 You have overcome gravity, you are flying through an emerald palace inhabited by strange translucent creatures: shiny pink baubles and transparent tubes with rows of fluorescent red and green hairs glittering in the twilight. Your eyes have learnt to see through solid objects: walls and ceilings have become transparent, shimmering purply blue, turquoise and green. You are ice diving in the White Sea.
 If you have never dived under the ice, the experience will be emotional, almost overwhelming. If you have dived under the ice in a lake or quarry you will be amazed about the difference between freshwater and seawater ice.
At Chupa, which sits right on the Arctic Circle in Russia, the ice diving season lasts from February to mid April. Experienced dive guides and instructors ensure your comfort and safety. At Go North! we also take care of your visa arrangements and travel to Chupa. If you have no ice diving experience why not start here and take the PADI Ice Diver Speciality course. You will learn how to make the most of this very special environment.
 You get to your dive site by snow mobile, an ice camp is set up with lodges offering heated accommodation to relax and have lunch. Sometimes, in addition, a heated tent is set up above the hole so that you descend from warm surroundings. In summer, you get to your dive site by RIB (5 min to max. 60 min). Equipment is rinsed in fresh water and stored in a dedicated store by the pier.
The sea casts its spell any time of year: a frozen fairyland in winter, in summer the kelp forest grows in record time, its inhabitants are busy feeding and breeding: masses of silvery fish attract whales, seals and walrusses. From mid-August, the Northern Lights can be seen almost every night – silent fireworks celebrating the beauty of the Russian North.
 Out of the water, many more adventures are there waiting for you: go skiing or by snowmobile, or visit a traditional Russian village with its beautifully carved wooden houses. You can go fishing in the sea, in a nearby river or lake, and have dinner, later on, by an open fire in the taiga.
Accommodation is in two traditional Russian lodges in double rooms (single, double or triple occupancy is possible) . Standard rooms have toilet and sink, luxury rooms have toilet, sink and shower. Both lodges have full (and extremely efficient) central heating, electricity and satellite telephone.  Lodge number 1 has a saloon with TV, video, CD and DVD players where you can get together for leisure and meals or to listen to talks by famous marine biologists – if you want to know more about the unique wildlife and plants of the Russian North. There is also a traditional Russian bath: an experience not to be missed, complete with birch brooms and delicious Russian jams (the latter to be applied internally).
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Diving underneath the sea ice - gliding past strange translucent shapes shimmering purply blue, turquoise and green - is an experience out of this world, beyond words. 