Cold Water · Russia
Lake Baikal — Listvyanka & Olkhon
Year-round freshwater diving on Baikal, with ice dives under the Olkhon floes
Photo: Sergey Pesterev · CC BY-SA 4.0
Listvyanka, 40 minutes by road from Irkutsk, is the daily-dive base on UNESCO-listed Lake Baikal: shore entries onto a shallow shelf that breaks into walls, canyons and grottoes, with most dives between 3 and 30 m. Boat days reach sunken railway wagons on the CircumBaikal Railway, and in February and March expeditions cross the ice to Olkhon Island to dive beneath broken floes at Khoboy. The life to look for is Baikal's sponges, gammarids and curious nerpa, the lake's seal.
About diving in Lake Baikal — Listvyanka & Olkhon
Most diving is from shore at Listvyanka. Divers drive between the entries rather than take a boat, because the drop-off begins 10–50 m from the shore: the shallow shelf suits a check dive, and a couple of minutes along it reaches whatever depth the plan calls for. Shore days run all year whatever the weather or the size of the group. Day boats leave Listvyanka for the CircumBaikal Railway. Olkhon is an expedition rather than a day out, with dives through holes cut in the ice at a new spot each day.
The Listvyanka shore is rock: walls, canyons and grottoes, with Baikal sponges on the stone and gammarids and sculpins around them. Omul and pike pass through, ducks dive down to feed on the weed, and curious nerpa sometimes join a dive. The wreck diving is railway history, with sunken wagons, train wheels, piers, boats and anchors on the boat days toward the CircumBaikal line. Under the Olkhon ice the scenery is the ice itself, and most of those dives go no deeper than 2 m.
The recommended kit for the cold water is a drysuit, dry gloves, three layers of undersuit and a regulator built for 0–4 °C water. Within that, Listvyanka suits every level: easy entries, a shallow shelf and currents that are rare and usually weak. The Olkhon ice is a step up, demanding Ice Diver and Dry Suit Diver certification, with 100 or more logged dives recommended; the whole day is spent outdoors on the ice.
Best time to dive Lake Baikal — Listvyanka & Olkhon
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Good | Prime | Prime | Good | Good | Good | Fair | Fair | Good | Good | Good | Good |
From January to May the water holds at about 1 °C. The Olkhon ice expeditions run from 5 February to 31 March, shifting with the ice, and nerpa pups are born on the fast ice in February and March. Late autumn, winter and early spring give the clearest water, 20–30 m. From June the upper layer warms, reaching 16 °C in July and August, when visibility falls to 5–10 m until early September. September is quieter in Listvyanka than the height of summer, and the shore dives there carry on through the autumn and early winter.
Dive types & marine life
The nerpa, Baikal's seal, is the headline animal: curious nerpa turn up at Listvyanka, and in February and March pups are born in lairs hollowed out on the fast ice. Sponges and gammarids cover the Listvyanka shore and sculpins are seen often; a school of omul is a lucky find, and pike also turn up.
- Freshwater
- Wall
- Wreck
- Ice
- Seals & sea lions
- Freshwater fish
Best dive sites in Lake Baikal — Listvyanka & Olkhon
- 1
Khoboy
Olkhon ice site under broken, metres-high floes; a nerpa pup has joined divers at a seal hole.
- 2
Baikal Abyss
Vertical wall dropping into the deep, a swim of about 200 m from the Listvyanka dive centre.
- 3
CircumBaikal Railway
Boat dive to sunken rail wagons and a 100-year-old boat 16 m long and 5 m wide.
Site guides
A nerpa pup swimming alongside divers at a seal hole in the ice
How to get to Lake Baikal — Listvyanka & Olkhon
Irkutsk International Airport (IKT) is the gateway. Listvyanka lies 65 km from Irkutsk at the end of the road, about 40 minutes by car, with a marshrutka from the Irkutsk bus station every hour or so; dive days start in the village. Olkhon is a 6–8 hour transfer from Irkutsk.
Photos from Lake Baikal — Listvyanka & Olkhon
Iurii Volkov · CC BY-SA 4.0
Dive videos
Diving on Lake Baikal · Алексей on YouTube
Diving in Lake Baikal · malacote82 on YouTube
Questions divers ask
Can Lake Baikal be dived in summer?+
Yes. Shore dives at Listvyanka run all year. In July and August the upper layer reaches 16 °C, but below the thermocline, from 10–15 m, the water stays at 4–6 °C.
When is the ice-diving season at Olkhon?+
The expeditions run from 5 February to 31 March, shifting with the ice. They require Ice Diver and Dry Suit Diver certification, and 100 or more logged dives is recommended.
Are Baikal seals seen underwater?+
Curious nerpa turn up at Listvyanka. Pups are born on the fast ice in February and March, and at Khoboy a pup has joined divers at a seal hole.
How is Listvyanka reached from Irkutsk?+
By road, 65 km and about 40 minutes by car, or by marshrutka from the Irkutsk bus station every hour or so. Dive days start in the village and the diving is from shore.
Sources
- Дайвинг в Листвянке — BaikalTek
- Где ныряем — Dive Center New Dimension
- Listvyanka — Wikivoyage
- Irkutsk — Wikivoyage
- Lake Baikal — Wikipedia
- Baikal — Advanced Diver Magazine
- Day 5 – Cracked ice and some troubles at Khoboy — SSI
- Russia: The Pearl of Siberia — Underwater360
- Dive shop in Irkutsk, Russia — Undercurrent
- Подледный дайвинг на Ольхоне — BaikalTek
- Однодневный дайвинг тур по КБЖД — Dive Center New Dimension
Photo credits
- Clear, cracked lake ice stretches toward a snow-dusted wooded headland under streaked grey clouds. by Sergey Pesterev, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- A person in a dark parka stands silhouetted inside an ice grotto hung with icicles, looking out over a frozen lake to snowy hills. by Iurii Volkov, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
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