I went to NaturaGart on August 15 on a dive organized by the JAVARO dive shiop in Diegem, Belgium (
Loading Duikhuis Javaro Diving). The owner of the dive shop, Jan, speaks fluent English and the trip was well organized, the bus was comfortable, and the price reasonable. I plan on taking future trips with Javaro.
NaturaGart is a good concept. Dive the remains of an ancient sunken city
though not sure if the motif was supposed to be ancient Greek or ancient Egypt. The staff at NaturaGart spoke English, though to varying degrees.
NaturaGart is targeting two different groups: divers and bus tours. There is the dive park. They provide hand carts to truck your gear down a dirt / gravel path over to the diving area. On the way you jostle with Senior Citizens who are part of bus tours stopped there to admire the gardens and perhaps have some beverages and desert along the water side (In the restaurant we only had beers and soft drinks and the only food I saw were deserts). After our dive we ordered our drinks/deserts in a service line and ate outside. They did look to have an indoor restaurant but not sure what type service. I didnt see anyone eating anything other than a desert.
The dive operation is limited by the amount of divers it can support. Its just not that big a place. We had to use their cylinders due to some rule about how many tanks we were allowed to transport on our bus from Belgium to Germany. It will save you time if you can bring your own (filled) cylinder. One tank is all you will need for an 80 90 minute dive. They dive with DIN gear there so if you have an international regulator you might want to take a fitting to convert their tanks (if you opt to use one of theirs). One of the attendants was put out that we didnt have the adapters, though they did scrounge up enough for us. I dont know that NaturaGart is going to be a word diving Mecca so when in Rome
well
in Germany
expect to need a DIN adapter if youre going to use their cylinders.
The dive area is shallow. The deepest I logged was 6.5 meters. The water temp was 21 Celsius. I managed with a full 3 mil and chicken vest w/hood but after 70 minutes I was getting cold. I regret not taking my 6 mil.
Everyone starts at the same entry point and in theory you follow a numbering system. In a few places the numbers were missing or one half of a number, say for example the 1 in 13 had fallen off, and that could become confusing with such bad visibility. At best I think in a few areas you could see up to two meters, but normally it was one meter or less. The water was greenish but it was the silt and sediment that hurt the visibility the most. My buddy and I were on the second wave in the water and by then visibility was just awful. What helped me find my way to all the major attractions was by setting a compass bearing on the opposite end of the pool before we descended. With the bearing I was always able to keep some semblance of orientation.
The most memorable part of the dive took place in one area known as Felsental. In the pool are many docile large fish, the biggest being the sturgeon at about 1 meter long (well, I think it was a sturgeon). We fin pivoted in a school of them and they literally swam right up to us and proceeded to bump and brush against us, often coming nose to nose. It was like a fish petting zoo. In 21 years of diving that was a first for me.
I did take my u/w camera but forgot (!!!!) my memory card so taking photos was a bust. Not that it would have done me much good in the poor visibility. I have, however, scanned a copy of the u/w map they gave us to navigate during the dive. You can see photos at
Naturagart - Home but there is no English translation.
A few people did a second dive but
most of us opted out for the beer garden.
Was this worth eight hours on a bus (four up and four back)? I have to say yes if only for the unique experience. I did expect better visibility in a man-made pool but it was not unlike some of the cold dark quarries Ive dived over the years. I could not see myself going back (unless I was long retired and on a bus tour) but glad I had the chance to see the place up front. Its all part of diving. There seems to be a lot of construction going on and the establishment is expanding (or maybe they opened before they were 100% done with construction?), but the dive site looks to remain the same size for now. Showers cost 1 Euro (only takes a 1 Euro coin...no combinations of change). We did get scan badges to wear but nobody scanned them coming in or coming out of the water as they did in El Orans 2007 trip report comments.
I believe reservations are necessary (I would not go without them). If you send them an E-mail I think they will be able to respond in English, if not, find a friend who speaks German and let him or her have a whirl at it.
