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Diving under the frozen lake ice in Villa Pehuenia See map

If you think about diving under ice, imagine places like Antarctica, Russia, Canada or Alaska, but much closer, in Patagonia, may also be performed.

Playing with the bubbles and the roof of ice.

In the area called Cinco Lagunas of Villa Pehuenia, the dive operator "Patagonia Aquadiver" first organized a dive under the ice on August 21, 2010.

During the winter the lagoon surface is covered by a layer of ice.

These trips are planned with great care and require to follow certain rules so that everything goes well, as "the golden rule of diving under ice" which is never exceed 15 to 20 minutes of bottom time on the risk of hypothermia .

Other precautions to consider are the security techniques. Teams of divers must be between 4 to 6 divers in total, so the adventurers will be located between the "tenders" (safety diver). All will be connected by ropes, which serve as a means of communication between them, such as security, since there is only one inlet and outlet side of 3 meters in a rectangle or triangle shape (these forms bear the tensions and weights ).

Surfacing.

Once submerged in the lake, the temperature drops to 3 ° C and the depth reaches 7.5 meters. It is therefore recommended the use of variable volume dry suits and special cold-water regulators, always taking care not to inhale through the 2nd stage to be under water to prevent the failure of the regulator.

During the dive the divers will enjoy playing against the ice to see movement and shapes that make bubbles of regulators hitting the roof of ice.

After 15 minutes of diving, they start their way back through the safety lines to reach the surface. And there the tour is complete sipping hot chocolate, sandwich cookies and chocolates.

The team before diving.