Dive Sites

Anemony Rock is a hallowed place for White Sea divers. A rocky outcrop that rises up from the slope of Bolshoy Krestovy [Big Cross] Island, as big as a three-story building and shaped like a dragon’s tooth. Underwater, the island is surrounded by a sandy plateau, which gives way at a depth of 6-7 m to a reasonably steep slope, from which the rock arises. On the coastal side, its base lies at a depth of 13-15 m, while on the seaward side its base goes down to 19-21 m. Several groups of boulders lie at a depth of 23-25 m (by the base).
 

Biofiltry Bay is a small bay that cuts deeply into the coastline. It is sheltered on one side by sheer cliffs. Underwater, a vertical wall juts out up to 7-8 m, after which the slope becomes flatter and ends in a fairly silty bottom at a depth of 12-15 m. Brown seaweed –fucus and laminaria– grow from the shoreline to a depth of 6-7 m. Biofiltry Bay is nothing extraordinary in summer, but it completely changes in winter. The most interesting thing about ice diving here is the ice itself. Thanks to the White Sea’s strong tidal currents, the high and low water levels differ by up to 2 m, and the tidal cycle lasts 12 hours. In other words, the water level rises over roughly 6 hours and then falls over roughly the same time. The ice rises and falls with the water, freezing to rock faces with which it comes into contact, breaking off, and freezing to them again.
 

Klumba is an underwater rocky outcrop. It consists of different-sized rocks, which look as if they have been deliberately piled up on the flat silty bed. Were all the water in Velkaya Salma Strait drained away from it, one would see that Klumba is part of one of the ridges that run right along its bottom. Therefore, if you know where to look you can see different variations of this dive site. Geophysicists from Moscow State University helped us find Klumba. Students from the Department of Geophysics are already in their second year of practical work at the ‘Arctic Circle’ base, where they are learning to work with different underwater locators. At the same time, they are also showing the divers new sites.
 

The Coral Grotto is a niche in the rock slope of Kishkin Island, about ten square metres in area. It has no floor; the back wall has a sheer drop right to the sea bed. Kishkin is a high, circular island with a precipitous coast, with a negative slope in places, on the surface and underwater. A plateau lightly covered with seaweed juts out to a depth of around 3 metres. One can only wonder how the seaweed clings on to the monolithic rock. When you reach the edge of the plateau you find it drops away abruptly into a black abyss and you want to hold onto something. It is no use shining your torch downwards; the light will not penetrate further than 45 metres. Following the rock, you start descending, and very quickly find yourself in total darkness. At a depth of 22-24 m the grotto opens up before you. If you get this far down and don’t find the niche in the rock, you’ve missed it, and you need to look to the left or right for it.