Waterproof Expeditions offers in co-operation with the Arctic Circle Dive Centre an ice diving programme every year from February to April.
Diving is performed with safety ropes according to PADI standards using experienced instructors and dive guides, and includes 2 dives per day and diver transport to diving sites by snowmobile.

A mobile diving camp is set up on diving sites. Wooden cabins on sledges provide shelter for changing, for drying of equipment and include a common room module for lunch and socializing. A heated wooden shelter is placed just over the ice-hole (maina) for those who prefer a heated space between dives.

Instruction in basic Arctic survival will be a part of the programme in order to show divers how to read the ice and establish a safe diving environment, including how to deal with frostbite and the potential hazards of Hypothermia.

Fantastic underwater ice formations, caverns and fissures. Life underwater: soft corals, sea anemone beds, Gorgon’s head brittle stars, hermit crabs, numerous starfish, and seaweed forests. Underwater cliffs and their inhabitants, an ice-diving safari, snorkelling with belugas and the wonderful Russian winter! Snowmobile rides to dives at the mobile ice camp.
And of course great hiking opportunities around the lodge.

All year round it is possible to observe, dive and snorkel with Beluga Whales. Two male Beluga whales have been introduced to a natural habitat (a special enclosure divided from the open sea by a net), not far from the Dive Centre, as part of a joint project between the Arctic Circle Dive Centre and the Utrish Dolphinarium, owned by the A. N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution, part of the Russian Academy of Sciences. One of these white whales performed in Sharm El Sheikh and Saudi Arabia before. The plan for the future is to bring female Beluga whales and to expand the territory where beluga whales will thrive.

To dive with Beluga whales a supplement of 145 Euro will be charged.
If you prefer to snorkel the costs are 66 Euro.

All dives are carried out in-line with the International Federation PADI standards
These standards consist of:
Diving in a buddy system which is part of the safety technique of the recreational diving. Stay close to your buddy throughout the dive, pay extra attention to this when one or both of you are photographing or filming.
Follow the diving rules, which the representative of the Dive Centre has laid out during the briefings.
No diving under the influence of drugs and alcoholic or the remains of drugs or alcohol intoxication.
The diver should realize that in case of rules violation or non-fulfillment of safety technique standards, the representative of the Dive Centre can refrain the diver from the dive or the whole program of diving.

For recommendations on your dive equipment please check out the information on Dive Equipment in the section Travel Resources.

Diving program participants must hold an Ice Diver Certificate from one of the international underwater federation or have made 5 registered under-ice dives.
It will be necessary to demonstrate the following abilities to the instructors in the course of the check dive;
Cleaning the mask out of water;
Changing the main regulator to the reserve one and vice versa;
Tapping into the buddy reserve regulator. Conducting an emergency rising to the surface breathing by means of the buddy reserve regulator;
Using the safety rope;
Buoyancy control;
Communicating with the buddy and with the tender;
Overturning upside down under ice and getting back to the standard position.

Divers without the necessary experience can undertake an Padi Ice Diver Course at the Arctic Circle Dive Centre.

There are a wide variety of underwater rocky landscapes within the vicinity of the Arctic Circle Dive Center. Straits with rapid currents for drift diving and wrecks, offer additional experiences.

At the Cape Kindo site, the water depth increases very gradually. A gentle slope reaching 50–70m with a very well outlined belt of Laminaria and other kelps represents the relief. Hermit crabs, crabs and starfish populate the seabed, including the cold-water species Urasterias and Pteraster. This is the place to meet the big predatory gastropods of the White Sea such as Neptunea and Bukcinum.

In the vicinity of Krestovi Islands, there is a rock overgrown with sea anemones (Actinia metridium) and a bank with very beautiful soft corals, more sea anemones (Actinia sp) and sponges. Here one can come across hermit crabs, starfish (Urasteria sp) and a rare brittle star (Ophiuroidea gorgonacephalus) with the exotic name of the ‘Head of Gorgon’.

The top of the bank is 14–18m below sea level. The steep northern slope of the bank extends to a depth of more than 50m. A gentler southern slope reaches 28–30m and the bank diameter is about 15–20m. Here you will also find a shipwreck, a fishing vessel with body length of 12m, overgrown with Ascidiacea sp and sea anemones (Actinia sp).

During dives at Isle Kastyan you will see a virtually vertical wall perfectly lighted by the midday sun. You will see bright Actinia sp and Ascidiacea sp, gastropods and Nudibranchiata molluscs moving unhurriedly on the rock shelves. Your attention will also be drawn to starfish on the seabed as well as to middle-sized lancet fish hiding in the rock crevices.

Drift diving is performed in the Strait of Velikaya Salma near to islands of Kandalaksha National Park. The speed of tidal current here reaches 2m/sec. You will float over forests of Laminaria, purple-fish, and colorful sponges, as well as meadows of shell rock overgrown with Ascidiacea sp and hydroids.

At Biofiltry Bay diving is organized near to vertical rocks overlooking picturesque stone blocks covering the seabed. Local dwellers are starfish and Ascidiacea sp, and one can come across Nudibranchiata molluscs, gastropods and bivalve molluscs. The name, ‘the bio-filter bay’, comes from the numerous water filtering aquatic animals that inhabit this area. The bay is free from sea currents.

Training dives are performed in the neighborhood of the dive center pier. This is the ideal place to practice dry-suit-diving techniques and underwater swimming. The bed of the sea is flat here and 7–10m deep. There is no sea current. Despite the very smooth and plain relief of the seabed, there is a host of things to look at, including soles, big hermit-crabs, Nudibranchiata molluscs, starfish, eel-like Pholidae sp, tittlebat and bullheads.