EVERY NOW AND THEN, over a cold pint, the conversation gets round to places we want to dive. For some perverse reason, the colder the location, the closer it is to the top of my want list. Right at the top is the Antarctic.
Below Freezing is a nicely presented book containing all that divers expect from the average dive guide. In addition to describing a selection of dive sites, the sections on safety and practicalities of diving are very comprehensive compared to such sections in a typical tropical guide-book.
There is plenty of good advice for those wanting to dive in close-to-freezing water anywhere, even if it isn't in Antarctica. But there is nothing about ice-diving, simply because tourist cruises taking divers to Antarctica operate only in summer, and do not go diving through holes in the ice.
Another consequence of the tourist diving season is that the stunning, crystal-clear visibility associated with very cold water is unlikely to be encountered. Below Freezing explains that such visibility is a feature of the winter; in summer, vis is reduced by algae and plankton.
Alas, it seems that my Antarctic diving ambitions would best be served by getting an over-winter job with the British Antarctic Survey. They were advertising in DIVER for a diving officer recently.
John Liddiard

(Wild Guides, ISBN 1903657113). Softback, 116pp, £19.95