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Dream Trip: Dive the Poles
Ultimate Adventure Bucket List: Explorer Enric Sala's dream trip is to dive the North and South Poles. See all our Adventure Bucket List trips.
Most divers gravitate to tropical waters teeming with corals, colorful reef fish, and sharks. Not Enric Sala. The marine ecologist and seasoned diver daydreams of something a little more remote. “I dream of diving in two places where I have not been yet,” he says. “One is Antarctica, because of its crystal clear waters and amazing fauna, in addition to the ice cathedrals. The other is the Arctic, where I'd like to see the northernmost kelp forests.”
Diving in polar regions comes with its dangers, like utterly frigid waters and the possibility of getting trapped under the ice, but Sala is lured by the promise of Antarctica’s wild creatures, like giant crustaceans, and astounding underwater visibility. “It’s like flying,” he says. As for the Arctic, he doesn’t know what to expect, which is a large part of the draw. “It’s a poorly known ecosystem, so it’s pure exploration.”
Next: See Enric Sala's Must-Do Trip: Dive Cocos Island, Costa Rica
See the Ultimate Adventure Bucket List 2011
Marine Ecologist and Diver
Marine ecologist Enric Sala has dived in the Caribbean, the Mediterranean, the Sea of Cortez, and off remote Pacific Islands is search of the world’s most pristine and most degraded reefs. The National Geographic explorer’s dozens of studies have informed the creation of several marine reserves, including the U.S. Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument and the Seamounts Marine Management Area in Costa Rica.
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