Vladivostok & Peter the Great Bay · Russia · Pinnacle · Wall · Cave & cavern
Askold Island
Sheer rock stacks, crevices and caves on a far island of the bay
Photo: Романвер · Public domain
Askold is an island of Peter the Great Bay ringed by sheer rock stacks that plunge to 45 m. Around them the seabed breaks into crevices and caves, and the island is one of the distant islands that experienced divers reach on the dive boats working the bay from Vladivostok.
Also known as Askold, Island of Askold.
Where it is and how deep
42.7554° N, 132.3491° EApproximate position — the dashed circle shows where the site lies; your operator's briefing has the mooring.
The dive
Dives here follow the kekury, the sheer rock stacks that stand off the island and fall away as vertical walls. Across the bay such walls run to 30 m, and at Askold the stacks carry on down to 45 m (148 ft). Between them the bottom is a broken landscape of crevices and caves to work along the rock.
Marine life and season
The sources we used don't single out particular species here.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fair | Fair | Fair | Fair | Good | Good | Good | Prime | Prime | Good | Good | Fair |
Season follows Vladivostok & Peter the Great Bay: In August and the first half of September the upper layer of the sea warms to a comfortable level; from December to April it is painfully cold, and some bays freeze in February.
Know before you go
- Between 30 and 50 m a thermocline is likely, dropping the water to 3 °C or less on the deeper parts of the stacks.
Dive videos
island askold 01 · DivingInstructorRu on YouTube
Sources
- Diving in the Primorsky Territory: the most beautiful places — Visit Primorye tourist information centre
- Дайвинг-туры по акватории Залива Петра Великого | DivePrim — DivePrim
- OpenStreetMap — OpenStreetMap
Photo credits
- Steep green-wooded cliffs drop to a calm grey-blue bay with a pebble beach, scattered rocks and rusted metal on the shore by Романвер, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
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