Highlights
- Glassy or white, often over a meter thick ice
- Fantastic ice structures, cracks and faults under and over water
- Crystal clear water, amazing visibility and underwater photography
- Breathtaking Siberian landscape
- Friendly and open people and culture
- The deepest and oldest lake on earth, UNESCO World Heritage Site
- Many endemic species (only found here)
- Experience and adventure in the heart of Russia
- Reliable and professional organization on site
Tour dates
2019
04th – 14th Feb 2019
10th – 20th Mar 2019
2020
04th – 14th Feb 2020
10th – 20th Mar 2020
2021
February/March 2021
Tour price/Services
Price per person
3,350 Euro
Single supplement 9 nights 790.00 Euro per person
Tour price INCLUDES the following services:
- All local transfer / airport transfers
- All overnight stays in a double room including breakfast
- During ice diving expedition on Lake Baikal breakfast & dinner, tea, coffee, water
- All dives incl. tank, weights, all transports, lunch on the ice, vodka, ice diving logistics
- City Tour Irkutsk (bus, English speaking guide, lunch), police registration of passports
Tour price EXCLUDES the following services:
- Flight to Irkutsk (via Moscow) - for example, from Europe from about 500 euros
- Visa and travel insurance (required in connection with visa application)
- Private expenses and excursions, gratuities
- Diving equipment (except tanks and weights)
- Extended stay - can be arranged when booking this tour
Getting here
From many major cities in Europe, US, Canada and Asia, you can fly to Irkutsk via Moscow for example with Aeroflot. Usually you do not need to stay for too long in Moscow waiting for your connecting flight. In Irkutsk we will provide a transfer to the hotel. The flight time from Western Europe is about 7 to 9 hours, from US/Canada usually 15 to 18 hours. The fares (in Russia) are relatively cheap.
Tour schedule
Day 1: arrival day. From all major Central airports, you are flying first to Moscow and from there to Irkutsk. The total flight time from Europe to Irkutsk is about 7-9 hours. From US and Canada about 15 to 18. The visa check is done in Moscow and is very simple and usually takes only a few minutes.
Day 2: Arrival in Irkutsk. The arrival in Irkutsk is depending on if the flight arrives in the early morning or around noon. Here, the tour group meets the tour guide and gets picked up and brought to the hotel only 15 minutes away. After checking in, you can relax or gather impressions of the beautiful city on a walk.
Day 3: Irkutsk at its best. Today you visit the sights, churches and monasteries as well as the old town of Irkutsk with its old traditional houses. Irkutsk is one of the few cities in Siberia in which the merchant buildings from the beginning of the 20th century have been preserved in the city center, as well as other examples of charming Siberian wooden architecture.
Day 4: from Irkutsk to Olkhon. After a hearty breakfast, the transfer to Olkhon and the Pribaikalski National Park starts around 08:00 a.m. The pleasant ride in the modern minibus leads through breathtakingly beautiful landscapes and seemingly forgotten villages and towns along the west bank of the Baikal.
The travel time for the nearly 300 km driving distance is about 5 to 6 hours (including the breaks and the lunch on the route) before we reach Khuzhir on the island of Olkhon in the late afternoon. A short walk brings us to the Shaman Rock where we bring a vodka offering to "Burchan", the god of the lake, and ask for safety on and under the ice.
Of course, there will be enough time in the evening to prepare your equipment for the next day.
Day 5-9: Ice-diving Baikal. For five days you will explore the frozen lake every day in minibuses and SUVs. Together with our local and experienced professionals, we look for the best fissures and ice structures in the vast landscape or even the clearest ice for a promising dive, depending on whether you join on one of our "Black Ice" in February or "White Ice" expedition in March / April.
The experienced team of Baikaltek then builds a small wagon castle. In the center of these wind break the ice hole is prepared. When the entry hole for your ice diving adventure is ready you can dive under the ice, which is usually about one meter thick - the adventure begins. Depending on the location, you can see the bottom of the lake, or you might have many hundreds of meters of water below you.
You can dive under the ice daily in teams of two or three, but the cold sets limits on dive time and number of dives. On all dives, an experienced dive guide is with you in the water and a seasoned team monitors the processes over water and takes care of the linen at the entrance hole.
But the special highlight is a small "mobile" sauna, which we bring along on a sledge as well as the warm changing room. So it is easy to warm up quickly after the dive.
After the ice-dives, there are also short excursions in the area to enjoy even more of the spectacular beauty of the Baikal above the water.
Day 10: Irkutsk, overnight and return home. After breakfast we drive from Khuzhir to Irkutsk, where we arrive around 03:00 p.m. and check in at the hotel for one night. The last evening we spend together with our hosts in the quaint "Beer house Irkutsk". After a restful night usually your flight will start early in the morning via Moscow back to the home airport.
Diving
The dives are done under the ice . For safety reasons, you must always dive on a suitably guided line to ensure that the entry can be found quickly and safely even in difficult situations. The water temperature in winter is just above freezing, while the air may well be -10 or -20°C (14 to -4°F). Diving equipment that is suitable for ice diving is a must, as well as warm and weatherproof clothing and shoes.
Since heated changing rooms are also available on the ice, the diving equipment can be "thawed" between the dives. Photographers and filmmakers should note that the low temperatures can also cause increased consumption of batteries and rechargeable batteries.
Steel bottles 12 and 15 liters with double valve DIN are available on site. They can also be used with adapters (available) with INT/Yoke regulators.
For diving under ice you must have a minimum training level AOWD (or equivalent) and an ice diving certificate.
Weather
In Irkutsk and the entire Baikal area, there is a high-continental climate with strong annual fluctuations. Characteristic of Irkutsk and the Baikal are very cold winters and warm summer months. The air temperatures vary, depending on the season, between -40°C (-40°F) and +30°C (86°F). The water temperatures are usually 4 to 7°C (39 to 45°F). In Winter a bit colder. The rainfall is very low. June is considered a "prime time" with a mirror-smooth lake, mostly crystal clear water and very little wind, the autumn offers clear water and stunning colors on land, but can be a bit windier. The cold, dry winter with low humidity, however, offers a meter thick frozen ice cover on the Baikal is simply an experience of the extra class.
