Bolshie Koty

This is a cult site among tech divers! One has to make many dives to see the entire place. Northern, southern and central parts of the dive site are ideal for deep dives. The fall to the bottom (if the dive to 110m is planned) is possible to make along the wall. The record Baikal dive to the depth of 154m was made here. This is ideal place for deep dives and excellent place for tech dives. As the dive area is large, it is divided into three sites: Canyon, Wall, and Slope.   

Srednyaja  – Canyon. In the southern part of the site, you find a canyon that begins as a big sandy crater on the short shelf at a depth of 5 to 10 meters. A stone terraces overgrown with sponges.

This is one of the few places at Lake Baikal where you can ALWAYS see big yellow gammari. Curiously, the gammari that usually migrate following cold water, stay here even when the water warms up by the end of summer.  

Recommended depths: 3-20 meters for photographing and filming gammari, 6-45 meters for photographing and filming canyon and grotto, 6-40 meters for recreational dives, and up to 100 meters for deep and trimix dives. 

Srednyaja - Wall. The central part of the site is a grandiose vertical wall that comes to steep stepped slope. At 8m there is a memorial table for drowned diver. At 37m there is a cave with narrow entrance (cave dives require special training). On the depth of 55m there are two joint caverns. At 77m there is a terrace with a part of navigational sign. At 90m there is a cavern. At 110m there is a flag of Russian Army installed by diver Edik Gazimov. 

Recommended depths: 3-20 meters for photographing and filming gammari, 6-65 meters for photographing and filming wall and cave, 6-40 meters for recreational dives, and up to 140 meters for deep and trimix dives. 

Srednyaja – Slope. The northern part of the dive site is a drop-off that abruptly changes to a slope, which makes the interesting part of the site, i.e. the border of the slope and the wall. The northern side of the site starts with corner where the drop off sharply inclines. On this corner the navigation signs are usually installed and many of them lie on the depths of 6-15m and also on the depth of 90-100m under the drop off. On the wall at this place there are negative declinations. The drop off on the depth of 90-95m comes steep slope. On the drop off edge there are thickets of sponges and beautiful plants closer to the shore. 

Recommended depths: 3-20 meters for photographing and filming gammari, 6-40 meters for photographing and filming wall, 6-40 meters for recreational dives, and up to 100 meters for deep and trimix dives

A big canyon. To see all of it is only possible when the visibility rate is very high. 

Recommended depths: 6-40 meters for photographing and filming, 6-40 meters for recreational dives, and up to 45 meters for deep dives  

At the bottom of the canyon there are many narrow canyons. Lots of sponges.

As the dive area is large, it is divided into three sites: southern (Gardens), middle (Wall), and northern (Canyon).

Varnachka-Gardens. The site is interesting at a depth of three to 30 meters. The drop-off covered with a sponge tangle goes down in scarps. 

Varnachka-Wall. This is a cult site among tech divers! The site is interesting at a depth of three to 180 meters.  It features a grandiose drop-off formed by vertical and horizontal scarps with negative vertical angles. The depth of the wall varies from 90 meters in its northern part to 180 meters in its southern part (or maybe even more as we have not yet examined it deeper).  This is the place where Russia’s record winning 150 meter deep dive in the the nomitation «The Deepest Cold Water Dive by A Female» was made in December 2013 by Tatiana Oparina, dive club BaikalTek Instructor. It is here that the world record for “the deepest coldwater dive” (170 meters) was set by the instructor Tatiana Oparina in December 2017.

Varnachka-Wall is an ideal place for technical dives. Record dives have been made here by Gennady Misan (160  meters) and Tatian Oparina (170 meters). Many other technical divers have set their records here during the masterclasses held by the Technical Diving School of BaikalTek diving center.

Varnachka-Canyon. The site is especially interesting at a depth of up to 25 meters because of the Baikal sponge tangle.  You can see the abundance of the sponge growing both in the canyon and nearby, i.e. on the wall, on the scarps, and in the shelf area.  At the depth of 14 meters there is a grotto - looks like a room - with an entrance and a «window».

Recommended depths: 6-40 meters for photographing and filming, 6-40 meters for recreational dives, and up to 70 meters for deep and trimix dives.

The underwater canyon starts almost from the shoreline. The front part of the canyon looks like a round arena with pebbles-and-sand bottom, at the bottom of which, at the depth of 18 meters begins an underwater tunnel, which runs to the depth of 23 meters. When getting out of the tunnel one has a grand view of the canyon. The left hand side of the canyon (if we look at it from the water, not from the shore) is vertical and sometimes has sharp angle inclinations. The canyon goes down in huge benches. From the depth of 35 to 60 meters the benches are smooth and oval. At the depth of 70 meters the canyon and the drop off turn into a stone inclination.

There are a lot of sponges and weeds both in the offshore shallow waters and in the drop off. Dives up to 30 meters are preferably planned from the beginning of the canyon, with a dive in the tunnel and procede into the middle part of the canyon. Deep dives are to be started with a descend right into the canyon to the planned depth and then ascend along the canyon going through the tunnel. In the offshore shallow waters at the deco stop at the depth of 3 meters it would be fun to admire the beautiful weeds. A nice place both for deep diving and for recreational diving

Recommended depths: 6-65 meters for photographing and filming, 6-40 meters for recreational dives, and up to 100 meters for deep and trimix dives.

The place owns its name to the peculiar huge cliff situated below 40 meters. Because of its rectangular shape, the cliff looks like a suitcase. The site is a huge canyon the bottom of which is a wide sandy slope. At the beginning of the canyon, you find interesting rock formations, picturesque bulk of logs, and a lot of sponges. Across the canyon, you can see the above-mentioned huge cliff “Chemodan”.

Down the canyon and to the left of Chemodan, there is a beautiful route for technical 45-100 meters dives. You can find it if you have an experienced technical guide who knows the place well. 

Recommended depths: 6-40 meters for photographing and filming, 6-40 meters for recreational dives, and up to 100 meters for deep and trimix dives. A place of interest for divers with different experience and education level - there are quite convenient places here for practising various skills and for deep dives. 

The central part of this dive site is called The Cross. There is a remote underwater mountain chain, on top of one of the summits in the year 2005 there was put up a cross in memory of Andrey Serov (Instructor, the founder of Irkutsk dive club Sval), who died from cancer.

A great drop off with vertical and horizontal benches, with sharp angle inclinations. There are many cracks in the rock. An interesting geological structure of the drop off - it can be compared to a stone road of different colours. Massive sponge colonies.

In the distance from the drop off there is a beautiful underwater mountain range with mountain tops at the depth of 13, 15, 24 and 37 meters. The Cross is on the 13-meter depth. Between the 13 and 15 meters mountain tops there is a narrow and deep canyon, which looks more like a crack between the two mountains. At the base of this crack-canyon is a tunnel, at the depth of 40 meters it takes you to the drop off running to the depth of 100 meters, after which a steep inclination begins. In the drop off there is a deep crack. The crack runs to the depth of 95 meters. When moving to the left after having passed the drop off one gets to see a group of vertically standing stone «fingers», each of which is 2-4 meters high. Between them at the depth of 50 meters there is a grotto. Then it might be high time to turn back home and make your way through the canyon-crack, but from a different side, at the depth of 30 meters. Alternatively, you could move farther to see the mountain range tops at the depths of 60 and 70 meters. At the depth of 70 meters there is one more grotto. Deeper than these grottos and rocks there is one more mountain peak at the depth of 85 meters.

Recommended depths: 6-65 meters for photographing and filming, 6-40 meters for recreational dives, and up to 100 meters for deep and trimix dives.

“Tunnel” is situated at a depth of 40 meters. You can also see multiple small sandy canyons among the mountain peaks, magnificent vertical slopes going as deep as 90 meters, grottos, old anchors, a vast tangle of sponge on the cliffs, and a sandy shelf with stones covered with sponges.

If you go for a technical dive with a guide, you can have a breathtaking trimix dive up to 100 meters and enjoy the grandiose landscape.

