Diving Iowa's Ice Hole Festival

Divers take the plunge into a frigid West Okoboji Lake.

Divers take the plunge into a frigid West Okoboji Lake.

Natalie Synowiec

"When people come up from their dive, they come up to thunderous applause.”

Rich Thomas, PADI Course Director and Instructor Trainer, who is also the owner of International Scuba in Carrollton, Texas, is the organizer of the Ice Hole Festival. The eighth annual festival was held on West Okoboji Lake, Iowa, last month, where the ice was up to 20 inches thick.

“When you wake up in the morning and it’s negative 10 degrees and the snow is blowing sideways like a blizzard, it’s hard to get motivated to go outside,” Thomas says as he sets the scene. “The people that get out and brave that, it adds a little something extra.”

Born out of a request from a customer in Texas who asked Thomas to take them ice diving, the Ice Hole Festival has grown to reach divers farther afield than anyone imagined. It’s become an event that this year encompassed two days of pro training followed by a kickoff party and lots of diving. Vehicles transported everyone out to the holes in the ice, and a tent with heaters kept everyone warm between dives. The list of participants and sponsors has grown to include PADI, dive companies and shops from around the United States and Canada.

Although divers are responsible for bringing their own gear, Thomas arranges steel tanks and weights for those who need them. Divers were also given the opportunity to test out the new Apeks EVX regulator. “It worked really well and surprised me with the hose routing and the way I couldn’t make it free-flow,” Thomas says.

A crew stands watch at one of three ice holes.

A crew stands watch at one of three ice holes.

Natalie Synowiec

The festival agenda has different components geared toward newer ice divers, instructors who want to work toward their ice-diver certification and experienced ice divers who want to have fun. “We keep it to around 60 new divers,” Thomas says. “We have three holes: a training hole, a hole for certified divers and a photographer’s hole.”

“The people were amazing,” says Natalie Synowiec, PADI Master Scuba Diver Trainer. Natalie, who has a dozen ice dives under her belt, felt like it was a great way for new divers to gain exposure to ice diving and become more familiar with it.

Natalie Synowiec’s dad, Rich Synowiec, CEO of Divers Incorporated and PADI Course Director based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, is an experienced ice diver who organizes an annual ice diving weekend in Munising, Michigan (which was featured in last month’s Local Gems column). Rich ran the hole with other experienced ice divers: When a diver commented on how relaxed the atmosphere was at the hole he was running, Synowiec took pride in sharing how he learned to be prepared with things like a hot thermos to defrost frozen regulators or a box of spare gloves to replace ones that fall into the water.

For those considering ice diving for the first time at the festival, “the safety measures in place for the divers is phenomenal,” says Jenn Bruns, PADI IDC Staff Instructor, Specialty Instructor and owner of Iowa Scuba & Swim in Cedar Falls. Bruns has been attending the festival for three years. “People will help you and support you and help you work through anything that you’re worried about. You’re definitely not alone, and they will make you want to come back next year.”

The ninth annual Ice Hole Festival date has already been set for January 29 through February 1, 2026.

Related Reading: Diving in the Georgia Aquarium

Muskellunge (known as muskies) are a legendary freshwater inhabitant residing across the Northern and Midwestern regions of the United States.

Illustration: Cassidy Vincent

Site Spotlight: Muskellunge Fish

Although most fish tend to elude divers visiting Lake Okoboji in the winter, muskellunge (known as muskies) are a legendary freshwater inhabitant residing across the Northern and Midwestern regions of the United States.

Muskies (Esox masquinongy) live up to 30 years and are in season from May to November, but they are notoriously hard to catch—the U.S. Fish & Wildlife service calls them the “fish of 10,000 casts.” This might have something to do with their ability to reach swim speeds of up to 30 miles per hour! They grow to an average of 3 feet in length and feed largely on minnows and other small fish, but larger muskies have been known to hunt amphibians, rodents and even other muskies.