Diving in the Opal mines of Dubnik
Posted By David Cani & Petr Vaverka on 30 August 2006
Dubnik’s underground spaces are not just great for a precious stones, they are also perfect as a winter home for bats – it is the biggest european winter home for more then fourteen different kinds of bats. During the winter there are over 4000 bats living in the caves.
IN CLATTER OF BUBBLES
After traveling 670 km (420 miles) from Prague we were sitting at the location with Vlado Konrad, the local boss by late afternoon, and already talking about situation underground…
Vlado is a very friendly person and we were happy to go with him to see the dry parts of the main cave.
Dubnik’s main cave is not all underwater the underwater part is only a portion of Viliam’s gallery with a intricate labyrinth very close to Fedo’s gallery.
Corridors are on three levels with a depth of 15, 30 and 50meters (50, 100 and 166 feet) they are all connected by vertical passages, stairways, and a main gallery Fedo.
The visibility in the slightly acidic water is absolute – limited only by flash light power.
The maximum depth of 67meters (223 feet) depends on the water level.
We’ve planed one dive for each day. Transporting our dive gear in to the water wasn’t so easy because of the very intricate corridor system.
We had to travel hunched over three times for a half kilometer (1600 feet) from the underground entrance with all our dive equipment threw a slippery corridor with a very low ceiling using only light from our flash lights.
And believe me, every slip or fall with a load of tanks hurts…
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