are Stacy, the head of the team, and Francois.

Stacy is putting on her flippers.

They get ready to descend.

Holly is a "dive tender," a volunteer who helps the diver get dressed.

Stacy jumps into the hole.

From the other hut we can look at what the camera is seeing. The divers say there is plenty of life down there. They like diving here because the water is very clear and there's no algae. The box in the picture is a wire frame on the front of the camera--a crash bar so it doesn't get hurt when it hits bottom. The camera is steered by a person above the ice. Carol got to "drive" it. It's like playing a video game.

Here the camera is looking up the hole that the divers went down. Again, the box is the camera's protective frame.

The dive tenders above were mighty surprised when something--which turned out to be the camera--came UP the hole!