Polar diving can look deceptively calm once you’re underwater. Ice walls and formations glow softly, everything feels quiet, almost suspended, and the environment feels alive in a way that’s hard to describe. But that experience is earned long before you ever enter the water.
I’ve dived in Antarctica, the Arctic, under the ice and on icebergs as well in Canadian waters. These dives have been primarily recreational, often photography-focused, and typically far from immediate support.
Photo by Trisha Stovel
Cold Changes Everything
Across all of them, one thing has stayed consistent. Cold changes everything, especially your equipment. Preparedness in polar diving is not about having the most gear or the newest setup. It’s about understanding what actually matters in extreme cold, what tends to fail, and where divers can get caught out.
Cold water fundamentally changes how materials behave. Rubber stiffens and becomes brittle, plastics lose flexibility, O-rings do not seal the same way, metal contracts, and any moisture has the potential to become ice.
Gear that works well in temperate water can behave very differently once temperatures drop toward minus temperatures. In polar environments, small weaknesses tend to show up quickly. Over time, and through both experience and learning from others, I have come to approach it with a simple mindset. Assume something might fail, and set things up so it does not immediately become a problem if it does. Which applies to many things in diving and life already.
Photo by Trisha Stovel
Rethinking Basic Habits
Why Rinsing Gear Can Do More Harm Than Good
That mindset extends to habits many divers take for granted, like rinsing gear. On longer polar expeditions, gear often is not rinsed between dives, and usually not at all for the duration of the trip. That is intentional.
Freshwater can and will freeze on deck, often while gear is still assembled or pressurized, and ice causes far more problems than salt ever will in these conditions. A well meaning rinse can quickly lead to frozen valves, iced-up second stages, or moisture trapped where you least want it.
Instead, the focus is on keeping gear dry, protected from snow and spray, and handled carefully to prevent moisture from entering first stages, hoses, and valves in the first place. It’s counterintuitive if you’re coming from warmer water diving, but in polar environments, avoiding freshwater exposure is often the safer choice.
It also means there is no nightly reset. Whatever condition your gear starts the expedition in is the condition it lives in for weeks, and cold has a way of finding every weakness.
Photo by Becky Kagan Schott
Managing Regulator Free‑Flow
Building Redundancy Into Your Setup
One of the most common issues in polar diving is regulator free-flow. Even regulators rated for cold water can free-flow if moisture is introduced or if the system is pushed too hard. This is often where recreational assumptions quietly creep in. A single first stage with an octopus is standard and usually fine, but in polar conditions it can be limiting.
Environmentally sealed first stages, conservative tuning, and careful handling before the dive all make a difference. Where possible, an H-valve setup adds a layer of redundancy without turning the dive into a technical one.
Two independent first stages on a single tank mean that if one regulator free-flows uncontrollably, you can shut it down and continue breathing. That extra margin does not just save gas. It buys you time, which is invaluable.
Photo by Becky Kagan Schott
Your Drysuit as Survival Equipment
In polar conditions, your drysuit is not just exposure protection. It’s survival equipment. It’s not enough for a suit to fit well, it needs to be in excellent condition, with no small issues waiting to be dealt with later.
Cold has a way of exposing weaknesses quickly. I once sheared off the exhaust valve from my drysuit while donning my gear by bumping it with a BCD strap. It was something I genuinely believed belonged in the category of theoretical, worst-case failures.
If something feels even slightly stiff, brittle, or questionable on land, it won’t improve in the water.
Photo by Trisha Stovel
Staying Warm, Staying Sharp
Staying warm underwater is not just about comfort. Cold affects breathing, focus, and stress tolerance. A cold diver rushes, and a rushed diver misses things.
For this type of diving, I prioritize layering. A base layer for moisture wicking to keep sweat away from skin, preserving your insulation layers. A primary insulating layer, and additional insulation depending on dive length. With a onesie undergarment topping it all off.
Layering keeps bulk manageable, which matters when accessing valves or managing equipment with thick gloves.
Hands deserve just as much attention as the core. Cold hands end dives early every time. Trying out different insulating gloves ahead of time and having enough room for circulation make a very noticeable difference.
Heated undergarments are highly recommended for additional comfort. I didn’t bring mine on recent expeditions because I was trying to manage how many batteries I was travelling with. I was ok with the right layering, but it would have been nice to have my heated vest with me on my dives and snorkelling as well.
With newer condition 7mm lobster mitts, I find they offer the best balance of warmth and peace of mind for me. On a recent Antarctica trip though, worn out neoprene in my older mitts left thin spots that felt more like five finger gloves. I was able to switch to marigolds with warm liners because I keep the dry rings installed.
Photo by Trisha Stovel
Small Failures, Big Consequences
Some lessons in polar diving are learned the easy way, and then some the hard way. One simple rule is to avoid rubber fin straps. Rubber becomes brittle in extreme cold, and straps that look perfectly fine on the surface can snap when pulling the fin on.
I have had a rubber fin strap break cleanly in two as I was pulling my fins on just moments before rolling in. Stainless steel spring straps with solid attachment points and large pull tabs are a small upgrade that removes a very common failure point.
One of the most sobering equipment failures I’d heard of was on a recent polar expedition and wasn’t a regulator or a drysuit. It was an entire kit sinking. After unexpected issues at the surface, a diver’s wing was deflated and didn’t have enough lift to support the weight of gear. The setup sank completely and was unrecoverable.
Polar configurations are heavy with steel cylinders, thick undergarments that require more lead, drysuits, extra regulators, lights, and cameras all add up quickly. Your wing should be able to float your entire rig at the surface without relying on your drysuit. Many recreational wings aren’t designed for this level of weight, and this is where a slightly more conservative approach pays off.
Cold also reveals small weak points you might never notice elsewhere. Hose fittings, SPG spools, O-rings, swivels, and connection points all deserve attention. Simple, robust systems outperform clever ones when dexterity is limited and mistakes are costly.
Photo by Trisha Stovel
Preparing for a Place Where Replacements Don’t Exist
In polar regions, replacements are rarely immediate, even on well-supported expeditions. I carry spares for regulators, O-rings, hoses, basic drysuit repairs, and tools like a star tool that has wrenches and Allen keys.
Even if you never need them, someone else might, and shared backups and tool often keeps trips running smoothly.
Photo by Trisha Stovel
The Mental Side of Polar Diving
Slowing Down When Everything Feels Urgent
It’s not just about equipment, as mental preparedness matters just as much. Cold increases stress and task loading while reducing tolerance for surprises. There’s a whole lot of effort that goes ahead of rolling off the zodiac into the water. I am often repeating “slow is smooth, smooth is fast” in my head before these dives. It really pays off to take your time with your gear checks before even loading the zodiac each time, and also before trying to lift the extra heavy kit onto the zodiac rib to start putting it on.
This isn’t the environment to experiment with unfamiliar gear or configurations. Use what you know, what you have practised, and what still works when you are tired, cold, and wearing thick gloves.
Photo by Trisha Stovel
The Reward for Getting It Right
Few environments offer this level of topside and underwater beauty, especially around ice. Hovering beside ice that’s existed longer than recorded history has a way of making every careful decision feel worthwhile.
The ice doesn’t forgive shortcuts. Polar diving rewards respect, planning, and patience, and it will remind you if you’re unprepared. But when you get it right, all that prep melts away into freedom, and every breath feels like a small victory in some of the most remote and incredible places on Earth.
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Trisha Stovel is a member of the Shearwater Customer Care and Marketing teams and an underwater videographer and photographer focused on documenting divers, marine life, and the unique environments they explore.
