August 26, 2015 Boat Tour of Lake Baikal

Today was a rest day and Svetlana arranged for a boat tour, fishing and a picnic on Lake Baikal.

We had a lazy morning at the hotel. Then Janis, Svetlana, and Mike loaded everyone interested in the boat trip into taxis for the short run to the marina.

The inside of our van was fully tricked out.  We've seen these types of curtains in quite a few vans and semi cabs throught Russia and Kazakhstan.

Everything was ready when we arrived at the marina.  A few minutes to load passengers  and beer and we were off.  On this lake tere are few piers - the bow goes on the beach for quick loading.

As we left the little port town, the haze from local wildfires was readily visible.

Eugene was our guide for this trip.  He explained the history of the lake.

Lake Baikal holds 20% of the world's fresh water and is home to 1,700 different species.  If you add up all the water in the North American Great Lakes, it is equal to the volume of Lake Baikal.  Two thirds of the fish species can be found only here.

One fun fact we learned is that Lake Baikal is home to the only fresh water seals in the world.  They allow controlled hunts in the winter to manage the population.

We took in the view and conversation as the boat motored south on the lake.  The smokey haze prevented spectacular photos, but we still admired the beauty of the surrounding hills and shores.

We headed for a local fishing spot.

When we arrived the boats beached their bows into the gravel shoreline.  The captains kept the enginges running and the propellers turning to stir up the bottom.  The turbulance uncovers food that the grayling fish like. We placed our baited hooks in the wake of the boat, and allowed the floats to be carried out from the boat for about 20 yards.  

We spent abut 45 minutes trying to catch enough fish for lunch.

Svetlana caught one - well, maybe not this one.  Hers was a little smaller and was released.

Between all of us, we only managed to catch 5 fish.  I think the boat crew caught at least 3.

We sat back and relaxed as the boats took us to our picnic destination.

All along the shoreline, we saw hikers on trails.

We docked next to a small pier and...

...followed a trail into the woods.

The picnic spread that awaited us was beyond belief.  Various appetizers of fish, cheese, cumcumbers, tomatoes, berries and more.

Then a main dish of the lake specialty, fresh smoked fish.  Delicious.  

There was also roasted pork.

And dessert.  The chocolate cake is made with what the locals call a burnt cherry, ground up and added to the cake mix.  It adds a kind of crunchiness similar to ground coffee beans.

After lunch Svetlana and I checked out the hiking trail.  Maybe Dave and I will come back here for one of our hiking summers.

A view of our boats from the top of the hill.

This gentleman, we'll call him Boris, gave us a brief history lesson on the gold mining done in the area in the mid 19th century.

He then demonstrated the sluicing method of gold mining.

and we picked out tiny golden nuggets.

Stuffed and happy, we reboarded our boats for the trip home.

Janis took a nap...

while the rest of  us enjoyed a beer and conversation.

All in all, a very nice day on the lake.

We returned to our hotel for a few more hours of rest, catching up with news from home, and dinner.

The smoke created a hazy sunset, ending a perfect day.  Tomorrow we will backtrack a bit, riding South to what we are told is a beautiful valley, still in the Lake Baikal area, but closer to Mongolia.