Dry-Suit Diving

Antarctic penguins photographed by Norbert Wu

I am an incompetent, but qualified and an enthusiastic scuba diver. Having qualified in The Philippines in 1992, i have dived throughout S.E. Asia including Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia. I therefore got used to the tropical waters and diving in some incredible bio diverse underwater environments with 20+ metres visibility.

However i didn´t really appreciate this until i subsequently did dives on the Great Barrier reef and Hawaii which were colder, often lacked clarity and were far less impressive for both coral and fish.

My worst diving however came when visiting Ushuaia in 2007, on the Southern tip of South America, on the way to Antarctica. K. and i decided we´d experiment with a dry-suit and enter the freezing summer waters.

We found a dive-master who had two spare ill-fitting dry-suits which took almost an hour to squish into for our shore dive. Having eventually navigated this first hurdle we both are almost completely unable to move the last couple of metres to enter the water. After 10 minutes of microscopic waddles we finally make it up to our waists in the water. K, sensible as ever, won´t go any further and heads back to shore. However, having spent so long struggling into the equipment, hell - i´m not turning back now.

So i head out into the bay with the dive master. I can´t say i´m cold, but the suit feels like a weapon of torture from the Spanish Inquisition. The BCD is rendered useless as i have no control of the air floatation due to the cumbersome mittens i am wearing which are so tight they cut off my blood circulation.

Whilst the water is clear, there are no fish or cold-water corals to see. There are however huge swathes of large leafed seaweeds which tangle up the equipment and strains to separate my mouth with my regulator.

I endure the ordeal for 20 minutes and despite the fact i still have two thirds of an air-tank left, i have had all i can take. The most uncomfortable of all diving experiences!

I therefore offer my complete respect to underwater photographer Norbert Wu. Whilst i´m sure he possesses a made to measure dry-suit, Wu has spent 400 hours swimming in the coldest waters in the world. He has travelled nearly 200,000 miles and dived in Antarctica more than 1,000 times — spending the equivalent of an astounding 17 full days in the frosty depths.

The daredevil often has to perch in dangerous icy nooks and crannies to take his shots.

His remarkable photos were taken on seven trips to the planet's most southern continent spread over the past 12 years. More of Wu´s outstanding images can be viewed by clicking here.