Diving Poland's Deepspot Indoor Pool

Europe’s deepest indoor dive site opened in 2020 near Warsaw, Poland. In an area far from the Baltic Sea with a dearth of clear, deep dive sites, the Deepspot indoor dive center has been a game-changer: It’s increased local access to diving, and has stimulated the industry since it opened over five years ago.

Diving Poland's Deepest Pool

Mszczonow is a town of about 6,000 located 30 minutes from Warsaw, Poland’s capital city. The Deepspot building is prominently visible from the road, with ample parking outside. Visitors can choose between several adventure activities: skydiving and piloting simulations, flying in a wind tunnel—and diving. Jakub Cieslak, PADI Instructor and author of the Nurkolog.pl blog, dives at Deepspot two to four times each month.

“The problem is that we have no proper lake around the city,” Cieslak says. “Just an artificial one, really shallow and with poor viz, [called] Zalew Zegrzynski. All other ponds are just flooded old clay mining spots.”

These spots have a maximum depth of about 13 feet, according to Cieslak. In stark contrast, the Deepspot facility offers a solution with its consistency and predictability. “Deepspot is now our best location in the area. I use it from the beginning for my instructor’s activities and for other things,” Cieslak says.

Magda Witkowska, PADI Master Instructor and one of two managers of Deepspot’s scuba team, has been teaching since 2011. After a decade abroad, she began working at Deepspot and has come to appreciate how much a reliable location supports instructors and their students.

“Because Poland is not a tropical country, divers often deal with cold water, low natural visibility and seasonal limitations,” says Witkowska. “This shapes a diving culture that emphasizes equipment and safety. Deepspot is a place where teaching diving became easier to conduct, regardless of the season and weather. It has the perfect conditions, and all of the gear is available in one place. Entry-level students can experience depth and pressure, and gain confidence before going to the sea or lake.”

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What It's Like Diving Deepspot

The pool is nearly 150 feet deep—just over 45 meters—with unobstructed visibility and temperatures approaching 90 degrees (the website jokes that Deepspot is “probably the only dive site in Poland without a thermocline!”). It holds over 2 million gallons of water. A wreck sits at the bottom for divers to practice new environments.

The facility has encouraged a growing number of divers to try out the sport and practice skills, according to Franek Przeradzki, Deepspot’s director, who has experienced the impact on the local economy.

“The entire [dive] industry in Poland has been growing since Deepspot was established. The number of active divers has increased for the past five years, and significantly more instructors are being certified. Deepspot itself employs around 60 instructors, and we constantly need more. The career path of a diving instructor in Poland has ceased to be a side gig.”

Przeradzki has seen clubs and groups like Cieslak’s expand as well. “After five years, we see that awareness of Deepspot’s existence has reached the general public in Poland. Our alumni travel and dive all over the world, and every day of the week we run new basic courses—both scuba and freediving.”

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Community Vibes

The impact reaches beyond the scuba specialty—in addition to diving, the Deepspot team has underwater hotel rooms and a restaurant.

“For Warsaw residents, it has become one of the high-quality attractions,” Przeradzki explains. “This is especially visible in the case of freediving. Before Deep-spot, it was a niche sport for a handful of elite athletes and diving enthusiasts in cold, dark lakes. Now, it is becoming a more mainstream, inclusive and family-friendly sport—comparable to what climbing gyms have done for climbing.”

It can be challenging to organize dives across multiple ability levels. Witkowska has seen the novelty of Deepspot emerge as a solution to this.

“For people curious about diving but not ready for courses, Deepspot offers an intro diving experience,” Witkowska says. “People are more keen to try diving in warm and clear conditions, and experience something as unusual as diving in the deepest pool in Europe.”

Cieslak’s dive group has run the local Diversnight event around Warsaw each November for the past decade.

“Before Deepspot times, we had to organize it in one of our clay pits,” he says. “Since we have Deepspot, we can meet in decent conditions, the water is warm, clear and nice—and we have depth!”

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Site Spotlight: Amur Bitterling

Tiny freshwater fish known as bitterlings live across Europe and Asia, including in Poland. Various bitterling species like the Amur bitterling (Rhodeus sericeus), Georgian bitterling, (Rhodeus colchicus) and European bitterling (Rhodeus amarus) have been separated into about 40 species.

These fish live among plant life in muddy water and display a fascinating behavior in which they use live mussels to spawn. Females drop their eggs into the mussel’s siphon or gills using an organ called an ovipositor, then the eggs are fertilized by the males, where they eventually hatch. At 30 days old, the small larvae swim out of the mussel into their big underwater world. They grow to be about an inch long and eat plants and small invertebrates. Bitterling are found in a range of freshwater ecosystems from the Danube to Siberia.

Need to Know Diving Deepspot Poland

Temp: 90 degrees (32 degrees Celsius) 

Depth: Approximately 150 feet (45 meters)

Certification

Build a new skill and reach new depths with a PADI Freediver course.

What to Bring

Swimsuit and towel—leave your neoprene at home.

When You Get There

Ticket packages are available for entry and equipment rental.

Contact

deepspot.com