Now that most of the holiday craziness is behind us, it's a good time to start thinking about the off-season dive excursions.  Sure it's fun to jet away to some tropical location and ignore Old Man Winter; but some people enjoy beating him at his own game.  Join us in Colchester, Vermont on February 10, 11 & 12 for an ice diving.

Over the course of the weekend you will learn all of the aspects of ice diving and upon successful completion of the class you will be a certified, card-carrying ice diver.  A Friday night classroom session and gear review/breakdown are held at the shop in Colchester (a suburb of Burlington, VT) followed by ice diving operations Saturday and Sunday at various sites on Lake Champlain.  There are several hotels/motels within minutes of the shop and lake, so you have a choice of accomodations.

Prerequisites for taking the class include a minimum of 18 years of age, advanced open water certification (or equivalent) and the appropriate diving gear and experience for typical northeast/cold water environments.  Drysuits are not mandatory but are obviously HIGHLY recommended; and any participants in the class wearing a drysuit must be certified and/or have verifiable experience in the use of same.  [1/8" shorty wetsuits may be used, but your dive times may be reduced - significantly!!]  Specific ice diving equipment (lines, harnesses, carabiners, ice screws, etc.) are provided for students use by Victory Sports.  Appropriate exposure protection (above and below water) for winter in Vermont is the responsibility of the student.  Gear requirements include an environmentally sealed (anti-freeze kit) primary and redundant back-up regulator on either a pony bottle, H-valve, etc.  Any gear modifications necessary can be completed by Northeast Scuba Supply prior to the trip; and/or rental equipment is available.  A pre-trip meeting and gear review will be held at NESS with enough time in advance.  For more information, pictures and the trip report from last year's class, see our ice diving page on the website:

Click here for images from the 2005 trip.

Click here for the dive report from the 2005 trip.

Cost of the class is $375 and a $100 deposit is required to secure your spot.  To minimize time standing idle between dives, classes are limited to a half-dozen or so students, so don't delay if you're interested!

Call the shop or email John Cogan (jcogan@northeastscubasupply.com) for more info or to confirm your spot. - hope to see you under the ice in February!

For more information on this trip, or any of our other trips, please call the the professionals at 610-631-2288or e-mail us