Recommended depths: 6-65 meters for photographing and filming, 6-40 meters for recreational dives, and up to 120 meters for deep and trimix dives.

The site is relatively narrow but large by area as it is shaped like a horseshow protruding into the lake.  The first “Rock Garden” is a ridge of big stones grown with sponges at a depth of 8 to 16 meters. The second “Rock Garden” is at a depth of 25 to 55 meters.

At a depth of 20 meters, you can see the top of a wall that is almost vertical and goes down to over 100 meters.  There is also a canyon up to 120 meters deep and 24 to 40 meters long.   

In fact, there are 2 different dive sites - the northern and the southern sides of Cape Sobolev.

Recommended depths: 6-65 meters for photographing and filming, 6-40 meters for recreational dives, and up to 100 meters for deep and trimix dives.

The site features a canyon that begins with an underwater amphitheater. The “exit” of the amphitheater has a shape of a giant gate. The gate is an extension of the canyon and in its examined part, it goes as deep as 110 meters. In this place the central part of the dive site is a canyon, which begins with an underwater amphitheater. The amphitheater finishes with huge gates that take you to the drop off. The gates take you to a huge canyon which runs to the depth of 110 meters (we so far have explored the place only up tho this depth). At the depths of 45 and 75 meters there are small platforms in the canyon walls. At the depths from 80 to 90 meters there is an overhead piece that makes going out from the canyon difficult.

The southern part of the dive site is a steep benchy drop off, covered in sponges. The drop off edge starts at the depth of 12-15 meters. Further down the drop off becomes vertical and the wall goes down to the depth of 30 meters, then a steep benchy drop off. The southern part of the site is a drop-off stepped slope at the end of which, among huge stones, you find an arch at a depth of 16 meters.  At a depth of 22 meters, you find a grotto. 

In the northern part of the cape there is a magnificent benchy drop off which finishes with a canyon with an old anchor in it at the depth of 32 meters. The canyon finishes with a sand inclination.

It is a grandiose long drop-off with vertical and horizontal scarps and negative-angle slopes, dissected with rifts.  It is located opposite the tourist site called Chertov Most (Devil’s Bridge).  As the site is large, it is divided into three parts: southern, central, and northern.

The central part is a drop-off shaped like a horseshoe protruding into the lake. A very special event took place here once. It was the deepest underwater wedding. The ceremony was held at a depth of 100 meters! 

The horse-shoe-shaped drop off right opposite the cliff is grand with its horizontal and vertical benches, sharp angle inclinations and cracks. The left hand side of the horse-shoe (if we look at it from the sea, not from the shore) is a stone inclination covered in sponges. Huge stones cover the inclination. On the right hand side there is a formation that looks like a canyon, which finishes with an inclination. In front of the drop off, in the middle of the dive site at the depth of 40-50 meters there is a flat area 10-25 meters wide. The left, southern, part of the platform has two arches with entrances 50 and 52 meters deep and exits at 40-45 meters. One of the arches is quite big - there is enough space for a big truck. In the middle of the underwater platform there is a grotto at the depth of 53 meters. To the right (north) from the grotto there are two canyons in the cracks between the rocks. Further north there is a single rock with a top at the depth of 35 meters. The form of this rock resembles that of a mushroom. This underwater platform finishes with a drop off (lined with huge cracks) into the abyss. The wall runs to the depth of 95-105 meters and then begins a steep inclination of huge rocks. At the depth of 94 meters there is an entrance into a big grotto or a cave - this is still to be explored. Geological structure of the drop off is of interest - stones of different colours are mixed with coal-black ones, which makes the picture look quite unusual. Lots of sponges.

The southern part features four cliffs with a maximum depth of 27 meters. The site is especially interesting at a depth of four to 80 meters. 

The northern part is separated from the central part with the Channel site. It is a deep (up to 14 meters) part between the two shelves. 

In shallow waters there are beautiful stone formations covered in weeds. Rumour has it, this place used to be a gold mining area back in Tsar times. Who knows, maybe there is something left?

On the whole, an amazing place. Our German colleagues made enough videos for a film, when diving just in this location. A great place for divers of different levels. An ideal place for deep diving