Then came a season with Kairat Almaty but Karavajevs became a real Soviet First League goalkeeper in 1985 when he transferred to SKA Khabarovsk.
With SKA he played 88 matches over two seasons and was invited to transfer to Daugava Rīga where he took over the number one goalkeeper position from Aleksandrs Kulakovs.
For two seasons he was the top goalkeeper of Fakel but then he went abroad and joined the Serbian club OFK Belgrade, playing back then in the Yugoslav First League.
[5] In 1999 Karavajevs joined the newly founded FK Rīga with which he won the Latvian Cup and retired after the season.
Karavajevs played in several historic matches for Latvia – when it managed to hold draws against the Euro 1992 winners Denmark and one of the strongest European national teams Spain.