(UPDATE March 21, 2016, 11:09 p.m. UTC: The folks at the Diving Almanac & Book of Records have informed DeeperBlue.com that the Russians’ dive, while “impressive,” did not in fact break the record for the deepest dive under the ice. As Almanac Editor Jeffrey Gallant writes in a recent post:
“Although the dive to -102 m (-335 ft) in the Barents Sea was indeed an impressive and newsworthy accomplishment, it was not an absolute depth record under ice, nor was it the deepest dive ever conducted above the Arctic Circle. The record for the deepest known* dive under ice (-111 m / -364 ft) was actually established by a French duo (Ghislain Bardout and Martin Mellet) off Greenland during the Under the Pole II expedition in April 2015 (See Record #20 in Edition 5.2 of the Diving Almanac & Book of Records). Under the Pole II also set the record for the deepest known dive in the Arctic at -112 m (-367 ft) in August 2014.”
Check out Gallant’s full post at http://www.divingalmanac.com/jumping_the_gun.html.)
Original story:
If you’re not ready to have Spring be just around the corner in the Northern Hemisphere, have we got the video for you.
Fans of drysuit diving should check out the below video of a pair of Russian divers setting the record for the deepest dive from a hole cut in the ice.
Aleksandr Gubin and Maksim Astakhov recently dove to 102 meters/335 feet below the surface in water that was -1.5C/29.3F cold. The dive lasted an hour and 20 minutes, according to The Scuba News.
The dive took place in the White Sea off Northern Russia’s Karelia coast. As Rough Guides describes the area:
“Connected to the world above via a single safety rope, use your underwater torch to follow your guide down past ice hummocks, rifts, cavities and caves, minnowing under tall arches and vertical rocks overgrown with sea anemones and sponges.”
