Lake Baikal - The Deepest Lake in the World

Dive Site: 

Date of Your Dive: 

Country/ Continent: 

Difficulty 

Is There A Required Certification Level? 

Open Water Diver

Depth 

: World's deepest lake with steep bottom - deep dives possible.

Temperature 

: Summer: +4C. I wore a short 7mm suit over a full7mm suit with hood and gloves. Air temperature was about +20C. Dry suits would be best but I am not trained.

Winter: 1m of ice and probably +1C. Probably -30C!!

Conditions 

: Awesome visibility! I'm no expert but I estimate at least 100m.

Who Should You Contact to Dive This Site? 

Gennady Misan - misan@baikaldiving.ru - www.baikaldiving.ru

When Should You Dive This Site? 

I dove in July but would love to return for ice diving in winter.

My Review 

: Combine this with a stop (at Irkutsk) on the Trans Siberian Railway.

Adventure diving with amazing visibility and fish found nowhere else in the world. Drink (at depth) the best tasting water (from which locals claim they make the best vodka).

If you are trained you can dive very deep very very close to shore because the bottom is so steep. I was told that the sunlight reaches deeper than anywhere else in the world.

There are no shore facilities - don suits beside the divemaster's car and clamber awkwardly to the water. Prepare for extreme cold.

Afterwards enjoy delicious pickled fish and that local vodka in a nearby village.

Would you recommend this to a friend? 

Natalie Gibb, Scuba Diving Guide, says: