During the last week we have shifted gears from beach diving and returned to ice diving offshore. I chartered a boat to take us to the drift ice, so that I could get back to making pictures beneath the ice canopy. The drift ice is transient, and continually changes with wind and tide, so every day can be vastly different. We search for the best ice conditions and then slowly push our way into the pack ice with the boat. The boat’s hull is steel and the captain is very experienced in these conditions. It can be a little unnerving at times however, when you feel the thud of ice hitting the hull, but clearly the captain knows what he is doing. Once we get nestled in to a good location, we secure the boat with bow and stern anchors on to the ice.

According to Seki-san, it has been at least 5 years since they last had ice conditions this good. In recent years, very little drift ice formed near the east coast of the Shiretoko Peninsula, perhaps a result of climate change. But this year is a throwback to the “old days” I’ve learned, where cod fishing boats battle the ice to make their catch and undersea explorers like Seki-san venture below.

Seki-san exlporing the ice.

Photograph by Brian Skerry

With Seki-san as our guide, Mauricio and I slide off the boat’s swim step into the water, pushing floating ice out of our way and slip downward and under the canopy. The bottom here is about 1000 meters deep and dropping my camera is one of the concerns foremost on my mind. Another concern is what I would do should my drysuit begin taking on a lot of water. The drysuit system I am using has attached gloves, which is great for keeping my hands warmer than wet gloves. But being the paranoid type that I am, I think about what would happen if a glove ever pulled off. I know that freezing cold water would pour into my suit, adding tremendous weight, causing me to sink. After over twenty dives here and countless dives elsewhere using this system, I’ve never had a problem, … but I do think about such things.

The ice can be over 25-feet thick and once I get below and look up, the paranoid thoughts are gone and the scene just blows me away. The formations from underwater are spectacular, like frozen clouds that have fused together in shades of blue, green, white and yellow. The pictures I am working on now are images that will show readers the quiet beauty of the pack ice seen from this perspective. It is an especially unique component of Japan’s Ocean Wilderness and one that will be dramatically different than other components of this story. My goal is to make seascape photographs that are almost visually abstract; icy textures and colors with a slight human presence for scale and a sense of discovery. I believe that an image like this combined with pictures of Abachans, sea angels, lumpfish, king crabs, sea eagles and the other animals I’ve photographed will help tell the story of this wild and remote place.

Brian Skerry with his camera navigating under the ice canopy.

Photograph by Mauricio Handler

Over the course of several dives beneath the canopy, we see that the ice is sculpted into an amazing variety of shapes. We navigate over ice shelves, through ice caves and down ice corridors. On some of the dives I have noticed that the water temperature is 32-degrees, exactly three degrees warmer than we had while diving from the beach. And three degrees really does make a difference. How I do love warm ice diving!

We have to be careful not to become disoriented or loose our way under there. There are usually plenty of open spots in which to surface, but on some dives the ice cover is substantial, so vigilance is crucial. We typically swim beneath the ice searching for the most interesting formations and then I spend time working them photographically. I often drop down a bit deeper and frame images of Seki or Mauricio exploring the ice above me. I wish I could spend days down there, just watching the colors and shapes morphing into new colors and shapes, like a kid laying in a field on a summer’s day. But the weather underwater is far from a summer’s day and after about 40 minutes, fingers usually begin to get numb and we begin the slow swim back to the boat. Navigating through the field of ice, I often scroll through a few frames on my camera’s playback monitor. When they look great, a burst of warmth surges through my body.

In addition to working beneath the ice, I have also been searching for harbor seals and ribbon seals within the drift ice of the Sea of Okhotsk. If the conditions are right, the late afternoon light can be beautiful, with soft, warm tones highlighting details in the snow, ice and seals. We’ve spent a few days steaming far to the north of the peninsula, but found very few seals. On one afternoon, when it looked like nothing was going to happen, we came upon two harbor seals hauled out on a piece of ice, just relaxing in the sun. These seals are very skittish and getting close to them is a challenge, especially with a big, noisy boat. But our captain knew exactly how to handle this situation, positioning the boat up current, then shutting down so we could drift. We were pretty far away when we shut down and even with my 600mm lens, the seals were tiny in the frame. But ever so slowly, we drifted closer, our boat pushing massive blocks of ice with us as we drew closer to the seals. After nearly an hour, we were in good range and I began making frames. The light was perfect, the water calm and the seals undisturbed. I got the picture I had in mind!

Harbor seals lounging on the ice.

Photograph by Brian Skerry

With this week drawing to a close, it is time for me to shift gears again. Mauricio is flying back home due to prior commitments, while I will spend several more days in Hokkaido. I will be shooting a bit more here in the days ahead, then packing up and shipping equipment to my next location, Toyama Bay, where I will go in search of the bizarre Firefly Squid. My plan is to leave Hokkaido at the end of March, spend a few days in Tokyo, and then travel to Toyama Bay on the west coast of Honshu, where I will work for 4-5 nights.

Assisting me for my upcoming work is Mac Nagata, a Japanese underwater cameraman and documentary producer from Tokyo, who just arrived in Rausu along with my great friend Steve Drogin. Mac is an extremely experienced diver and shooter and knows Japanese locations extremely well. He will be working with me now in Rausu, Toyama Bay and on all future components of this story.

During my remaining time in Hokkaido I will continue to search for ribbon seals (which have not yet been seen) and perhaps travel to the west side of the Shiretoko Peninsula for landscape images of the pack ice there, which I am told is thick and right up to the shore. It has been a pretty intense 2 ½ weeks so far, but absolutely fantastic. I look forward to what’s coming next!

—Brian Skerry

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