Trip Report from Austria: Fernsteinsee/Samarangersee

Encouraged by our Craig, I continue to report from diving locations:

Due to the coronavirus situation we decided to go in September four days to Fernsteinsee and the close Samarangersee in Tyrol, instead to the Croatian Adriatic. We did not regret and in 2021 we will come for a week, in case the situation allows.

Both lakes, located about 930 m above sealevel, are private poperty and belong to the castle in the background. In our days the castle has been restructured to a Hotel (both the castle in the background and the new building directly at the street). Since only guests of the hotel are allowed to go to both lakes (and scubadive there), the number of divers and other tourists is within reasonable limits. There is no divingbase, but two compressors are located in a small hut and one can fill the bottles with chips that are dispensed at the reception. I prefer to book the castle (meaning about 5' walk to the buffet in the restaurant), since the new building is directly located at the heavily frequented Fernpassbundesstrasse (the only drop of worm in this vacation, the rest was outstanding).

The surroundings of the Fernsteinsee is very scenic with several small and one larger island (one of the small ones is shown here).

The water of Fernsteinsee is very clear, with visibility of 25m+. The temperature was at 9oC. Most divers wear drysuit, but we had an experienced and hardened friend with us, who retained his wetsuit (the diver in the image is Lisi, my wife, with drysuit).

Plants and pieces of wood dominate the landscape of Fernsteinsee. Both lakes are rather shallow, with maximum depth around 17m, but the best light is near the surface.

At a location, where some springs originate in the Fernstein lake's bottom, Arctic Charrs (Salvelinus alpinus ) school, reminding us at schools of fish in tropical waters.

Clear waters and sunbeams create magic moments.

The water of Smarangersee is even clearer than Fernsteinsee and comes close to the "Grüner See" in Styria (Grüner See is public accessible, but too many divers visited this unique location and therefore it had to be closed for scubadivers already several years ago)

Another image from Samarangersee

As Samarangersee is even colder than Fernsteinsee, it homes less plants and animals, but mucous algae form bizzare structures

Image from shallow waters close to the entry point of Samarangersee.

Wolfgang

That clear water and sunbeams shot is amazing.   Love the clear water, but no drysuit for me!

Architeuthis wrote:

Encouraged by our Craig, I continue to report from diving locations:

Due to the coronavirus situation we decided to go in September four days to Fernsteinsee and the close Samarangersee in Tyrol, instead to the Croatian Adriatic. We did not regret and in 2021 we will come for a week, in case the situation allows.

Both lakes, located about 930 m above sealevel, are private poperty and belong to the castle in the background. In our days the castle has been restructured to a Hotel (both the castle in the background and the new building directly at the street). Since only guests of the hotel are allowed to go to both lakes (and scubadive there), the number of divers and other tourists is within reasonable limits. There is no divingbase, but two compressors are located in a small hut and one can fill the bottles with chips that are dispensed at the reception. I prefer to book the castle (meaning about 5' walk to the buffet in the restaurant), since the new building is directly located at the heavily frequented Fernpassbundesstrasse (the only drop of worm in this vacation, the rest was outstanding).

The surroundings of the Fernsteinsee is very scenic with several small and one larger island (one of the small ones is shown here).

The water of Fernsteinsee is very clear, with visibility of 25m+. The temperature was at 9oC. Most divers wear drysuit, but we had an experienced and hardened friend with us, who retained his wetsuit (the diver in the image is Lisi, my wife, with drysuit).

Plants and pieces of wood dominate the landscape of Fernsteinsee. Both lakes are rather shallow, with maximum depth around 17m, but the best light is near the surface.

At a location, where some springs originate in the Fernstein lake's bottom, Arctic Charrs (Salvelinus alpinus ) school, reminding us at schools of fish in tropical waters.

Clear waters and sunbeams create magic moments.

The water of Smarangersee is even clearer than Fernsteinsee and comes close to the "Grüner See" in Styria (Grüner See is public accessible, but too many divers visited this unique location and therefore it had to be closed for scubadivers already several years ago)

Another image from Samarangersee

As Samarangersee is even colder than Fernsteinsee, it homes less plants and animals, but mucous algae form bizzare structures

Image from shallow waters close to the entry point of Samarangersee.

Wolfgang

Looking at shot number 3 it is clipping on both highlights and blacks that scene has simply too much dynamic range however you may look at it

Looks very nice though especially shot 6

I'm still a bit stunned by this - partly the clarity, and but certainly also the cold.  The very idea of diving there would not have occurred to me.

Here around Phoenix we have several lakes, and I've take dive training lessons in them.   But they are nasty.  Murky at best, with almost nothing to see, and the water stinks of boat exhaust.  (Also cold at any depth, even in the summer.)

kelpdiver wrote:

9C is about the practical limit for wetsuits, though for many it's likely 11-12. 10 is where I need to start wearing gloves, which I hate.

I once forgot my hood and had to dive Carmel in 9-10. The first 5 minutes were very painful in the temple, until it went numb. Then I settled, albeit with a highly elevated rate of air consumption.

Hi kelpdiver,

Many years ago I was diving in "Grüner See", which has about 5 °C, without gloves. I had promised this dive to my little brother, who just had achieved his scuba licence and upon dressing for the dive I discovered that I had forgotten the gloves. After the dive the others had to undress me, my hands were so thumb, in case anyone would have chopped off my hands with a saw, I would not have felt anything. The pain, when the feelings returned to my hands was terrible...

