There are a few things different about diving here at Rothera than the diving that people do normally. One has to do with the deep low pressure systems that spin around the bottom of the globe. At the moment we have quite a few lows coming through base. As I type it is almost midnight and the wind has built all day from 17 knots this morning up to 42 knots at the moment. The waves are sculpting the icebergs into something a sculpture would be proud of! Anyways back to diving!

The magic figure is 977mb – meaning that when the pressure gets to less than 977 we have a correction to add in to the tables in the same way that you would if you were altitude diving.

The other thing that is different is orcas and leopard seals. I have mentioned before about seal watch well if you see either orcas or leps you can’t dive for 4.5hours at least. Talking about Orcas the resident pod came back last week into Ryder Bay. There were about 10 of them including a large male. There was an all stations call on the VHF that they were down at the wharf. Being at the boatshed we are right there which made for excellent viewing.

We also wear full face masks with a seperate bail out bottle and have integrated comms to talk to people at the surface. They take a little getting use to but I can see that I am now spoilt and will not like going back to the half mask and reg set up that is normal!

When we dive one person does the science while the other is a support diver holding onto a broom stick handle in case we meet and inquisitive sea creature.

We also don’t fly for 48 hours after diving and we only dive for 3 days before we have an enforced day off.

Wednesday I had my 5th dive down south in hanger cove which is very different to south cove and cheshire where I have been diving – a result of iceberg scour.

I am being trained to be a dive supervisor as well so will start taking on that role soon so that my days can be even more varied!!!