Sunday, August 29, 2010

Diving Into The Arctic Ocean: Should You?

Let me put it this way: if your friends did not get the message, and did not in fact think you're crazy by going to the Arctic Ocean aboard an old Russian icebreaker on a kayaking trip; and if you desperately want to rectify this and make sure they think you are indeed out of your mind - Then the answer is YES. Same answer if you like seeing raised eyebrows.

Look at this photo below. We were returning from a long paddle to our home ship during a kayaking trip around Svalbard (Spitsbergen) and decided that it would be really cool (what a choice of word!) to dive into the water from the deck. Obviously, the Arctic Fever bug had us by then! This is my friend Steve practicing his Yoga on the way to the water. Although I suspect his Om turned into Oye, my very talented finger captured him at just the right moment:















By the way, this was a moment that showed me how much digital photography had changed the world: just a few years back, people would look at a nice Photoshop work and comment "it looks like a real picture!"; when people see this photo above, they usually comment "it looks like a real Photoshop work!". Oh well. For the record: no Photoshop work on this one.

Was it cold? The Arctic ocean (as well as the Antarctic one) is at roughly 31F (0C). It only freezes at 28F because the water is salty. Thank God it wasn't too cold that day - Can you imagine diving like that into a sheet of ice? Was it painful? Let's look at how happy and groggy I looked when jumping off the deck:















(again, no Photoshop on this pic) and how I looked when my feet, hands and head realized that scientific fact of 31F:













For sure, with the little blood in my brain that was still liquid, I could ponder "am I stupid?" The truth is, the water  IS cold. But look at it this way: no sharks; killer whales really like plankton better; and polar bears would shy away from a thin person like me. Besides - I got my chance to convince some people I must be crazy!

2 comments:

Rami said...

"But look at it this way: no sharks; killer whales really like plankton better; and polar bears would shy away from a thin person like me. Besides - I got my chance to convince some people I must be crazy!"

- It will be much more difficult for you to convince me that you are thin than to convince that you are crazy!

ocean facts said...

It's safe to dive into the arctic ocean once oil spills are totally cleared out.

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