It was one of those projects that you always have to leave for the next year, until in one of my visits to Saint Petersburg I met some people from a local diving club who proposed me going diving to the White sea in just three days. It was not at all planned and I didn’t have any equipment with me, but that could be solved easily just taking some things from the club and borrowing the rest. In total we were a party of around 12 people including children and two chow-chow dogs. We left early in the morning from Vyborgskaya metro station for a trip that took all the day. Slightly over 1000 Km. Along the main route to Murmansk, all the way to the north, up to a place called Polyarniy Krug, which as its name lets you guess, is right under the polar circle. There we turned east for the last 30 or so kilometres of unpaved roads. We were lodged in a tiny hamlet called Nelmaguba, a small settlement of wooden houses where at the bottom of a narrow bay surrounded by conifer forests and marshes. In total I counted around forty houses, very few of them inhabited year round. There is electricity there and also running water, but no sewerage. Toilets are no more like Shrek’s, a little wooden house built on top of a deep hole. There is high grass everywhere, and streets, or better said the spaces among houses are paved with a few wooden boards lying on the ground. Of course to walk there rubber boots are essential. We were all staying in one of the houses where we had the minimum facilities. A gas kitchenette, a stove and beds distributed in three rooms. Inside there were not any doors but curtains and between the main room and the exit door there is a smaller storage room were you can leave your boots, coats and tools.

We arrived already in the evening, being welcome by a cloud of mosquitoes of which there are lots in the far north. That year was pretty dry, so some of the marshes around Nelmaguba were dry, what reduced considerably the amount of insects. The trick is covering arms and legs, may be using a repellent if your blood is too sweet, or easier, staying close the sea, as they don’t like salty water. I didn’t get more than one or two bits the first evening and nothing else.

Already that first night after dinner we had the first of the daily meetings around the bone fire, telling stories, and having some salted fish, or gherkins, or just a tomato with some salt between vodka and vodka. Vodka was present during all our stay. A sip between the two daily dives, after the dives and after dinner. Nobody was ever drunk but very often got that funny point when you become more loquacious, what by the way really helped me with my Russian. There

were many funny moments when my colleagues were telling stories about diving, or about their time in the army in that particular jargon, drinking vodka and eating corned beef directly from the can. The group was very heterogeneous, with a doctor, an engineer and a police woman, having only in common their passion for diving.

Our day started not early, getting up around nine or so, followed with a super breakfast that could include steaks, eggs and potatoes. Then we went to get our air tanks refilled, and after that leaving in two boats to the diving point about fifteen to twenty minutes away. We never went to the water before midday, but at that latitude in august it gets dark after 1 a.m. and for not more that a couple of hours. So you with such a long day, you have plenty of time to do things quietly. Besides we had to wait as well for the tide. At low tide, literally the bay empties and our boats were lying on the ground. Only at high tide we could load all the equipment in the boats without having to swim in mud to get to the boats from the pier.

The diving camp looked exactly like a camp: A tent to keep part of the equipment and some food, and a couple of big logs next to a bone fire. Next to the camp at low tide there is a small grey sand beach were we used to dig for worms we used for fishing. There with a bit of good luck you can catch good cods. In front of us laid three small islets called Kristovye ostrova, which would be our target that day. After getting dressed, and a short three minutes ride to the islands we jumped to the water in pairs.

The red itching jellyfish, white anemones and admiral starfish.

What we first saw was a seaweed jungle. From the surface to the first metres you find what they call there sea cabbage, a see weed in light brown, yellowish colour with lots of bubbles that let it float. In a lower level and right after the sea cabbage there is big laminaria seaweed also called kelp. The species you find there consist in a stem under a metre long, and a single very long and wavy leaf in brown colour totalising up to six metres. They grow as well quite close all together and you can hardly see the seabed. In other areas you find other type of kelp with five branches but not more than a metre long each also covering the most of the bottom. Going deeper there are not any more plants of significant size. Visibility is never too good, but ten metres or so is normal depending on the tide.

