Baltma Tours arranged an out of season special dive in Yantarny (Amber) Lake (90% of the world’s amber comes from this part of Russia) with Demersus Dive Center (Äàéâèíã â Êàëèíèíãðàäå. Ñíàðÿæåíèå äëÿ äàéâèíãà. Îáó÷åíèå äàéâèíãó. Àêòèâíûé îòäûõ. Ïðîêàò ñíàðÿãè. Àðåíäà êîìïðåññîðà. Ïîäâîäíàÿ îõîòà. Äàéâ-öåíòð Demersus |. Tel. +7-4012-33-33-22. Mobile: +7-9062-38-68-34. 100 Euro ($ 155) including pick up at my hotel (Dona Hotel http://donna.kaliningrad.ru), two hour round trip drive to the north east of Kaliningrad close to the Baltic Sea. I was met by Alexei, the dive center’s owner who showed me around the modern wooden house equipped with the latest dive equipment on the edge of the small lake. The grounds even included a camping ground and sand boxes for divers children! About ten journalists and TV and radio reporters met me as well.

I was given the choice of doing a deep wreck (about 25 meters) or a shallower dive amidst a birch forest. Since I was going to visit the famous Curonian Spit the next day which had similar topography, I jumped at the chance to get a taste for what I imagined diving the Spit to look like. The Spit is a penninsula with birch forests culminating in the second highest sand dunes in Europe and separates the mainland from the Baltic Sea. One side is salt water and the other fresh water. It’s a National Park and no diving is permitted.

Transport to the dive site was a 5 minute RIB ride. The lake used to be a quarry though we didn’t see any signs of equipment. For one hour we slalomed around thin tree trunks complete with branches. I admired the skills of the underwater camera man who deftly moved his large camera and dome port around the tree branches. We saw a few small fish, an eel and a crab on a wooden boat wreck about 10 meters long. We also saw a small row boat. The water was 8 C and the dive season normally begins in May. They can also arrange Baltic Sea dives.

A very professional, friendly outfit to dive with.