Slatna stream pool at Grgar
Below Vodice hill on the edge of the Banjšice plateau, the Slatna stream cuts a series of channels that end in a large pool, long used by locals from Grgar for bathing. A concrete dam has deepened it into an oval pool roughly 25 × 15 m, up to 4 m deep under the overhanging north bank where a few trout hide. The rest is shallow, half a metre to a metre, with tadpoles to watch on snorkel. It is a quarter-hour dive suited to two divers at most.
Facts
- Region: Slovenia – Lakes, Rivers & Caves
- Area: Soča Valley (Bovec – Kobarid – Solkan)
- Depth: 0–4 m
- Level: beginner
- Current: low
- Type: channel, night
- Coordinates: 46.01112, 13.65597
- Highlights: dammed bathing pool about 25 × 15 m, overhanging north bank, small group of trout, tadpoles in the shallows, water-carved stream channels
- Tips: From Solkan/Nova Gorica take the Banjšice road, turn left in Grgar for Gorenja vas; after the asphalt ends there is 1.5 km of steep dirt track that needs a high-clearance or 4×4 vehicle. Parking for 4–5 cars at the dam; enter and exit on the dam. Watch out for bathers jumping in from the overhanging bank and the bridge. Locals open the sluice in winter to empty and clean the pool (the level drops by over 2 m), and the stream can dry out in long droughts – go at medium water. Visibility lasts only until bathers or the first diver stir up the leaves and silt. The sheet dates from 2012. No diving rule was found for this site; check locally.