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Millstätter See - Döbriach- Austria 2009
Getting back from three weeks Croatia I spent a week in August 2009 in Austria. Döbriach is a small town at the south site of the Millstätter See in the Kärnten county. It was a nice change to experience fresh water diving in this crystal clear lake. I arranged my diving at the Tauchschule Happy Dolphin owned by Werner Oliver Platen. Because the owner was at work in Egypt I arranged with a Dutch divemaster Eric who managed the dive centre during the managers absence.
The Millstätter See is a lake with a length of 12 kilometers and a width of 2 kilometer.
It’s maximum depth is 142 meters and it’s located at a height of 588 meters above
sea level. It’s situated near the A10 between Villach and Salzburg. In tourists information
the lake claims to be the warmest lake in Austria and during my visit the water reached
a nice temperature of 20 degrees. During winter the lake provides ice-
All activities are situated at the eastern bank of the lake like the five villages near the lake. The western bank is steep and virtually undeveloped.
I made my dives from Strandbad Tschinder where the dive centre is located. Maximum depth during the dive is 8 meters. The visibility reaches an average 10 meters during summer but the rain which poured down the week before has increased it to just a few meters. We spotted more than 15 pikes, several sholes of red fin perches and roaches. Parts of trees fallen into the water were covered with zebra mussels.
We didn’t spotted the carps, catfishes, eels and fresh water lobsters which inhabit the Millstätter See as well.
