In their latest update from Greenland, the Under the Pole team share their adventures, which included violent Arctic winds, and a memorable Christmas party.“We say that the Arctic is the school of patience,” writes expedition leader, Ghislain Bardout in his latest newsletter. “It takes us 20 minutes of preparation to get out the boat, one hour to remove the snow from the deck every morning, four hours to prepare a scuba dive, and we haven’t seen the sun in four months.” This is a day in the life of Ghislain Bardout and his team of French explorers, as they wait patiently for spring to arrive and continue their ambitious scientific expedition off the Greenland coastline. Diving base camp next to the iceberg. © Lucas Santucci / Under The Pole He says: “While we waited for the sea-ice and sun to come out, we had some great Christmas parties at Uummannaq. And New Year’s Eve was one of the best we’d ever experienced: locals launched hundreds of fireworks into the sky – it became a magical show above the snowy city.”The team then headed to their winter location and had a three-day stopover at Ikerasak to lend the locals a hand. “Véronique, our physician, examined several local people, and Sylvain, our fixit man, repaired the local school’s informatics network.” Ghislain says.January proved to be a difficult month for the team, as they endured several days of violent Arctic winds, halting all activity. “We registered averages of 50 knots and gusts up to 80 knots. It’s in these kind of situations that we’re happy to have two anchors!” adds Ghislain. The team is now planning for the next leg of their exhibition – the sea-ice scientific program.Under The Pole is a series of submarine polar expeditions aiming to explore the hidden face of the Arctic and Antarctic Polar Regions in their diversities. Suunto is an expedition partner. Main image ©Under The Pole

There are a lot of similarities between cave diving and developing a new product. Pushing the limits is one of them. Explore the world of a cave diver, tech dive instructor and Suunto EON Steel test diver Sami Paakkarinen. Sami Paakkarinen was one of the field testers that supported Suunto's internal test team in the development of EON Steel, our new fully customizable dive computer. Paakkarinen is an advanced dive instructor who teaches technical, cave and rebreather diving. He is based in Finland but can be found diving all around the world in places like Plura in Norway, Pozo Azul in Spain and Orda in Russia. In this video filmed by the Divers of the dark Sami introduces us to the world of cave diving – and finds similarities between cave diving and developing a new dive computer. “Big projects take years and years of preparation. Only then you are ready to push the limits,” he says. Explore the world of cave diver, tech dive instructor and Suunto EON Steel test diver Sami Paakkarinen.

A few weeks ago the first three Suunto Guiding Stars were sent on a journey, passing from one adventure-minded woman to the next. Suunto ambassador Emelie Forsberg, Scuba Diver Girl Margo Sanchez and cross country skier Aino-Kaisa Saarinen all kept one of the Guiding Star pendants for a while and passed them on to a person they admire for her attitude, her achievements, her adventurous mindset and her energy. Emelie was the first one to pass on her Guiding Star. She gave it to Norwegian musher Sigrid Ekran.   Time to pass this #SuuntoJewel along to another star! Sigrid Ekran it will arrive soon! A photo posted by Emelie Forsberg (@tinaemelie) on Jan 15, 2015 at 11:17pm PST   Thank you Emelie Forsberg for this beautiful jewelry #suuntojewel It will follow me and my dogs for a while, then I will pas it on to the next adventurous women. Proud to be part of this! #suunto #emelieforsberg #adventurouswomen A photo posted by Sigrid Ekran (@teamsigridekran) on Jan 25, 2015 at 7:34am PST   Margo soon followed. She gave her Guiding Star to Becky Kagan Schott, an Emmy Award winning underwater videographer, photographer and tech instructor. Passing this #SuuntoJewel along to @beckykagan ... a strong, beautiful, adventurous woman!!! #scubadivergirls #SuuntoDive #SuuntoGuidingStar A photo posted by Scuba Diver Girls (@scubadivergirls) on Jan 27, 2015 at 12:15pm PST   Also Aino-Kaisa's silver compass pendant has started travelling. It is now in the hands of American skier Liz Stephen: http://bit.ly/1F79LQ5 Follow the journey of these functional pieces of jewelry with #SuuntoJewel   Learn more about Suunto Guiding Star

