OP
UnderwaterTater
New
Loads!Kein Problem !
Btw, any nice places to dive in Austria ?
The obvious suspects are Erlaufsee, Attersee and Weissensee year round, the latter is almost always guaranteed to freeze over in winter for ice diving. Plansee, Wörthersee, Hallstättersee and pretty much most lakes, reservoirs, and quaries are good year round. Some of those lakes have depth suitable for tech divers as well. There are many more lakes, but some are accessible either only to members of the Austrian Diver Club, or some other specific things, to limit access.
Summer only locations: Grüblsee is Europe's "highest dive base" at over 1100 meters, and you have an excellent view over surrounding hills and mountains as well as down in valleys, and while it's an artificial lake, it has a very healthy sturgeon population. Grüner See is a "special attraction" because the lake is just part of a national park in winter, but it fills with meltwater in summer submerging the park; diving there goes through cycles of being permitted and banned.
A special metnion is diving the Traun river. It's a bit unconventional perhaps, but the water is crystal clear and drinking quality, and I;ll throw in the somewhat unrelated Traun snorkeling tour with Atlantis Qualidive. You leap down gorgeous waterfalls, and let the drift carry you through different features including a natural "slide," with stops to learn about the acquatic life and invasive species. Then you gear up for dives in exceptional visibility for a European river; we had over 20 meters this summer, and the underwater topography made it very interesting.
Another random tip is finding "freshly refilled" reservoirs, so anything where the reservoir was drained for dam repairs and was refilled in the past 2 or 3 months. In theory, the visibility isn't great, maybe 5 meters at the 2 month mark, less if it's a popular spot. But in practice, there's the insanely surreal experience of diving through literal land meadows and vegetation, fully submerged and bizarrely preserved in the cold water. Thistles, chamomile, daisies, and all kinds of saplings and young trees. It's a unique experience. So anything that is a "Stausee" may have that kind of thing.
It might not sound interesting to everybody, especially not if someone's interested in more diverse scenery, but I'm just truly in love with it. The vast majority of lakes have a healthy or very healthy acquatic life; varieties of sturgeon, char, trout, carp, pike, catfish and perch, among others. Freshwater jellyfish is starting to appear; a sign of the times, unfortunately, as summers heat up, but still...kinda nice to watch them bob around you. Invasive North American crayfish in some places (And therefore the chance to actually watch massive pikes stalking them and dueling with them!)
Most are altitude dives, some people may have some reservations about that, others are indifferent. Water is rarely warm, or only above 20C in the height of summer at the surface with the first thermocline often coming before 8 meters, and many lakes have two thermoclines within 20 meters. Cold conditions (H valves, two mandatory regs) are observed throughout winter, naturally. Reservoirs, higher altitude lakes, and "summer only" lakes filled by meltwater are around 14C even in summer. Not all lakes are guaranteed to freeze, but many will have ice floating around. I am mentioning that because to some people, that set of conditions holds no interest, and they'll go through the trouble for orcas, not pikes. BUT. I dunno, I love it and it's my home turf, so I can only recommend it
