fresh water
COTTAGE ON GŁĘBOKIE LAKE (POLAND)
There is a place on the water where you can feel like a VIP and have it only for yourself!
Cottage on Głębokie Lake (Poland). With its own pier and terrace, with its own descent to clean water. With accommodation for 4 people, with a fully equipped kitchen, with its own bathroom and air conditioner.
No unauthorized persons allowed to enter.
The natural surroundings of Głębokie Lake, the sound of the gentle wind, the surface of the lake that will lull you to sleep. It's at your fingertips, just tap a few numbers on your smartphone screen, agree on a date and price and you've got IT!
DIVING GREAT BRITAIN
Chepstow
In today's issue I invite you to the National Diving & Activity Centre (NDAC) located in south-east Wales.
Unfortunately, the site I am describing is no longer available for diving. I hope this will change in the course of time. I wanted to leave this information for the end, but I figured you'd guess anyway because of the past tense I use... Nevertheless, I encourage you to read on, as it will introduce you to a place that is currently shrouded in mystery, and the activities taking place there could make a good background for a sci-fi movie script.
HORKA QUARRY
Alles klar (?)
Saxony abounds in beautiful dive sites, and due to its attractive location, it is a frequent choice of divers from Polish. Many well-known quarries, such as Wetro (described by me in the 25th issue of Perfect Diver), Prelle or Wildschutz, are undoubtedly second in popularity to Horka, called the pearl of Lusatia. It is located about an hour away by A4 motorway from the Polish-German border in Jędrzychowice, so the distance from Lower Silesia is more than acceptable.
DIVING GREAT BRITAIN
Stoney Cove
Stoney Cove is a mine excavation and at one time granite was extracted there. Since the 1960s the site has been used by divers. It was here that the pioneers of diving took their first steps. Later, a facility was established here to train commercial divers to work on oil rigs located in the North Sea.
THE VILLAGE OF CZARNOGŁOWY
It's 1759. Residents of Zarnglaff village (Polish – Czarnogłowy) begin to acquire chalk deposits of limestone. As it turns out later, these deposits are very substantial. The villagers are getting better and better thanks to mining. This prosperity lasts for more than 200 years. Today, the village, which was mentioned for the first time in 1380 and which was an old fiefdom of the vao Flemming family, is peaceful and instead of a mine has a lake...
WETRO QUARRY
Wetro – one of the Saxon quarries, located less than a 30 minutes drive from the border crossing Jędrzychowice-Ludwigsdorf, in the town of Sproitz. The area is relatively large, as it stretches for almost half a kilometer long and 140 m wide. It is an extremely charming place, because the quarry is covered with trees along the coastline, which naturally contributed to the demarcation of the area for a diving base and a place for divers.
NIEDACKIE LAKE
Because it is a ribbon lake and is precious on the scale of Poland. It is located in Kociewie, in the municipality of Zblewo, at the northern end of the Tuchola Forest. It is an ideal place to try diving and an amazing place for divers who enjoy the shallow littoral and the animals that live in it.
And although we can dive from 0 to 30 m deep in the lake, the vast majority of divers do not go deeper than 5 m. Because from spring to late autumn, there is a veritable plethora of fish here.
KAMYKI QUARRY
Together with Damian, we decided to visit another less known water reservoir. The fins carried us towards Głuszyca Górna (Poland), to the old melaphyre quarry.
'Kamyki', as that is the name of the quarry, began to operate most likely at the beginning of the 20th century under the name of Krause & Co. It is located at 585 m above sea level and the date of its closure is given as the 70s, twentieth century.
Access to the reservoir itself is not difficult, the narrow asphalt road leads directly to the shore.
NIEDACKIE LAKE
Niedack is a gutter lake, which is located at the northern end of the Tuchola Forest, in the Starogard district. What we can see under the water is definitely amazing. The bottom is overgrown with lush vegetation, which turns the huge area of the lake into beautiful green meadows, among which freshwater organisms hide. Underwater, we can see, among others, northern pikes, which will allow us to carefully examine and photograph them. During one dive, we can admire about 10 of them on average.
