Emerald Lake – Great for Training, Challenging for Leisure

Emerald Lake – Great for Training, Challenging for Leisure

Emerald Lake is a demanding dive site that works excellently for diving training. A steep bottom, a guideline, fallen trees and often very poor visibility allow you to refine your skills in difficult conditions.

A LAKE IN A FORMER CHALK MINE

Emerald Lake was formed in the location of a former chalk mine. The very shape of the bottom means that diving here differs from what we know from typical lakes.

The bottom drops quickly and steeply, and there are quite a few natural obstacles underwater. These are precisely what make the lake interesting primarily for divers who want to practise their skills.

GUIDELINE AND NAVIGATION

A guideline has been set up around the lake, which allows you to practise underwater navigation and orientation. The route passes through areas where it is easy to lose your bearings, especially with limited visibility.

It is a good place to learn how to move along a marked route and maintain control of your position relative to the guideline.

Fallen trees along the shore – the guideline runs beneath them.

FALLEN TREES AND AN UNDERWATER MAZE

The right side of the lake is full of fallen trees that form a natural underwater maze. A guideline runs through them, and its course has been set up to additionally complicate diving and simulate squeezing through obstacles.

You need to carefully control every movement, watch your equipment and avoid catching on protruding branches. It is an excellent place to practise buoyancy control, equipment control and movement in confined spaces.

THERE'S PLENTY TO SEE UNDERWATER TOO

Despite the difficult conditions, Emerald Lake is not devoid of life. You can encounter perch, roach, tench, catfish and carp here, among others.

The lake is also home to marsh terrapins and rarer fish species and varieties. It is precisely the possibility of encountering atypical inhabitants that makes the lake interesting for people engaged in underwater photography.

An orange Koi Carp from Emerald Lake. It is hard to film them – they are very skittish.

RARE SPECIES AND UNDERWATER PHOTOGRAPHY

Emerald Lake offers something that many other places in Poland do not – the opportunity to observe species that are rarely encountered in our waters. With a bit of luck, you can meet animals here that you won't encounter while diving in most Polish lakes.

It is also an interesting place for taking underwater photographs. Fallen trees overgrown with algae, a steep bottom and atypical lake inhabitants create scenery that is hard to find in ordinary dive sites.

There really aren't many places like this in Poland. The lake is small, but in terms of its underwater world character, it definitely stands out compared to many popular dive sites.

A Pumpkinseed Sunfish, an exotic fish from America, looks very nice but is also aggressive.

VISIBILITY CAN DISAPPEAR

The biggest problem when diving is visibility. For most of the year it is poor, although there are days when conditions are considerably better.

At around 6–7 metres, you can encounter very dense, white suspended matter that practically completely restricts visibility all the way to the bottom. In such conditions, the guideline and proper navigation take on a completely different significance.

A LAKE FOR TRAINING

Emerald Lake is not a place you visit solely to swim peacefully and admire the views. Its greatest value lies in the demanding conditions that allow you to practise skills useful in more difficult diving as well.

Navigation, buoyancy control, movement along the guideline, limited visibility and natural obstacles make it a place where you can truly develop your skills well.

For a beginner diver it can be demanding. For someone who wants to progress and prepare for diving in more difficult conditions, however, it is a very interesting place.

NOT JUST TRAINING

Although Emerald Lake is primarily associated with training, it is worth diving here sometimes out of pure curiosity. You never know what you might find among the fallen trees and when visibility will allow you to see something more.

It is precisely this combination of challenging conditions, characteristic bottom, handrails and unusual underwater life that makes Emerald Lake one of those places worth returning to.

Materials from Emerald Lake: