Molnar Janos cave, Budapest, Hungary

Please register or login

Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.

Benefits of registering include

  • Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
  • A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
  • You can make this box go away

Joining is quick and easy. Log in or Register now!

mania

Cousin Itt
ScubaBoard Supporter
Messages
4,716
Reaction score
29
Location
Warsaw, Poland
# of dives
200 - 499
Finally I did some cave diving. After a long break (and a long break in diving at all).

Here in Poland Molnar Janos is a famous cave. It should be famous also around Europe, as it's a unique place. To start with the bigging. It's a cave with thermal waters.

The earliest information about the caves is from 1858. János Molnár, a pharmacist, investigated the dry areas of the cave and analysed the water of the spring. He examined the healing effects of the water. The actual cave research began in the 1930s and in the 1950s divers dived there for the first time. Later on in 80ties and 90ties exploration went even further, resulting in discovering new parts of the cave.
This is why now the cave is divided in two - the "old" one and the "new" one.

Explored parts of the cave equals around 400 square meters. The lenght of goldline placed is 8 kilometers. But, as Hungarians call it - Molnar Janos is like a piece of cheese - with a lot of holes, so even from the furthest point you can be back within 15 - 20 minutes.

On top of this there is a CO2 Chamber where you can decent to the surface. Till spring this year the chamber was filled with CO2, but lately a hole was drilled, pipe placed and now you can breath there. The depth is 6 meters, so the CO2 chamber is a perfect place for the last deco stop - where you can deco and talk :)

I wanted to dive there for quite a bit of time. Thanks for the internet I contacted a great guy (some of you may know Roland diver from Rebreather World). Roland is absolutly incredible!!!! When I was in Budapest for few days in June we met with Roland and Attila. Attila is a guide in Molnar and I think that none knows this cave better than him. Unfortunately Attila mainly speaks only Hungarian, so Roland was our translator.
We discussed the first details and rules of diving Molnar. Then finally the timing was set - end of August.

So - there were 3 of us. Car packed and we started the trip to Budapest.

We did few dives in Molnar. As I know my limitations (GDI don't worry!!!!) before hand I asked if we could be split into to groups - more and less experienced cave divers. I'm certainly the second group. So my dives were a bit shorter in time that others and a bit shallower, with short deco.

But what is the most funny about the place is that the cave is exactly in the city centre - close to Margaret Bridge:
frankel leo ut, budapest - Google Maps

From the street you would never suspect that behind a metal gate there is a cave, which is, BTW, under supervision of Hungarian Ministry of Environment as well as UNESCO.

Behind the gate there are ruins of an ancient Turkish Bath which is used as a change room.
P8230261.jpg


There is also a small lake around

View from the street
P8230247-1.jpg


View from inside
P8230253-1.jpg


And top of the bridge was a place we prepared our gear
P8230236.jpg


The entrance to the cave is on the ground level, coverd by another metal gate. There stairs take you to the entrance. Here I'm depositing our stages (which we will take with us into the cave).
P8230235.jpg


This is a map f the cave. The red lines are the area we explored. Still most of the cave is waiting for us. And it's only 12 hours drive from Warsaw. So for sure we will be back there.
Molnarmapa2.jpg
 
Great report, I enjoyed the read. Always great to hear about European caves.
 
Here are interesting photos and maps of the cae. We didn't take pics but filmed diving. So it takes some time to have the film ready
Laszlo Abel
 
Very cool report! Those pictures look awesome!

I have a question though;

On top of this there is a CO2 Chamber where you can decent to the surface. Till spring this year the chamber was filled with CO2, but lately a hole was drilled, pipe placed and now you can breath there. The depth is 6 meters, so the CO2 chamber is a perfect place for the last deco stop - where you can deco and talk :)

In this paragraph you said a hole was drilled to I assume the surface which allowed the co2 escape, and for air the enter. If this is the case then the gas is not under pressure and therefore is like being at the surface or 1 atmosphere and not 6m. Am I missing something? Honestly I think I'm just thorougly confused so hopefully you can help me to understand.

Ryan
 
Great report. Thanks for sharing that.
 
In this paragraph you said a hole was drilled to I assume the surface which allowed the co2 escape, and for air the enter. If this is the case then the gas is not under pressure and therefore is like being at the surface or 1 atmosphere and not 6m. Am I missing something? Honestly I think I'm just thorougly confused so hopefully you can help me to understand.

Ryan

You are absolutly right. I was kidding when writing about talking during the deco. We finished deco, then surfaced, talked, and then we still had to go back to open water. The way back though is not deeper that 4 - 5 meters
 
Thanks for the write up Maria! We really enjoyed diving with you guys and hope to have you back soon!

VR

Roland
 
Thanks for the write up Maria! We really enjoyed diving with you guys and hope to have you back soon!

VR

Roland

Roland
First of all welcome to the board!!!
I must warn others - hey, this guy is irresistble. He speaks absolutly erfect American english, although he is HUngarian (and Hungariam is a barbarian language - not similar to anything :D:D:D )

Second of all - it was a great pleasure on our side. And, as the governor of california used to say - we will be back!!!!

PS. Sorry for not writing and calling but I was really busy after the holiday.

Cheers
Mania
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/perdix-ai/
http://cavediveflorida.com/Rum_House.htm

Back
Top Bottom