Diving in Morskie Oko, or Polish Tatra Mountains under water - film

We do not associate the Tatra Mountains with underwater exploration, but contrary to appearances, there is plenty to do there. Unfortunately, not everyone can experience the pleasure of diving in Morskie Oko.

Normally, when it comes to mountains, diving under water does not come to mind. Wrong! In our beautiful Tatra Mountains there are also places where you can make a beautiful dive. Although the summer will stay with us for a while, for today we have a small video card from the calendar. It shows a winter d ive in the beautiful Tatra lake Morskie Oko.

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A handful of information

Situated in the Fish Creek Valley at the altitude of 1395 m above sea level, at the foot of Mięguszowieckie Peak, it is the largest lake in the Tatra Mountains. It is a glacial water body of karvo-moraine character and covers the area of almost 35 ha. It is 862 m long and 566 m wide. In the deepest place it reaches the depth of 50.8 metres. The bottom from the shore is covered with boulders, which gradually turn into gravel as you swim towards the centre of the reservoir. The average visibility is about 12 metres, but lucky swimmers may find water clarity of even 20 metres. Considering the conditions in our native waters, this is a respectable result.

Diving in the mountains

It should be remembered, however, that diving above 300 metres above sea level is already counted as mountain diving and therefore slightly different procedures apply here. It is safest to be equipped with a dive computer, which has the appropriate algorithms. If we use ordinary depth gauges, we should remember to calibrate them to the level of 0 meters at the place where the water surface begins. We also need to be familiar with decompression tables and be able to convert the values to mountain conditions using the Cross coefficient.

Fauna and flora

Morskie Oko Lake is one of the few water Tatra reservoirswhich are stocked in a natural way. Undivided masters of the water are trout. This is due to the fact that the waters of the lake are fed by two permanent streams – Czarnostawiański and Mnichowy and several periodic. Rybi Potok flows out of the pond, which in its early stages spills over into several smaller ponds. The coastal area is overgrown with many rare plant species that are found only in this place in Poland.

Legend

Legend has it that the lake had an underground connection with the Adriatic Sea. Evidence for this was supposedly bottles and caskets with valuables that were fished out of the lake. They were supposed to have come from ships sunk in the sea.