Asian Diver — October 2017

I JOINED A boat to make a fun deco dive

on sidemount at Chumphon Pinnacle –

one of Koh Tao’s best dive sites. On the

boat with me was a group making their

final dive in the TDI Sidemount Course.

The site is perfect for tek training, with a

maximum depth of 32 metres, and lots

to see, including huge schools of ox-eye

scad and barracuda that part as you

swim through them. Deco and safety

stops are also interesting, as the top

of the pinnacle is covered in huge

anemone beds.

SIDEMOUNT

By James Emery

UNDER THE ICE

By Gerald Nowak

I WENT TO Siberia with a team of
technical divers to test some new
equipment for a well-known brand.
For six days, we were to be diving under
black ice just off Olkhon Island in Lake
Baikal. Siberia is one of the few places

in the world where you can dive in fresh

water under ice up to 10 metres thick.

While we were never more than

12 metres deep, we ventured up to

100 metres from the entry/exit hole

in the metre-thick ice. We found

incredible ice formations, tunnels,

cracks and black ice.

The temperature on land was

a chilly 15 to 30 degrees below zero.

At the entry hole, the water was

a bone-c zero degrees Celsius, but

under the ice, the temperature reached

up to three degrees.

Lake Baikal is known for its shifting,

unpredictable ice, so we needed the

equipment to perform perfectly; at

times, we were making exploratory

dives investigating cracks just two

metres wide, under seven metres

of ice. Thankfully, all the dives went

smoothly and it was a great adventure!