Below Freezing: The Antarctic Dive Guide is the first and only dive guide to the Antarctic, full of practical information about submersing oneself in the “weird and wonderful” -1.8°C underwater world of the Southern Ocean as well as details about 25 dive sites on the Antarctic Peninsula and at South Georgia. With Antarctic diving becoming more popular each year, this very useful book will become a must-pack for under-ice visitors. The dozens of terrific color photographs of marine life also make it fascinating for non-divers.
The author learned to dive in Antarctica—perhaps the only person yet to do so, and she has gone on to do “over 300 hours of Antarctic underwater exploration” in her work as an assistant expedition leader, undersea specialist and dive master aboard Lindblad Expeditions’ tourist vessel Endeavour.
Below Freezing includes a nine-page section on underwater photography by David Cothran, an expedition leader and undersea specialist for Lindblad Expeditions, with several beautiful examples of his work, testament to his authority on the subject. There’s also a three-page history of Antarctic diving (for a more detailed history, referenced in this book’s bibliography, see Peter Brueggeman’s “Diving Under Antarctic Ice: A History,” February 1, 2003, Scripps Institution of Oceanography Technical Report, at http://repositories.cdlib.org/sio/techreport/22).
A sobering six-page “Special Note About Leopard Seals” was written by Shona Muir, who undertook a 12-month research project about interactions between divers and leopard seals, supported by the British Antarctic Survey, after a snorkeling marine biologist was killed by a leopard seal in 2003 (see “Due South” in The Polar Times, January 2007). Not much is yet known about leopard-diver interactions; the guidebook can only caution that the seals “can display predatory behaviour toward humans.” To purchase the book, visit www.wildguides.co.uk
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