"Boricua en la Antártida"

No amount of training can give you true expectations of what is like to dive in Antarctica. After two years of gathering the necessary certifications, designing the experiments and learning about our work for the season, you are finally seating down in front of the dive hole. The same thoughts nervously cross through the mind: weights? - yes, fins? - yes, backplate secured? - just now, connect the drysuit hose, make sure the tube-ies are in, triple hood on, mask on, drysuit gloves on, one last check that everything is clipped, and, ready to jump?

And just like that, you slide into the dive hole past 6ft of sea ice into the McMurdo Sound. Everything is quiet and calm. The immense support from both the divers and the team made any ounce of nervousness in that moment just pure excitement. I had the privilege of having the Antarctic diving legend Steve Rupp as a dive buddy waiting for me on the other side. Once I established my neutral buoyancy, which took me two more dives after to nail down but all part of the experience!, I was mesmerized by the view.

Once you look up, you can see all kinds of different shades of blue that can only exist as the light passes through the snow on top of the sea ice and into the ocean. Those beautiful colors set the stage to more than 100m of visibility that brings into contrast the vibrant benthic life waiting to be admired. As you come closer to the bottom, my eyes could not stop seeing the organisms that I’ve spent the last two years studying - happy in their natural habitat! From the vibrant pink Odontaster seastars to the striking red Sterechinus sea urchins and the the iridescent Parbolasia worms, how much life to be found under the Antarctic sea ice!

As I dove beneath the sea ice for the first time and admired the flourishing life in its waters, I could not help but feel grateful and privileged to be there. Because it was not only a first for me, but a first for any one in my community from Puerto Rico. I couldn’t help but feel love for the ocean, for the science we do and for the community I represent. It is my goal as a scientist, and a value I don’t doubt echoes throughout the Cold Dark Benthos team, to connect people with their ocean resources and foster healthy and sustainable relationships with it, from its shores to its most remote regions. May this be the first of many dives where we can connect the world (including you!) with life underneath the Antarctic ice!