Freediving in the Caucasus: Baduk Lake’s Mystic Depths and More

If we don’t see something, it doesn’t mean that it doesn’t exist. 2000 m above sea level. No one knows what is happening in the depths of this mountain lake, no one has dived here before, although several hundred people come here on excursions every film trailer. Big Baduk Lake is part of a group of three lakes in the Caucasus, in the Karachay-Cherkess Republic. This is a popular place for mountain hikes. You need to walk three kilometers through the relic forest of the Teberdinsky Reserve and climb 700 meters. I’ve been taking groups here all summer and looking at the lake. On our next trip here, I took all the necessary equipment, a camera, and went to explore the lake, while my group rested on the shore and enjoyed the views and nature. I spent 45 minutes in the lake wearing a 5mm diving suit, holding my breath and filming underwater scenery. Also one of my friends filmed from a drone. The water temperature on the surface was 10 degrees, at a depth of 7 m (this is the maximum depth of the lake at this time of the year, I dived at all deep points, looking for the deepest) 9 degrees Celsius. I was looking for life and I found life at once. I felt that it was there. While studying the lake near the coast, I saw a lot of “shietiks“ - these are the larvae of the caddisfly, coastal butterfly. In the larval phase, they build houses for themselves from underwater debris and live on the bottom, or snags, crawling and looking for food, very often they serve as food for fish, in particular, mountain trout, which I hoped to find in the lake. The transparency of the water in the lake is about 6 meters. Stones that lie at a depth of 5.2 meters in the far part of the lake are visible from the surface, although not clearly. The bottom itself in the main deep part is not visible from the surface, it is rather homogeneous and cannot be read. ...I recognized these inhabitants of mountain lakes right away, I saw them in a mountain lake near Elbrus, at an altitude of 3000 m. When I reached the bottom, I was amazed at how many of them there are. They hang, live and float like a flying carpet over the bottom of the lake over its entire area. I have not yet found the name of this type of crustacean, if you know - write in the comments. I did not meet a single fish in the lake, although there is enough food for it here and the temperature-oxygen regime is suitable for trout. But I didn’t have much time and I need to dive a little quieter for such a cautious fish. The issue with her remains open to me. One of the main thoughts in the knowledge of the world, which I like the most - If we do not see something, it does not mean that it does not exist. ____________ In my films, I try to show what I really like, nature, people, life, and share it with the viewer. I do not explain anything - I do not want to block the viewer’s view. Let’s just go, let’s just ride! There are too many words in the world... I like to travel, explore the world and the elements. Look behind the scenes of cities and face the wind and freedom in the wild. I love what I see and feel when I’m on the road. And I would like to share this with those who are also close to the voice of the road and an active lifestyle.