Brrrrace yourself for ‘Sea Gold’
IF you think that “Bering
Sea Gold” — the series in which madmen risk their lives diving and dredging for gold in the treacherous Bering Sea off Nome, Alaska — is full of tough guys, think again.
The crews of the upcoming “Bering Sea Gold: Under
the Ice” almost (almost!) make those guys look like sissy designer divers.
The fiveparter takes place in the same treacherous sea, but these men (and one woman) dive during the brutal Arctic winter — under 5 feet of solid ice in 28degree temperatures with no way out but the 10foot square hole they’ve dug in the ice.
Terrifying doesn’t begin to describe this, nor does gold fever begin to explain it.
In fact, this is such madness that just a few of the characters in “Bering Sea Gold,” come back in the winter for this series.
The three vessels are the Shamrock, the Clark and the Lazy Gator, a vessel with a crew that is not just new to the series, but, by the looks of it, new to the Arctic winter!
Shawn Pomrenke, of the Shamrock, is the son of memorable captain Steve Pom renke. He’s here to prove himself to his dad by running his own vessel at great personal expense.
Zeke Tenhoff, owner and captain of the Clark, did appear on “Gold,” and so did crew member Emily Riedel, his lovehate interest. She’s a 24yearold aspiring opera singer who used her money from diving last season to get her masters in opera in Vienna. Even though Tenhoff has been doing summer dredging for five years, this is his first time dredging under the ice.
But it’s the crew of the Lazy Gator that you’ll really fall for. They’re a bunch of hardworking guys who sold everything they had to finance the expedition.
In contrast to everyone else’s hightech and expensive machinery, these guys do it almost all by hand — including digging out and pulling out a 2,000pound block of ice to make a dive opening.
When one of them is under the sea alone and his hotwater tube stops working, his wetsuit gets flooded with ice water. He can’t shoot straight up as in a regular summer dive and has to swim 50 feet in the murky water to find the single opening in the ice.
It’s scary stuff, but as one captain says, “Gold didn’t disappear because the sea froze over. The weak ones crumble. Or worse. If gold don’t care neither do I.”
But you will. Care, I mean.