In my case, the temperature limit for wetsuit raised a lot with the ageing process: while 5 °C was very cold, but still o.k. in the old days, nobody can bring me in water lower than 20 °C in a wetsuit these days, since I have my trilaminate drysuit (with different strength of underwear for different water temperatures)...

Wolfgang

kelpdiver wrote:

PHXAZCRAIG wrote:

I'm still a bit stunned by this - partly the clarity, and but certainly also the cold. The very idea of diving there would not have occurred to me.

Here around Phoenix we have several lakes, and I've take dive training lessons in them. But they are nasty. Murky at best, with almost nothing to see, and the water stinks of boat exhaust. (Also cold at any depth, even in the summer.)

mountain lakes can have excellent clarity. colder water, and not being downstream of lots of human runoff (sewage, pesticides, fertilizer in fields, etc) are big difference from what you might see locally.

When I first started diving as a teenager in 1971, I made my 4th open water dive with my father in Balman Resevoir in Colorado.   It's up near treeline at 9400 feet (around 2870m).

My memory of that dive was that it was very green.  Nothing much to see but green.   Of course back then I had no prescription mask and I'm quite near-sighted, so I never did see much on my first 4 dives.  After that one I took a 35-year break from diving.

Lake Tahoe once had ridiculous clarity - 200ft, but is now sub 100. Phosphates lead to algae growth.

Yes, that would have been something to see.

9C is about the practical limit for wetsuits, though for many it's likely 11-12. 10 is where I need to start wearing gloves, which I hate.

I once forgot my hood and had to dive Carmel in 9-10. The first 5 minutes were very painful in the temple, until it went numb. Then I settled, albeit with a highly elevated rate of air consumption.

When I got my D810 dive housing I needed to test it out in a pool.   So I went to a friend with a pool - in Phoenix in December - put on my 3 mil and hopped in the water for a 5-minute test to see how the rig worked.   I left my gloves off so I could operate the controls.

And my hands almost instantly were useless.   What a shock when I hit that water!   My 5 minute test lasted only about 2 minutes - and I ran out of air in my tank at the same time, so I gladly came out of the water.

kelpdiver wrote:

PHXAZCRAIG wrote:

When I first started diving as a teenager in 1971, I made my 4th open water dive with my father in Balman Resevoir in Colorado. It's up near treeline at 9400 feet (around 2870m).

My memory of that dive was that it was very green. Nothing much to see but green. Of course back then I had no prescription mask and I'm quite near-sighted, so I never did see much on my first 4 dives. After that one I took a 35-year break from diving.

reservoirs can differ from natural lakes in that we inhibit water leaving, sometimes for half the year. Though I have seen dammed lakes that still seem very clear, so there's more to it than just that.

I have to say that I've never been diving in a clear lake.

I did open water in Colorado Springs Prospect Lake, in December.  Totally mudded out - visibility only to my wrist.

35 years later I did PADI open water in Saguaro Lake in Phoenix, and my trainer told me not to let go of my weight belt during an exercise because it would disappear in the muck we were kneeling and be lost.  I did rescue dives in Lake Pleasant that had 6-8 foot visibility.

All but the reservoir stunk of exhaust smell from motorboats.

Rodger in Edmonton wrote:

Hi and thumbs up from Canada Wolfgang,

I loved all your shots , really transmits the clarity of the water well

I did not know Arctic Char were available in Austria.

How do fresh water species react to your presence?

Best Regards, Rodger
Save Lives - Be an Organ or Stem Cell Donor.
Quaecumque vera

Hi Rodger,

Arctic Char is circumpolar and occurs as well in America, Europe and Asia. Usually in the far North, but in cold alpine lakes they can be found even in Austria...

It is a related species, Brook Char (Salvelinus fontinalis), that has been imported from the new world (like many other species)...

These fish react to the presence of divers pretty much the same way as any fish: to some extend shy, but fortunately not too much...

Wolfgang

Rodger in Edmonton wrote:

Architeuthis wrote:

Rodger in Edmonton wrote:

Hi and thumbs up from Canada Wolfgang,

I loved all your shots , really transmits the clarity of the water well

I did not know Arctic Char were available in Austria.

How do fresh water species react to your presence?

Best Regards, Rodger
Save Lives - Be an Organ or Stem Cell Donor.
Quaecumque vera

Hi Rodger,

Arctic Char is circumpolar and occurs as well in America, Europe and Asia. Usually in the far North, but in cold alpine lakes they can be found even in Austria...

It is a related species, Brook Char (Salvelinus fontinalis), that has been imported from the new world (like many other species)...

These fish react to the presence of divers pretty much the same way as any fish: to some extend shy, but fortunately not too much...

Wolfgang

Thank you for the overview Wolfgang, We have lots of Char here and we spent many years north of 60 in in YK, Inuvik , Whitehorse etc but I would have bet money against Arctic Char in Austria and Europe proper.

Sweden, Norway etc sure but I have learned something new from your beautiful images.

Do you ever try fishing for them under water - or is this illegal - it must be from shore?

Hi Rodger,

I have never heard of anyone spearfishing in our lakes. I am not shure there is a regulation, maybe it is allowed in case you pay for a normal fishing licence, maybe not. I personally prefer to shoot aquatic (as well as terrestic) animals with my camera. When I was young I had a handheld spear and hunted in salt water while snorkeling, mostly octopus and squid, seldom I got fish. Since I know how intelligent and cute, especially cephalopodes are, I never killed one again...

They are one of the tastiest fish on the planet.

Good that you tell me. Next time when I am there, I will taste one...

Wolfgang

Now that I know there are Arctic Char in Europe, it puts a whole new spin on a Euro trip.