Svalbard is the furthest north diving location that you can travel to on a scheduled flight from Europe. For the exploratory diver, it's a must' - and you get to see polar bears, walrus and beluga whales as well. Keith Hiscock made the trip with Aqua-Firma in June 2010.

We were surrounded by ice flows and Brünnich's guillemot as the dive masters, Henrik Enckell and Kelvin Murray, looked for a promising site to dive against the spectacular bird cliffs at Alkefjellet, 79° 34.4' N. Much further north and we would meet the Arctic pack ice. Svalbard is remote, spectacular, beautiful and fascinating. The archipelago is about the size of Ireland and is Norwegian territory with its capital Longyearbyen (2000 inhabitants) at 78ºN. So, landing there at half-past-midnight in broad daylight was no surprise. I was based on a cruise ship (Plancius) with eight other divers and another 100 land-only passengers. We reached 80 ºN as we rounded the northern end of the largest island, Spitzbergen, and could see the edge of the pack ice in the far distance. The furthest north dive was at 79º 55.7'.

Svalbard is a land of steep-sided fjords, glaciers and mountains that rise to around 1000m. Finding suitable dive sites near to where the cruise ship was parked was left to the dive masters but was no easy task - well, you might think, just look on the chart for a steep slope and it will be rock - but it's surprising how steep a muddy slope can be! Nevertheless, we found enough rock (and some vaguely interesting sediment) to get some good dives although in visibility that rarely exceeded 6m and temperatures between +0.1 and +0.8ºC.  The marine life was my main interest but it's always good to stretch your diving (within your experience). So, after a bit of experimenting out of Plymouth with just how many layers I could get under my O'Three drysuit, I found that, except for my fingers, I was toasty warm.

The diving was straightforward and easy from the Zodiacs. We mostly dropped to sediment at about 20m and headed shorewards to encounter rock covered in kelp. So, as with Antarctic diving, you have to get under the seaweeds to see the colourful marine life. But, don't expect to see many fish or crustaceans, it's too cold for them. Nevertheless, there were prawns, hermit crabs and lots of toad crabs Hyas araneus. At the southwest side of Klovingen (79° 51.0' N), one of my dive buddies, Reinhard Teschke, tugged on my fin and showed me a cod lying in amongst the seaweeds. "So what?" you might say but Svalbard is at the northern limit of even this cold water species. Arctic sculpin and a lumpsucker were the only other fish seen. The bottom was covered by a mosaic of pink encrusting algae - very pretty in its own right but there were also sponges, sea anemones, sea slugs, sea squirts, starfish and sea urchins. The most conspicuous animals were a colonial seasquirt that is a Svalbard speciality - Synoicum turgida, northern sea urchins Strongylocentrotus droebachiensis, giant barnacles, Balanus balanus,  several different species of sea anemones and the 'classic' cold water solitary sea squirt Halocynthia pyriformis. By the time we reached shallow depths, the effects of ice scour were evident with some bare rock or rock covered by fast growing algae.

If you land on sediments, they are not without interest and in one place the sandy mud slope was colonised by dense burrowing anemones and brittle stars with occasional large snails. There was the opportunity, as always, to dive on an iceberg and that provided some beautiful formations. Icebergs seem to attract gelatinous plankton and sea gooseberries Pleurobranchia pileus and sea gherkins Beroe cucumis with their moving iridescent combs were fascinating to watch.

Dives sometimes get called-off but the reasons on an Arctic expedition may be different to those you are familiar with. One dive was cancelled because of fast moving ice flows that had broken away from a nearby shelf and were a danger to the Zodiacs let alone picking-up a surfacing diver - the ship was at anchor and the log showed 2.7 knots of current: we waited for slack water in the afternoon. There should be lots of rock to significant depths and rich marine life in such tide-swept conditions and the site was an interesting dive but it was still necessary to get under the kelp to see the colourful animals that cover the rocks. Perhaps the spectacularly rich locations await discovery by recreational divers.

There was lots else to do than diving and, if you go with a non-diving partner, you need not feel guilty. Furthermore, the divers would go ashore at the same locations as the land-only passengers after a dive. So, once the polar bear gun was loaded, we were off to see birds, walrus, reindeer, spring flowers and history: lots of history. Remembering the warning "that's not rubbish, that's history", we trod carefully around rusting trains, cast iron blubber boilers, the bones of whales, wooden floors of long-abandoned huts, kitchen ranges, leather boots and all sorts.

I did a tundra hikes instead of diving on one afternoon when a pod of beluga whales came into sight close to the shore - those diving heard the calls of these 'sea canaries' which make a variety of whistles, clicks, purrs and bells. And did we see polar bears? - yes, we saw polar bears. Fortunately well-fed ones distant from the dive sites and a curious bear came to within about 5 m of us (we were in the Zodiac!). Remarkably, polar bears eat seaweeds and one is recorded to have 8.5kg in its stomach - probably the kelp Alaria esculenta (the species name means 'edible'). No divers have been attacked yet to my knowledge (although I am told that Zodiacs have been punctured) and bears are supposedly only able to dive to 3m depth, so, if you see one, stay down.

We were able to put together a 'What the divers saw' slide show for all the passengers on the last night of the trip. Indeed, whether serious or not, one of the land-only passengers had commented something to the effect "I don't know why you bother, there can't be anything down there". In fact, the massive reduction in biodiversity from tropics to the poles is very much a terrestrial thing. The sea is much richer than the land for plants and animals in Svalbard and seeing what's there is well-worth the effort.

Getting there and getting diving. Getting to Longyearbyen is no problem. Of course, you are likely to incur excess baggage charges but SAS had a reasonable rate for 'sports equipment'. However, there is no diving shop and the only dive club is linked to the University Centre. Also, transport between locations is by boat. So, you are going to be on a dedicated expedition, you are going to be an experienced diver and you are going to have an exploratory streak in your nature - Svalbard is not for those divers that need looking after. Unlike the Antarctic Peninsula, there is no diving guide to Svalbard and your choice of sites may be constrained by where the cruise ship parks and guided by where the charts suggest there might be rock. Visibility varies through the year and (rather like British waters) there is no reliable way of predicting a best time. But the spring plankton bloom (which can start as early as mid-April) is to be avoided as is anywhere with outflow from melting waters. The excellent book by Bjørn Gulliksen and Erling Svensen on Svalbard marine life is out-of-print but may be on your cruise ship.

If you fancy a trip to Svalbard, I recommend it (whether you are diving or just want to see a polar bear) but do go on a well-equipped cruise ship (which Plancius is). I dive with Aqua-Firma in the Arctic and Antarctica (www.aqua-firma.com).

Gulliksen, B. & Svensen, E. 2004. Svalbard and Life in the Polar Seas. Kristiansund: Kom forlag.

Photographs kindly provided by Keith Hiscock