Like any successful diving trip, the moment you get home it suddenly feels a long time ago. But the memories from Suunto's exploratory trip to Ayada Maldives look set to remain for a while yet for the lucky winners who joined us on our photoshoot earlier this month.The trip explored diving sites that have yet to be dived in the beautifully warm and clear waters of the Indian Ocean island chain. Five Suunto fans were able to join after winning our #Paradise contest. They were not disappointed... Says Jen Weston: “The trip really was a dream come true – exquisite, easy-going diving with professionals in a gorgeous underwater environment.“The diving locations had great visibility, lots of beautiful coral, countless tropical fish all contributing to an environment bursting with color. The dive sites near Ayada were clean and well cared for. And the night dive was truly amazing. We saw a nurse shark, a sleeping pufferfish, crabs, and lobster.” Jen Weston taking a shot © Phil Davison“It was described as a trip to paradise,” adds fellow contest winner Mark Harris, “and I really don’t think I can describe it any better than that. “The diving was beautiful – there were large expanses of pristine hard coral reefs at most of the dive sites and most of the reefs we visited had very mild currents. Sightings of Eagle Rays were a daily occurrence with regular sightings of reef sharks, large rays and turtles.” Also on the trip were the Scuba Diver Girls. “There is something for everyone in the Maldives, from big animals to small macro life. You constantly find yourself not knowing what to look at first,” says Margo Sanchez. “Every divesite was teaming with fish, eels, and wonderful anenomies!...and then a spotted eagle ray or black tip reef shark swims by...”Flying in the ocean: ©Dapeng Juan She adds: “It was so amazing to wake up early, throw on a bikini, enter the water right from the deck of our bungalow, and snorkel the spectacular house reef.”There was one particularly memorable diving moment, she says: “Stephanie and I were on a dive over a pretty reef that dropped off in a sheer wall of coral to the deep. There was the perfect amount of current to where you floated along just fast enough to be able to stop and take pictures if you wished. We found the cutest turtle that really seemed to like us and swam with us for quite sometime. The team on the beach of Ayada Maldives resort. ©Brad Holland“Then we came upon a very large nurse shark under a ledge of coral that was obviously very pregnant. She turned her head and regarded us as if to say hello but was very comfortable in her bed. Although that dive was quite amazing, the most stand-out moment for us was the baby blacktip sharks that were 30 feet from our bungalow. We snorkeled with them daily and I could always hear Stephanie squeeling through her snorkel...CUUUUUUTE!!! I, of course, was making the same noises. Some days the larger sharks would come in to check us out as well and all of this was in 3 feet of water!!!” Everyone got the chance to dive with Suunto's new dive computer, Suunto EON Steel and photographers George Karbus and Predrag Vuckovic were on hand to capture some great images for our forthcoming campaigns and we look forward to sharing those images in the coming weeks. Thanks to everyone for making it such a memorable trip. Main image ©Steve Woods

The Suunto DX, introduced in January 2013 as the world’s first CCR-compatible wrist-sized dive computer is now available in silver too. Coming with a titanium or elastomer bracelet, the Suunto DX Silver is both a serious diving tool and a stunning piece of design. Check out the new variants online or at your local Suunto dealer where it will be available soon.

It's only a couple of months since Suunto Vertical Blue but Will Trubridge is already looking ahead to his next record attempt. Here's what else the year has in store for the freediver. So what's up in 2015? 2015 is a busy year, with Suunto Vertical Blue happening at the end of April, then the Caribbean Cup in Honduras in May and the World Championships in Cyprus in September. I would like to perform well in all of these, but it's hard to maintain peak performance for long periods, so I will have to structure my training and rest carefully.Will you try again for another record?Yes, I hope so! Vertical Blue in April will have the best conditions for this, and with some solid training over the winter I would like to have another attempt at the 102 m [CNF – no fins, completely unassisted] and possibly try and push the Free Immersion record out some more as well. Will in action during Suunto Vertical Blue. ©Daan Verhoeven Looking back, what was the highlight of 2014? Winning Suunto Vertical Blue was definitely a great feeling, but I think the highlight would have to be seeing all the support for my world record attempt at 102 m, both before the attempt, when everyone was writing in with encouraging messages and leaving audio clips on the Steinlager site, and afterwards, when despite failing at my goal there was an even greater flow of support. Is it disappointing not to get the record?It can be a disappointment when you have trained hard for a long period, and there is a lot riding on your success. However you can learn as much from failure as you can from success, so I plan to use this disappointment as both motivation and a learning experience for the next occasion. A freediver in action during Suunto Vertical Blue 2014. ©Logan Mock-BuntingWas there a single thing that sums up the event?After last year's incident this VB was characterised by a more careful approach from the athletes, and enhanced safety measures from the team. In a way it was inspiring to see the prudence displayed by an athlete voluntarily sitting out the entire competition because they had suffered a lung injury in training, when the previous year they might have tried to push through regardless. But rather than sulking at home, this person, and others who had similar conditions, showed up at the beach to coach their fellow athletes and support the event. I think this demonstrates the spirit of VB, where everyone is supportive of each other, and the unique environment at Dean's Blue Hole allows for a warm and intimate event.Anything else that stands in the memory from 2014? I heard whalesong underwater for the first time, which is a magical experience, and encountered my first tiger shark (a fleeting visit, as it was a little timid). My 97m no fins dive in the Caribbean Cup, which is the deepest dive in this discipline during a competition, was one of the competitive highlights for me.