Germany – Lakes & Quarries (North, West & East)
Outside the Alps and the coast, German divers train and dive mainly in flooded quarries, gravel pits and former lignite mines. The best known is the Kreidesee at Hemmoor, a 60 m deep chalk pit with a sunken aircraft, trucks and caravans. In Thuringia the Sundhäuser See has an underwater replica of old Nordhausen, while Lusatia and central Germany offer clear granite quarries such as Horka and Steina and huge mining lakes like the Geiseltalsee with drowned forests. In the west, deep quarries such as See im Berg and Hunsfels attract experienced and technical divers. Almost every lake is private or regulated: you dive only through the base or with a day card, show your certification and often a medical certificate, and many bases require two independent first stages. Below the summer thermocline the water stays cold all year, so a drysuit is common.
Dive sites
- Blausteinsee (Eschweiler)
- Fühlinger See (Köln)
- Geiseltalsee – Hausriff (Frankleben)
- Geiseltalsee – Unterwasserwald (boat dives)
- Gräbendorfer See (Laasow)
- Gröberner See
- Hausteinsee (Steina)
- Helenesee (LEZÁRVA / closed)
- HTSV-See Schönbach (Steinbruch Winkel)
- Kalkbruchsee Hunsfels (Stromberg)
- Kreidesee Hemmoor
- Kulkwitzer See (Leipzig)
- Möhnesee – Steinbruch Delecke
- Möwensee (Nordhausen)
- Prellesee (Steina)
- See im Berg (Messinghausen)
- Senftenberger See – Südsee
- Steinbruch Riesenstein (Meißen)
- Steinbruch Wildschütz
- Steinbruchsee Pretzien
- Sundhäuser See (Nordhausen)
- Süplinger Canyon
- Tauchsee Horka (Steinbruch Horka)