ICE DIVING IN POLAND
How is it like to dive in Poland during the wintertime? What mysteries are still hidden in this cold waters? This is a short story about a group of friends and a mysterious wreck...September, 2017, Mazury Region, East Poland.
A bunch of friends from a local diving club go for a casual dive in one of beautiful Mazurian Lakes…
That day, they decided to dive
in a different spot than usually...
“I wanted to go for an easy, shallow, relaxing dive to check out a new place because the access to our regular site was not available.
I was swimming on the depth of around 5 meters. Suddenly, after no more than 2 minutes I tilted my head up and… I’ve got anxious.
On the limit of my sight I saw a dense tangle of fishing nets. I stopped and slowly turned to get around them. It surprised me how it was dense – there was no light going through. I moved a little bit closer and I was completely stunned…
There was a wooden side of a real wreck in front of me!
I could not believe how such a big wreck could be kept in a secret. Somebody must have known about it – simply because it was not fully covered by fishing cords. Only the stern was entangled in a braid of fishing nets which had drawn my attention.
The wreck was a wooden, flat-bottom vessel built on a steel framework.
For Mazurian Lakes’ conditions the size of that wreck is more than impressive:
33m length and around 5.2m large.
The bow section is destroyed – almost all frames were either bent or completely cut off.
The wreck is in a very good condition from the middle section to the stern. On the sides there are two impressive mooring poles. The biggest one is located on the stern – directly behind some remainings of a windlass. On the left side, on the deck, there are two portholes. There is even a possibility to go inside the wreck through a narrow hatchway:
The wreck meets the bottom on the depth of approximately 12m. The rudder itself is completely immersed in the bottom silt.
The origins and history of this wreck are not known. For now, we know that the vessel was still in use until 1958-1960. Around 1960 as a result of intensive wind and waves – the vessel took water.
After a year or two, there was an unsuccessful action aimed to pull the boat out from the bottom – using two tractors. The bow section cracked in the middle when it was initially pulled with two thick ropes.The wooden vessel slided down to the bottom.
For now that’s all information that we have about the mysterious wreck from Mazury Lakes.
I really found this wreck by accident !
President of “Klub Nurkowy Płetwal” Dive Club.
The video “ICE DIVING IN POLAND” was turned by the TecLine Team in a cooperation with the Płetwal Dive Club in the winter-time 2017 – this is the best period to take images because of better visibility.
Thank you guys for sharing with us that exciting underwater adventure!
Photos by: http://pletwal.com/index.php/pletwal-wiadomosci/228-najwiekszy-wrak-na-mazurach
Video recorded and edited by : http://www.studio-a-propos.com/
Article by:
BarTek Trzcinski
