Slovakia – Gravel-Pit Lakes of the West

Western Slovakia has no sea and few natural lakes, so local diving happens in the gravel pits the Danube plain is full of. Around Senec, 20 km from Bratislava, Guláška is the clearest of the lakes, with a dive resort and sunken cars and boats; the Slnečné jazerá next to it are shallow and weedy, with plenty of pike. South-east of the capital the 59-hectare Veľké Košariská pit at Rovinka reaches 40 m and has line-marked attractions and a base with fills up to pure oxygen. On Žitný ostrov (the Rye Island between the Danube and the Little Danube) the Aquarea complex at Čierna Voda runs a dive centre on a 38 m pit, and older pits such as Šulianske jazero, Bendő or Oľdza are dived by locals. Most entries come from the Czech-Slovak diver database stranypotapecske.cz, whose GPS points are divers' own entry positions; several lakes are bathing or fishing waters, some are active extraction sites, and a few are fenced off or closed to divers – these are marked.

Slovakia – Gravel-Pit Lakes of the West

Dive sites