Feeling my gill dry after too weeks off-water I wanted to dive into something or just anything that is water. Many warned me that after diving Adriatic, I will be distracted from the muddy Hungarian lakes; and I will feel the same for the Adriatic once I dove the Red Sea. (Recently somebody said that he feels the same towards the Red Sea after diving in Sudan. It is civil war there!)
I did not feel distracted. I found some new experience diving even the lake I dove a few times. This time we planned to dive the well known place without a DM, only two of us both OWD: me and Tamás Patkós, a college of mine.
9am when the base opens the rain was heavily falling. There is a small place covered by some roof, but that does not wipe away the depressing weather. It was also cold on shore. The air was 16oC, while the water was 22oC. We started to dress and walked into the water around 10am.
During the first dive we decided to swim along the reed using a compass and to turn back when we are at 100bars of air. This was the first time I used a compass and believe me: it is difficult. I never loose my orientation in a city or on a road. I always know where the direction to north is. This should be because of the sun position, which I was not able to see underwater. After starting I soon realized that the compass was showing quite different directions than what I had in my brain. I had to force myself mentally to trust the compass.
The other issue with the compass was to hold it straight so that the compass does not get stuck, but rotates freely in its house. And all the same time: keep your depth level, do not trust the direction of light coming from the surface and reflected from the bottom.
In spite of these difficulties I could manage to keep the direction 120o. After reaching the 100bar air we turned back and came back on the direction 240o. After a while we reached a rope. I believed that this rope was one between the teaching platforms somewhere 20m from the shore at the depth of 6 to 8 meters. I decided to follow the rope. Afternoon during the second dive we have learned that this rope was the last segment of a series of ropes leading from the teaching platforms to the middle of the lake where some tree branches and tubes were sunk to attract some giant cat fish.
Soon we reached the end of the rope, but I did not know where we were. We had seen the tubes, the trees, but we had no idea what it was. I suspected that the dive center should be toward 330o but had no idea how far. I did not want to get lost and signaled Tamás to rise to surface. (I still have to practice rising.)
When on the surface we could see that we were some 300meters from the shore, but the direction I suspected was right. I believe that was simply coincidence. We still had 90bars and I asked Tamás whether sink back and swim towards the dc to make the way on the surface. He decided not to go down and I did not insist on that: if any of a pair does not want to go down, that should be the decision unless going down has a good reason, like surface stream to overcome.
During the SIT we discussed with the dc staff what we had seen and we learnt the map of the lake. We had the choice to visit a bathing platform that sunk a few years ago to 3 meter and functions as the home of a pike; or travel all along the ropes from underwater stretching anchors to the next keeping the rope in place to the middle of the lake where a giant catfish lives.
We decided to follow the rope and visit the giant catfish. This time Tamás attached his lamp to his jacket so that it is at hand when we lurk into the tubes. We started to swim following the rope using our fins, but some times I was just pulling myself along the rope with my hands. The water was murky. At some places there are holes in the lake where the water has a new layer starting at 9.5meter. Below that the water is dark brown, lack of visibility and cold. We avoided those places floating above them, sometimes lifting the rope.
Traveling to the fish place took only 10 minutes or so. At that place we wanted to spend some time but at that point Tamás signaled to me: he has lost his lamp. That is a costly loss. We started to seek the lamp swimming along the rope all the way back. This time I swam under the rope close to the ground looking left and right sweeping a 3m wide stripe on the sides of the rope with my eyes. The lamp was nowhere. We have reached the hole and I did sink into that trying to find the lamp. I reached out my hands (I wore no gloves, I avoid that if possible underwater), and I could see my palm and finders clearly. The water was not muddy or murky, but dark a lot. Touching the ground was grotty, giving a sticky fat feeling black mud gluing to my fingers. It took less than a minute to realize that huge luck would lead me to the lost lamp if that laid there and I decided to rise above the brown water. This decision was also eased by the depressing psychological feeling that was pressing me inside the hole.
Tamás was also seeking the lamp with no success. On the half of the way back we met a group of beginners practicing for their OWD with the instructor. We exchanged OK signs and went on to the shore. At the platform we had some air left and decided to use it going to the sunk bath platform. We hoped to see the pike after we failed to visit the giant catfish.
There was no pike at the sunk platform. We peeked under it, swam around and found nothing.
We went back to the practice platform following the string showing the way and prepared to rise when a young catfish approached us. He or she swam around us, looked into my face and then it swam away in calm and relax motion. I felt embarrassed.
We went into the water to visit and see the catfish selfishly, thinking that things happen the way we wanted. However fish are at home here. If they want to see us, they shall, and if they don’t then we are out of luck. And this young catfish demonstrated it more than I wanted.
During the day the clouds and the rain got a bit lighter and thus I could survive the day without catching cold. We have left the DC 2pm. I commented on the time mentioning that I have rush to the airport. Eyes got frozen looking at me with "no-fly-time" mirroring on all faces.
"Oh, no I do not fly." I said. "I have to catch a landing plane with which my wife arrives from Athens." And I did.