Slovakia – Quarries, Tajchy & Reservoirs

Away from the Danube plain, Slovak divers use what mining and hydropower left behind. In the Turiec and Žilina area small limestone quarries such as Šútovo (the home water of the Martin club Hippocampus, with a sunken kitchen, bathtubs and a van body) and Strečno–Nezbud are the training lakes; in Spiš the flooded Kvetnica quarry above Poprad is looked after by the Poprad club Vodnár. Around Banská Štiavnica, the medieval silver-mining town and UNESCO site, the 'tajchy' – reservoirs built from the 16th to 18th century to drive the mine machinery – are clear, cold and small; Richňava (21 m) is the classic. Large dams – Liptovská Mara, Orava, Ružín, Domaša, Palcmanská Maša – are 20–50 m deep with poor visibility near the surface and clearer, colder water below. Two drinking-water dams (Nová Bystrica, Turček) are in water-protection zone I and banned, the High Tatra lakes need a nature-protection permit, and the once-famous diving in the flooded Dubník opal mine was stopped by the mining authority. Most data come from the Czech-Slovak diver database stranypotapecske.cz.

Facts

Water temperature: At depth Šútovo is 2–3 °C in winter and 10–12 °C in summer (diver logs); in the Kysuce and Turček dams the water below 20 m stays at about 4 °C all year.
Tajchy: Banská Štiavnica's mining reservoirs were built in the 16th–18th centuries to supply water for the mines; several are now bathing lakes and some are drained for repairs (Dolný hodrušský tajch was empty in 2014).
Drinking-water dams: Nová Bystrica (Kysuce) and Turček are sources of raw drinking water in protection zone I – diving is strictly banned without Ministry of Environment approval.

Season

Best months: Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep
Acceptable: May, Oct
Poor: Nov, Dec, Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr
Water temperature: 2–20 °C

Mountain quarries and dams are cold: diver logs at Šútovo show 2–3 °C at depth in winter and 10–12 °C from June to September; in the dams the water below 20 m is about 4 °C all year. Lakes can freeze in winter (Šútovo: 20 cm of ice, February 2019). On Domaša algal bloom reduces visibility in summer. The High Tatra lakes are dived only by permit, Štrbské pleso during the festival's clean-up dive.

Dive sites (24)

Liptov & Orava

Liptovská Mara – 0–38 m, intermediate
Oravská priehrada – 0–40 m, intermediate

Turiec, Žilina & Kysuce

Predmier – bagroviská – 0–4.5 m, beginner
Strečno – lom Nezbud – 0–12 m, beginner
Vodná nádrž Nová Bystrica (TILOS / no diving) – 0–48 m, advanced
Vodná nádrž Turček (TILOS / no diving) – 0–58 m, advanced
Šútovo – lom Rieka (Kraľovany quarry) – 0–12 m, beginner

Operators (3)

KŠP Hippocampus Martin – club, Martin (home water: Šútovo quarry)
Marek Kanaš – potapanie.info (Tulčík) – dive centre, Tulčík 227 (near Prešov)
PK Vodnár Poprad – club, Poprad

Positions are divers' entry points from stranypotapecske.cz unless noted; many entries are 10+ years old. Dams are run by the Slovak Water Management Enterprise and some are in water-protection zones; quarries and tajchy belong to municipalities, companies or private owners and access changes. Sites marked TILOS / no diving or closed are listed for information only.