Romania – Lakes, reservoirs & locks

Inland diving in Romania is small-scale and mostly club-based. Around Bucharest, dive schools train in a flooded quarry and in the abandoned locks of the unfinished Danube–Bucharest canal at Fălăstoaca and Budești. In the Apuseni Mountains the Catholic church of the village drowned by the Beliș-Fântânele reservoir lies at 27–30 m, and an adventure organiser takes divers to the big mountain reservoirs of Vidraru, Siriu and Izvorul Muntelui in summer. Many famous Romanian lakes are not dive sites: swimming in the volcanic crater lake Sfânta Ana has been banned since 2018, and we found no evidence of recreational diving in the salt lakes of Turda, Ocna Sibiului or Sovata. Data here are thin: most sites are listed by a single operator and lack published depths or entry points.

Facts

• Lake Sfânta Ana: swimming ban: Swimming in the crater lake Sfânta Ana (Mohoș nature reserve, Harghita) has generally been prohibited since April 2018 to protect water quality; the lake is open only to sporting events under special permits. (source: en.wikipedia.org, citing AGERPRES)
• Season: The organiser of the mountain-reservoir dives runs them from May to September; beginners dive in lakes a few metres deep, certified divers in the deeper mountain lakes. (source: romanianadventure.com)
• Salt lakes: The only documented dive into the underground salt lake of Salina Turda is a 2020 Guinness-record platform dive, not a scuba dive. We found no source allowing scuba diving in Salina Turda, Ocna Sibiului or Sovata, so they are not listed as dive sites. (source: guinnessworldrecords.com)

Season

• Best months: Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep
• Acceptable: May, Oct
• Poor: Nov, Dec, Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr

Organised lake dives run from May to September. No dive-specific temperature or visibility data were found; mountain reservoirs stay cold at depth all year.

Dive sites (8)

Transylvania

• Beliș-Fântânele – elsüllyedt templom – 0–30 m, advanced
• Lacul Sfânta Ana – Szent Anna-tó (TILOS / no swimming) – 0–7 m, beginner

Bucharest area

• Budești – zsilip („Bogatu's lock”) – beginner
• Fălăstoaca – zsilip („Rey's Lock”) – intermediate
• Lacul Ferecat (Balta Icoana) – beginner

Carpathian reservoirs

• Lacul Izvorul Muntelui (Békási-tározó, Bicaz) – intermediate
• Lacul Siriu (Siriu-tározó) – intermediate
• Lacul Vidraru (Vidraru-tározó) – intermediate

Operators (3)

• BDOds Diving School (CursuriScuba.ro) – dive centre, Voluntari (Bukarest mellett)
• FunDive Romania – dive centre, Bacu, Joița (Giurgiu megye)
• Romanian Adventure (RoAdventure) – dive centre, Románia (nincs állandó búvárbázis)

Routes (1)

• Mountain-reservoir dives (Romanian Adventure)

Reservoirs are cold and dark below the thermocline, with poor visibility; abandoned locks and quarries hide steel, concrete and debris. Most sites here are private or unregulated and are known from a single operator's list, so positions are approximate and rules unknown: dive them only with the listed operator and ask the owner or local authority first.