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Best Ice Diving in the world

We have started 2011 ice diving season around the 10^th of February, by then ice was already thick and save. Baikaltek’s members Aleksey Bormotov and Katya Boyarinceva have completed Ice Diver course. Divers from Blagoveshensk, Anatoli, Andrey and Marina, came to Baikal in order to get Ice Diver training and certification, as well as to get experience of diving in a dry suit. All courses were done through our own ice-hole across from our dive-center at dive site “By the Lake. By the ice hole we set up warm, movable “house” and dives were done out of comfortable warm accommodations, even though outside temperatures were well below zero and accompanied by strong wind.

Not everybody knows yet, that near Olkhon Island from end February to the beginning of March you can experience a different kind of universe on Earth. At this place, just for a month (and not for everyone) a door opens to a different dimension. And through this door we enter the world of ice jeep safaris.

The first ice jeep safari took place from the 25^th to the 27^th of February. The participants were: Gennady Misan – leader, Aleksey Bormotov, who was perfecting himself as Ice Diver and Dive-master IANTD, Valentina and Mikhail Sisenkov, the owners of our friend dive-center “Fartovyi”, they were completing Ice Diver course and got some valuable experience of Baika’sl under-ice fiving. Besides Mikhail Sisenkov, OWSI PADI, completed during the safari cross-over course to CMAS 2* and specialization of Ice Diving Instructor CMAS, led by Gennady Misan. All the goals of our small team were met. Courses successfully completed. We made ice dives at Olkhon Gates, at Shamanka and Khoboi. We also done some good ice iscoping for our next safaris, and of course there was lots of fun and great dives in beautiful places under majestic, very-very clear ice.

Next group was led by Olga Kamenskaya – the author of photo album “Baikal. The Kingdom of Water and Ice”. For Olga and Dima Melamed this was their 10^th jubilee visit to Baikal. Our congratulations! Other participants were Masha Melamed and Ilya Gubin. During safari Ilya successfully completed Ice Diver course. Olga made lots of new photos during Khoboi dives. Baikaltek members Katya Boyarinceca, Vasiliy Yarishenko, Oksana Supes, Anton Smagin and Miya Kiseleva also took part in this trip. Oksana took part in the heroic photo session, some photoes from which can be found here. Andrei Nekrasov dove together with Olga and Dima. It is said that he is one of the best photographers in Russia and Ukraine, top three are Andrei, Olga and someone else. After the safari with Olga was over, Andrey stayed for one more and completely proved that he is one of the best at what he does. Photos are simply stunning; they show new point of view and new, for us, photography technique.

In the next group we were joined by our good friend Didier Noirot with his wife Corin and a group of French divers. For those of you who do not know – Didier Noirot is a well-known underwater photographer and camera-men. His first big exhibit of underwater photography took place hin 1996 in New York. Didier for 18 years worked as a camera-men in Cousteau’s team. Thene worked for various movie and TV companies. The most breathtaking shots in the movie “The Ocean” were shot by him.

This is Didier’s eighth visit to Baikal. Two times he was here as a part of Cousteau’s team and the next 6 times on his own initiative. We have been waiting for his visit for 7 years. During this visit eh expressed his attitude towards Baikal as “There are three places in the world that my soul longs for. They are Antarctica, South Africa and Baikal”. When we asked where was his best expeditions, he said “Baikal! Antarctica on the special tour (as he went there not with thousands of other tourists) was very expensive. South Africa is not really an expedition. But Baikal, for relatively low costs, guarantees to show you something you cannot see anywhere else, and that is beautiful and exclusive, considering of course that the program is led by professionals”

French dove both in Side Mount and, in classic French style, without BCD, just with backpack. Video shot by Didier was great. Photos done by the French photographers were decent, and all left mesmerized by Baikal, This is what is called “to get hooked”. We are awaiting their next visit. Didier enjoyed Banya on ice, and said that this was another cherry on top of this safari.

After Olkhon Didier’s group visited Listvyanka where they rated our ships as “A+”. Of course they visited Baikal’s Aquarium, which is headed by “local Jacques Yves Cousteau” Vladimir Fialkov, who personally led an excursion for us and showed how Baikal’s depth have been studied since the 50s of last century.

Next groups were with members of “Rudive” team and Aleksandr Zykov’s club “Deep Ocean”. In “Rudive” safari we also head a guest from the US, Yvetta Ball, who wanted to complete Ice Diver course in the best place for this on earth. Ice structures this year were “the best”, even though each year it seems impossible for them to get any better. ‘Deep Ocean” was guided and instructed by freelancers Aleksandr Martynenko (Omsk) and Andrey Bobkov (Irkutsk). Sahsa Martynenko at the same time was completing specialized instructor course CMAS Dry Suit and Nitrox, led by Gennady Misan.

During all these safaris we dove at Shamanka and Khoboi, in Olkhon gates, and by the crack in mid Maloe More. The visibility under the ice this year was great and driving conditions were nice, as ice was quite smooth.

Next was combined safari made of Aleksandr Martynenko’s group, a guest from Ukraine, Anna Zhuravleva, and Baikatek’s own members. In this safari we led seminar for Instructor CMAS** for Aleksandr Martynenko, and course Dry Suit + Ice Diver for Dima (Moscow) and Anna (Ukraine).

After safari this mixed group ventured out to look for beljok (baby nerpa) in Barguzinskii bay near Ushkanii Isles, joined by film-making group from Japan, underwater camera-man Shigeru Furushima and instructor-trainer Satoshi Toyoda. The Japanese came even after the devastating earthquake and nuclear crisi in their country. They decided that beljok is more important. Japanese divers chose Baikaltek after studying their options in our region and going through recommendations of IANTD, local tour operators and their country-men who dove here before. The timing was a little too early, but it was the only time that Japanese group could make it. We made great dives in Barguzinskii bay and Olkhon’s cape Khoboi and in Listvyanka. Japanese left with tons of great video materials and were happy even though we could not find beljok, it was just too early.

Ice diving season was over on April 3^rd. The door has closed on our eyes on the 31^st of March (we were at Khoboi). Ice was no longer clear and the structures started to collapse. Visibility got significantly worse. The Magic Moment has left… Now we are waiting for next year’s season: February 25^th to March 30^th of 2012.