How do you dive ORDA?

[SUB ZERO]

Pics look amazing! Has anyone here been there? I was wondering about costs, logistics, nearest dive shops etc. Whats it like?

[rddvet]

I don't remember alot of the details, but when we were in the Lot a few years ago diving we hung out with a few russian divers. The synopsis is it's not really a cave most people dive alot (like we would if we travelled down to Mexico for a week) due to logistics and cost. I've always wanted to dive it after seeing photos, but once we looked into it a little bit, we decided our money was better spent diving other places. I'd also love to dive China, and think I would put that on my list ahead of Orda simply based on what the Russian guys told us. Don't have much more info than that.

[kidsdream]

Contact Marissa and James at Hidden Worlds. They are actually in Russia diving Orda right now. I would expect they will be back in Fort White in the next week.

[jebernot]

Talk to Max Kutnetsov. He is local now but from Russia. Only person I would go with if I wanted to go. He also trained a large number of the Russians diving and running it.

[patpicos]

http://www.cavediver.net/forum/showt...highlight=orda

i also recall a thread on FB that spoke to the visa process before getting to Russia which was quite the ordeal from what i recall

[patpicos]

not sure if the link will work...so C/P
https://www.facebook.com/search/post...OlwiXCJ9In0%3D

John Van Ostrand The costs in Russia were only about
USD$1,000. I didn't do very well with flights, they were CAD$1,800 because I didn't plan far enough ahead. I needed a Russian visa ahead of time, that was CAD$300. The visa was the reason why I paid too much for airfare, I waited too late to apply, avoided buying plane tickets, and the visa took four weeks to come in (right on schedule.) Had I paid an extra $200 for four day service I would have saved that in airfare easily. Some incidental costs like extra baggage because I needed a second checked bag for my dry suit. That was CAD$120 each way.
The visa can be daunting, but it's really not too bad. They did want work and education history as well as travel history for the last 10 years. It took a big to assemble (passport stamps, dates on photo files, old emails.)

John Van Ostrand It was a lot of time, but it's not like an 500 word essay, all easy questions. Although I had to write a short letter saying why I was visiting.
I did 5 days of diving. The week progressed well. I started being led by friends so we got a good overview of the cave. The weekend ended and one friend left. I was asked to lead. Then on the last dive Brian and I did a dive unguided.
A friend wanted to take us out mid week for some land tours, so that was a lost day, but I got to see a Russian city (Orda is in the country.)
I would have liked to have stopped in Moscow for a while but I held off so my wife and I can go together.
For land tours we visited Kungur Ice Cave, it was spectacular. There was a museum on the site. We had a Russian lunch with vodka and salted herring. There was also the Orda museum nearby which we visited.

[Draker]

If you can figure out the logistics, it?s well worth it. Truly an amazing experience.



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[SUB ZERO]

Amazing pictures! I think it id definitely worth the hassle.

[kensuf]

Call Max. http://www.cavemax.com/

[Draker]

Amazing pictures! I think it id definitely worth the hassle.

Here?s a few more.





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