It's fresh
ArticleThe beauty of diving in lakes and rivers is unique experience.
The truth is somewhere in the middle. Yes, there are awful, murky lakes where you can be certified but it takes some time until you forgot the bad experience. I had my first open water dives in a nearby quarry in Hungary, the visibility was 1-2 meters, and because we were absolute beginners it became worse in 2 minutes. My instructor couldn't see my face so he checked my mask removing by touching my face- if there wasn't a mask, I did it. So I was excited on the surface - and horrified under water. Is this the diving? Swimming in the water which similar to a thick soup, without seeing any fish? I know certification is not about fun diving but this place don't make you mad about the underwater wonders. The only wonder is when you surface and you aren't too far from the entry point.
I came back to this hopeless lake only once. A buddy and me joined an underwater cleanup here. I told her to hold strongly the big bag as this will be the "lifeline"- we wouldn't see each other. We really didn't. I sometimes felt a pull on the bag, she found something and collected. Our dive was about 30 minutes long and although we barely used air from our tanks we didn't go back. There weren't animals under water but trash. The people from the nearby village brought many useless things to the lake. They knew nobody would see them here. To see the bags full of trash was really disappointing. To see the murky water was even worse.
Later I had dives in other lakes, some of them was better, some of them was boring and tiring. In a few dozen dives you learn the basics of the navigation and you'll be able to find the crabs and fish so normally every freshwater dive seems enjoyable. And I learned how should I choose freshwater dive spots. As I started exploring in the neighboring country I found the Austrian lakes much more exciting. The many fish of the Erlaufsee, the pikes of the Neufeldersee, the 40 meters visibility of the ice cold Grüner See was as stunning experience as a dive in the Hurghada area of Red Sea. I go to Austria because I love to dive there not because I don't have the chance to travel to Egypt. I'm proud to be the first amongst my friends who dived these waters on my own and shared my adventures. Since then many Hungarians visited those lakes which I reviewed in our website. There must be many more great freshwater dive spots in Europe (and even more in the World!) which worth visiting. But don't forget the nearby quarries because some of them can be surprisingly nice if you know where to look for animals. I had so many nice dives even in Hungary which isn't famous of its dive sites (except the caves), and I plan to do more local dives in the future. I recommend to start exploring lakes and rivers and find the hidden gems.
(average: 4.5) average conditions 
