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Diving Safaris and Diving in the End of 2015. Jeep Ice Diving Safaris 2016.

Our main piece of news in 2015 is that Tatiana Oparina, divecentre BaikalTech instructor, Trimix instructor IANTD & CMAS,  held a new record in deep diving in Lake Baikal and in cold water on December 19, 2015, beating Gennady Misan’s (also BaikalTech instructor) record of 153 metres.

So, 156 metres, 124 minutes, water temperature +3 Celsius, air temperature - 8 Celsius, dive site Varnachka. Descending and ascending along the grand wall Varnachka. The dive was made from a safari boat Valeriya. Gases: a 24 L twin-cylinder set and 10-12 L stages - 4 Trimix and Triox, as well as Nitrox 50% and oxygen.

Before the dive, in the framework of preparation and enjoying the process, Tatiana made solo dives and dives in a group to the depths of 150, 145, 140, 135, 130, 125 meters and so on and, it is worth mentioning, she made repeated dives to certain depths mentioned. Besides, she made deep dives in the framework of dive centre arrangements, courses, master classes of deep diving and as a support diver during deep dives.

Apart from this, 2015 brought other news, which were not mentioned in our previous posts.

In September we were on a safari with our Moscow friends Igor Zorin and Sergey Petrov, boat Myth. The route was traditional for a 4-day safari: Listvyanka - Circum Baikal Railway - Bolshiye Koty. We call this route Golden Triangle, because within a comparatively short (130 km) part of Lake Baikal there is a great variety of dive sites.

A traditional safari Golden Autumn was made with RuDive company (Moscow). The route was also traditional for the safari - Bolshiye Koty - East Olkhon - Brown Bears Shore. The weather was not favourable to get to the Ushkan Islands. However, very untypical for this time of the year (October), we were lucky to have great visibility, which helped us appreciate the total beauty of north-western dive sites.

While there was a pause in safari schedule we were engaged in daily diving arrangements in Listvyanka and giving courses. In November BaikalTech Trimix diver Eugeniy Masternak finished a course Advanced Trimix with a dive to 90 metres. After the course, in the framework of practicing the skills, he made another dive to this depth together with Gennady Misan. Then we went by boat for daily diving at a dive site Varnachka, where Eugeniy again together with Gennady deepened 10 more metres to get to 100 metres depth and became one more Tech100 at BaikalTech (we grant  qualifications Tech after giving a master class in deep diving).

In December we went on our traditional safari Poliarnoye (Polar). We dived the best dive sites of Bolshiye Koty.

The Baikal was completely covered in ice in the beginning of February. The ice this year was remarkably clear. The fact that the ice is unusual we noted during our scouting trip on February 10. The ice was black, as smooth as a mirror, clear and transparent. The ice quality was like this till March 14 - this is also exceptionally unusual. Normally, by March 5-10, the ice is either covered in snow or gradually loses its transparency due to the sun rays. On March 14 the bright sun and air temperature of +10 killed the transparency, however, starting from this date the underwater ice formations reached the peak of their variability. Transparent ice and underwater ice formations - are the two core components of diving during Jeep Ice Diving Safaris.

This season we made 8 Jeep Ice Diving Safaris.

February 19-21 - safari for BaikalTech divers. This was the first, therefore the most difficult safari - severe weather conditions and looking for the best places for diving were in store for this group. However, they all experienced the happiness of being the first ones to reveal 2016 ice situation.

February 25 - March 2. A team of Waterworld divers headed by Werner Thile. A great video is a result of this safari. Great ice and good luck were on their side.

March 5-9. Denis Davidov’s team. They were very friendly and had great time at the best cracks in Maloye Morye (the Small Sea), among dramatic chunks of transparent ice.

March 5-12. A safari for Ronson company team headed by Sergey Arkhangelsky. Sergey is a great admirer and a real expert of the Baikal. Therefore he chose an exclusive route. The Ushkan Islands. A tour for them is a treat itself, and what happened during the trip - is a complete miracle. Beautiful nature, great ice, crystal clear water, fresh and tasty fish, local sauna (banya). On the whole, a couple of days of happiness. 

March 12-17. RuDive team headed by Sergey Gorenkov, a team of Tomsk club Ultra-Dive headed by Vadim Korshunov and a combined team. Diving - Yelenka, Khoboy, cracks of the Small Sea (Maloye Morye). Underwater ice formations were reaching their maximum variability, so the teams got their part of happiness.

March 13-17. Doctor-vodolaz (Doctor-diver) Alexander Martynenko team. Dived the same dive sites as March 12-17 safari participants, so their great pleasure was inevitable.

March 18-20. A short exclusive safari for a small team of BaikalTech club members and a combined team. At last there formed a crack in the proximity of Cape Khoboy. This year it took a long time for the crack to form. As a result, this exclusively beautiful place revealed its charm to the full.

March 20-24. Combined safari. Finishing. End of March. The air temperature swells, but the visibility is great and underwater ice formations are spectacular. We left the place, when the road on the Baikal ice was already officially closed. This year the dragon flew away earlier than usual and we were forced to cancel the safari scheduled for March 26-28.

During all safaris, of course, there was our famous mobile banya. What a treat to be at a hot sauna and jump into the space of Lake Baikal cold waters after great diving, lunch and excursions! This is a huge piece of happiness and our exclusive arrangement. Just fancy - to be in a banya, on the ice, in the middle of Lake Baikal, off the beaten track!

The cooks at Nikita Benchrov’s guest house managed to make exquisite food for our sometimes quite a big team. The guest house itself was a warm and comfortable sleeping place to recover after tightly packed safari days.

We would like to thank all the participants! Hope to dive with you again soon!