Long-term Beijinger leads Mongolian dive expedition
Long-time Beijing resident and SinoScuba founder Steven Schwankert is at it again: going where no man (or at least very few) have gone before.
On August 9, the veteran underwater explorer leads the first-ever diving expedition to Mongolia’s Lake Khovsgol, the resting place of two percent of the world's freshwater.
Schwankert’s team includes divers that have explored the underwater ruins of Titanic and the USS Monitor. Their mission in Mongolia will be to explore human impact on this pristine water source, as well as search for shipwrecks and new species of fish and other lake life.
On Tuesday night (Aug 7) at 7:30, the Bookworm will host a presentation from Schwankert in which he’ll be offering a sneak peek at the expedition as well as sharing some future expedition plans in the works for SinoScuba.
A diver since age 10, Schwankert is the highest-ranking PADI instructor in mainland China and has trained over 300 Beijingers how to dive. He has also organized diving expeditions across China and around the world, including dozens of trips to the underwater ruins of the "Lion City" in western Zhejiang province, which was flooded as part of the Thousand Islands Lake dam project in 1959. Last year he was awarded membership in the prestigious Explorers Club, based in New York City.
tbjblog: What inspired you to make this expedition? How difficult has it been to plan?
Schwankert: SinoScuba is what's called a "hard water" dive center, meaning we don't have easy access to open water, either an ocean, lake, or river. I spend a lot of time looking at maps for places to dive. One night I was looking at large lakes in Mongolia, and I thought, hmm, could we dive there?
tbjblog: Mongolia -- what are some of the challenges of setting up a dive there?
Schwankert: This expedition is logistics, logistics, logistics. We are literally moving over a ton of gear, along with divers from Asia, Europe, and North America. Once we get everything there, the diving will be straightforward. However, Lake Khovsgol is at 1650 meters of altitude, so we must use special tables to plan our dives.
tbjblog: Tell us about some of the qualifications of yourself and the other team members. What's the Explorer Club?
Schwankert: I’ve made hundreds of dives, I've been running SinoScuba for almost five years now, I'm China's highest-ranking PADI instructor, and I'm still one of the least qualified divers on our expedition. One of our team members has been to the Titanic; another guy dived the USS Monitor, the Civil War ironclad; another found a B-29 bomber in Nevada's Lake Mead. The Explorers Club is an international organization dedicated to field science and the ideal of exploration. It has about 5,000 members worldwide, including China, and is headquartered in New York.
tbjblog: What's been your most extreme and/or satisfying scuba experience?
Schwankert: My dives on the sunken city in western Zhejiang have been absolutely unreal, and I hope to go back there next year. Other than that, every time I take a new diver to the Blue Zoo Aquarium, when I see them take their first breath and start interacting with the underwater world, then it's the best dive I've ever made.
tbjblog: How does a scuba fiend find life in Beijing, a city with virtually no place to dive?
Schwankert: Be determined. Keep your skills fresh at the Blue Zoo. Dive during holidays. Let us know you're interested and we can arrange to go to Dalian, Qingdao or Zhejiang.
tbjblog: How about China's scuba scene?
Schwankert: China's scuba scene is small but growing. Diving is mostly centered in Hainan but the safety standards there are not international-quality yet. Not that long ago, you couldn't ski in China, and now it seems like everyone skis. Diving will be the same way.
Links and sources
SinoScuba: Where Beijing Learns to Dive
The Bookworm: Events Schedule
The Explorers Club
YouTube: Sunken City dive video
New York Times: Canoeing Lake Khovsgol
Lonely Planet: Mongolia
Danwei: Diving expedition to ancient Mongolian lake
