Poseidon's Parlour: Eurovisibility

I first visited Austria in 2001 with my then blushing bride on our honeymoon. Neither of us dived nor did we have much interest in the SCUBA related delights that sit in the midst Austria's Alps. Fast forward 10 years and a SCUBA diving course or two later and all of a sudden I had an inkling to visit the country again.

You see, the internet is a beautiful thing. It has the ability to expose you to places, things, activities and thought that you haven't considered before. Click-bait links with titles such as "10 Places That Will Blow Your Mind" or "21 Places in Europe That You Must See Before You Die" spark the imagination and the spirit of adventure.

It was one such link that introduced me to the Gruner See (or Green Lake in English). The Gruner See is a small alpine lake in the middle of a country park a few hours west of Vienna in the village of Tragöß. Once a year, the snow on the surrounding peaks melts and flood the park for a few weeks every year. Add to that the presence of the Eurovision Song Contest in Vienna and it seemed like a great weekend to revisit Austria.

We took our own kit (a drysuit is required), but hired BCDs.

We were collected from our hotel early and two hours later we were in the middle of an alpine village, surrounded by cars from Austria, Switzerland, Slovakia, Czech Republic and Germany. It was truly international, but thanks to diabolical rain, it felt a lot like home.

The set up itself is pretty similar to Capernwray in that you pay 10 euro to dive the site and there is a cafe serving schnitzel, strudel and hot chocolate. Unlike Capernwray the site has no covered changing facilities, as such we kitted up in the pouring rain and headed down to the lake.

I won't lie, it is beautiful, and on a nicer day I'd imagine its charms would be amplified. As it was, there was a howling wind blowing right up the lake to the entry point. The result was a large build up frothy sludge. You can see it in the picture opposite.

We skirted round the side and plopped in. As the 7c water hit my face it didn't feel as cold as it does back home. There must be some sort of scientific explanation for this, but it felt more like a Scottish 10c.

I continued down following Norbert, my Austrian guide, staying a little above him.

We max-ed out at around 4m, following the lake shore. It was after about five minutes that I realised this wasn't going to be the wonderland dive I hoped for.

I could tell that Gill was getting pretty bored, as we turned and went back. I think some other divers had got bored too as there were various romantic rock formations made by amorous divers determined to impress a significant buddy with their puffer fish impersonations.

Back on the surface I discovered that our planned second dive had a submerged bench, but the look on Gill's face said she wasn't interested and Norbert was expressing how he soaked through due to a drysuit leak. He'd have bravely led me round the other bank, but who were we kidding, this wasn't that much fun. Instead we dekitted in the pouring rain, warmed up with a hot chocolate and headed back through the rain to Vienna where the weather was starting to clear up for the Eurovision festivities.