For much of North America, this winter has felt never-ending and particularly cruel. The Paper Of Record has compared it to "hell," and while their frustration is understandable, a river of fire seems like it'd be pretty nice right about now. Even though it's late February, much of the Midwest and East Coast will have to endure a few more weeks of this frigid reality. So, rather than booking the next flight to Cancun (fares aren't great, I checked), I sought the advice of someone who is professionally good at handling the cold. I called Christoph Hupe, an arctic SCUBA diver at the world's northernmost dive center.

What is it about sharks that fascinates us so? And why would anybody ever intentionally get in the water with them? mental_floss talked with wildlife filmmaker Andy Brandy Casagrande IV, an Emmy-winning cameraman with more than 40 Shark Week credits to his name, about the reality of working with these magnificent predators. Casagrande let us in on a few surprises, including the most dangerous part of filming sharks.

All drysuits for scuba diving are not created equally, and a drysuit style that is ideal for one diver in one environment may not be perfect for a different diver or a different environment. Your choice of drysuit will ultimately depend upon your needs as a diver and where you plan to dive. There's a great deal to consider when choosing a drysuit!
A drysuit diver under the ice. - © Getty Images
Drysuits keep divers dry, and therefore warmer, in harsh environments. The most common types of drysuits are trilaminate and crushed neoprene. © Getty Images
The Five Most Common Drysuit Materials
Drysuits are available in a number of different materials, and it's best to choose a suit that is tailored towards your specific diving requirements. Here are the five most common drysuit materials to choose from.

ena Prous was nervous on the day she decided to learn scuba diving. She phoned up an instructor who lived in Tenerife, Spain, where she was planning to obtain her diploma. They had met just a month ago. "Would you like to go diving with me?" she said. Then she asked her dad: "Would like to join me?" Two cousins had offered to join her if she ever made the trip. "Will you be joining us?" she quizzed them. Every single person said yes—and so did one of Prous' female co-workers.

That was five years ago. Since then, the 31-year-old has gone diving in in warm water, cold water, and under ice in places familiar to any diving enthusiast, like Mexico, Panama, and the Red Sea. But unlike most divers, it takes a team of people to plan her trips below the surface: Prous is paralyzed from her biceps down.

As soon as the yacht entered the passage in Vava’u in Tonga, it was surrounded by humpback whales, prompting the passengers to jump into the water when they thought it was safe.

Australian free diver Will Rosner, who has been traveling the world for 18 months, was among them, and fortunately he had his camera rolling.

Rosner, 24, captured the moment a humpback whale raised up out of the water in front of him. Thinking quickly, he whirled the camera around and got the perfect selfie.

But he wasn’t expecting the close encounter to get even closer.

“At one point it literally picked me up out of the water with its tail,” Rosner told Caters News.

The moment occurred soon after the selfie moment and is captured in the video though hard to decipher. You do see the whale coming close and raising its back end, but not much else.

“Me and the crew swam all day with almost a dozen whales, including a docile mother and her very playful calf,” Rosner said. “The whale in the selfie photo was the most curious and played with us for 30 minutes. Splashing us with water. Staring me in the eye before it picked me out of the water with its tail.

“It was like a playful dog showing off dance moves. I had no idea I had a good photo until that night when I looked through all the photos and videos.”

Apparently, Rosner didn’t know that he was almost swallowed whole by the whale, as one tabloid, the Daily Star, declared with a sensational headline.

Actually, Rosner wasn’t close to having a Biblical Jonah moment, but he was fortunate to come out of his close encounter unscathed. The unpredictable nature of whales is one reason most countries frown on swimming with them.

In fact, it is illegal in many countries, mostly for the protection of the whales. But swimming with humpback whales in Tonga is among the tourist attractions.

“It was really up to [the whale] how close it wanted to get and sometimes it got within touching distance,” Rosner said. “It really put on a show for us and it was like it was dancing and playing with us.”