'HEMMOOR VIRUS'
Those who practice scuba diving will, sooner or later, come across the Kreidesee diving centre in Hemmoor, Lower Saxony, which has already been voted several times the best diving centre in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. In the years 1862-1976, chalk was mined here for the production of cement and a pit was dug, which within six years after turning off the pumps filled with crystal clear spring water. Thus, in 1982, Kreidesee lake was created. In 1986, the factory was demolished and the lake was to be converted into a red mud dump...
PUDDING
In search of interesting sites to surprise us with something entirely new underwater, we travel to the most distant regions of Europe and the world. What if I told you that just beyond the Polish border, there is a lake with many wooden barge wrecks older than 100 years and rare, gorge-shaped rock formations? All of this with a visibility that usually exceeds 10 m. Are you interested? Let me present to you Lake Werbellin and its mysteries.
GŁĘBOKIE LAKE NEAR MIĘDZYRZECZE
Głębokie Lake (area 125 ha, 2280 m long, 825 m wide, max. 25.4 m deep) is one of the most interesting lakes in the Lubusz Lakeland. It is located in the northern, landlocked part of the tunnel valley, which runs longitudinally from the village of Rojewo through the villages and settlements of Głębokie, Św. Wojciech, all the way to Kęszyca. Głębokie lake represents the classic type of a closed lake - without any surface inflow or outflow. It is the largest landlocked lake of the Lubusz Lakeland.
KANTYNA QUARRY
First day of September. The weather was not good. It was gloomy and rainy, but... the desire to leave and get to know a new place undoubtedly outweighed.
Together with Łukasz, we decided to go and get to know a completely wild lake and now I can admit that it is also dark.
This former quarry, where granite was mined, is now an abandoned excavation in the hands of nature. Trees grew, rainwater and groundwater flooded it. Interesting cracking systems can be observed on the vertical walls protruding from the water.
RUMMU
Rummu in Estonia is a flooded former post-Soviet penal colony and quarry. When mining was finished and the pumps stopped working, the pit filled with water, creating an unusual turquoise lake of great transparency with sunken buildings, fragments of walls, constructions, machines and trees. For many years, this place has tempted divers desiring interesting underwater views.
QUARRY IN UZHGOROD (Ukraine – Transcarpathia)
Not often do we hear about Ukraine and its waters when talking about popular diving destinations. While the Black Sea and its wrecks are visited by diving tourists, the lakes and quarries are still very little known. Once again, we have found that these are interesting and unusual places :)
Where did the idea of diving in the Ukrainian quarry come from?
HEMMOR
A story of threatening German rules and regulations…
We, Poles, clearly have a problem whenever anyone tries to impose anything on us, gives us orders or forces us to do anything. This, obviously, ensues from the history of our wonderful country and neighbouring powers, whose policies and actions have undoubtedly left their mark on our national identity. Somewhere deep under the skin, even today, in the 21st century and in free Poland, if we are told to do anything, we ask ourselves whether we really have to comply with this or that requirement.
A few years ago I completed a successful trip to the area of German Dresden to explore local quarries flooded with water. In Poland we had three, and now there are just two such reservoirs (Jaworzno and Piechcin), while in Germany there is a real abundance of them.
HAŃCZA
The deepest lake in Poland
Somewhere far away from the centre of Poland and city life, protected by serpentines of roads, lies the deepest Polish lake – Hańcza. It covers a deep postglacial tunnel valley wedged between the hills, surrounded by forests and meadows, blending into the landscape of the region.
Our goal is Błaskowizna, a small village on the eastern shore of the lake. Here you can find all the diving bases and points where you can enter the water. Coming here for the first time, it is worth to use the satellite navigation, especially on the last part of the route. This will reduce to a minimum the unexpected sightseeing tour of the beautiful, by the way, landscapes of the Suwalki region.