Floating around us there are very frequent moon jellyfish, which are harmless and other type of red jellyfish, which can sting you in your face if you are not careful. More rare are neon jellyfish. They are transparent creatures in the shape of a bell, and whose ribs flash with iridescent colours when stimulated with the light of a torch. Lying on the bottom there are many different sea stars and very frequent polychaetes including beautiful spiral tubeworms. Where the soil is harder, like on top of rocks, you can find colonies of white anemones looking like big feather like pom-poms. Inside the long cracks there are crabs curious

to see our torches, and finally the star of the dive was the seawolf, known there as “zubatka”. They live in caves, look like a moray but thicker and darker.

They don’t leave their hole unless they feel menaced and they also guard their eggs, which is something we could see in one occasion. We were lucky to catch a couple of them, what made an excellent dinner. Flesh is a bit chewy, like the one of the conger eel. They take by the way a long time to die. A head separated from the body can follow you with the eye and even bite your finger with they sharp front teeth. We realised the can do so one of us got bitten while cleaning the fish right after taking it from the water.

As expected, the temperature of the water was not very welcoming. May be 14C the first metres, going down to 8C or 9C after the first 10 m. Around half of the group we wearing dry suits, and the bravest ones or just the ones who couldn’t afford a dry suit had to manage with a thick wetsuit. 7mm of neoprene, a thinner neoprene vest under it plus good gloves and boots were all right for the dives we were doing, never too long or too deep. Anyway in a wet suit at the end of it hands and feet felt very cold, and if it was windy getting out of the suit was not a pleasant experience. As soon as possible we were going to warm up by the bone fire, having a sip or two of vodka and eating something warm. Food in the camp was basically potatoes with some meat, sausages and some delicious mushrooms picked on the spot. For dessert you only have to walk a few metres to fill your hands with blue berries and strawberries.

Without any stress after the meal we had the second dive of the day in a small wreck nearby. There we didn’t find as much life as in the islands but it was also interesting, seeing some of those shiny multicoloured neon jellyfish. I have to say that getting in my cold wet suit again was not a pleasure but hey, what for were we there? After the dive we had again some more food and drink, and around 22:30 or so when the sun was already on the horizon we picked our things and went back to the village.

Once at home we had our daily sauna, which was in another small building next to our cottage. It was great being able to wash yourself to the last pore after all that cold in the sea and the mud of Nelmaguba. In the purest Russian style we were beating ourselves with a bunch of thin silver birch branches. You leave the sauna feeling lighter and with that nice birch smell on you. That was followed by dinner that included the catch of the day, potatoes, meat and mushrooms, and after eat some more vodka and funny stories till everybody was feeling sleepy. Those days we had a resemblance with a very popular Russian comedy film called “Peculiarities of the national Russian hunting” We were in a way remembering the film and making similar jokes.

Next day was like the first one, two dives, one in the islands and one nearby, and the last day we tried a current dive. That is something I had the chance to do only in that place. As I mentioned Nelmaguba is at the bottom of a very deep bay and tides can be really high. 4 or 5 metres between low and high tide are usual. At one point the bay is very narrow, being closed by a tiny islet. When the tide is going up the water along that pass flows in almost like in a mountain river. What they do is dropping you there, and picking you up about a kilometre further. The current is very strong. You find yourself carried away at high speed, controlling the depth just with your extended arm and palms, using them as a plane uses its flaps to go up and down. At the bottom there are big stones and kelp shaking like tall grass in a storm, and all around you plenty of aurelias with their faint bluish colour and four pink rings. I tried to stop once hiding between two big rocks and holding a strong seaweed, but it was impossible and I was taken away by the strong flow still holding the kelp in my hands. Once the current slowed down in a wider part of the bay I resurfaced and made a signal to the boat to pick me up.

This trip was like a big adventure to me. Going to such a distant place, so unknown to foreigners and many locals as that area is very lightly populated. The sea remains frozen there from November till April, and communications are not good either. Now it seems that there is a diving centre there so it’s probably not as wild as it was that year, but still a big change for anybody used to dive in a more civilised way. I think this summer I will try to go again.