LAKE ZAOVINE EXCURSION,
November 2004.

We planned this excursion for a long time but the circumstances were not working in our favor. Ten years ago, Ljuki and Mirko went scuba diving at this location and loved it. Finally, we got the chance to organize one day excursion because we had had enough divers applying for it so, we started getting all the permits needed for these dives. After ten days of negotiations with the authorities, we agreed on the date and the time. The tension among the young divers began to rise. We started our trip at 6 am and had about ten cars leaving at once. Weather was overcast, windy and there was some rain as well.

We traveled through Valjevo and crossed Debelo Brdo. The cars seemed to be eating away the length of the road. Exceptionally organized as always, we communicated all the time through our internal radio-stations, which made the trip go smoothly and we enjoyed it all the way.

Passing through different towns and villages and looking at the natural beauties of Serbia, I kept thinking how lovely this country is, even though it went through so much hardship. We went past beautiful landscapes, hills, valleys, and rivers.

After almost 3 hours of driving and a few short stops, we arrived at Tara Mountain. We stopped for a couple of minutes to enjoy the beauty of the river Drina.

The winding road led us to Lake Zaovine.

The wind was strong so standing outside was not really pleasant. The autumn sun peeped occasionally through the grayish clouds.

We briefed the divers and afterwards, we hurriedly started preparing for the first dive. Goran, our photographer, took photos of our prep.

There was the sound of our equipment clanging and of the air from our tanks wheezing in the wind.

The divers were skillfully putting their gear together as well as testing it before the dive.

The first group, led by Zika, started their dive.

The time passed quickly. The scenery was interesting and the depth at that site was around 26 meters. The first dive was soon over and the group started to change swiftly in their cars. Some of them, after a 2-hour break, were supposed to take another dive and Mirko, Vlatko and Nemanja had to investigate a part of the lake using Nitrox mix in order to prolong their dive. They confirmed their signalization, waved at us and disappeared into the depths of the mountain lake.

After about 90 minutes of diving, we rejoined at a local restaurant and discussed their findings on that site.
Mirko said: "After 15 meters, we went into a deep darkness".

The bottom of the lake was muddy and covered with old branches. We were diving and watching that almost surreal scenery with only our shadows passing through the darkness. It was so interesting looking at the old branches forming different shapes.

Our lamps lit the bottom with flashing lights. We floated carefully in order to avoid ripping our dry suits or damaging any part of our equipment. The time passed so quickly that, after about 30 minutes at the bottom, we started swimming to a shallower part of the lake to decompress."
Vlatko added to Mirko’s story: "As we left the deep part of the lake, I was relieved. During our stay there, I was looking through my camera and saw fishing strings, not visible to a naked eye. Wrapped around the branches, they actually represented a danger to us and, a chance to have our equipment trapped in them was haunting me all the time since we had about 30 minutes of decompression ahead of us and we were still at 26 meters. Nemanja was up to the task, this being his first serious dry suit dive and, that made it much easier for us to proceed with the dive as planned.

At one point, Mirko signaled that it was time to get back. We went slowly to a shallower part of the lake and in front of us, the dim light started to appear. Slowly, the blackness of the lake started to become dark green."
Still under the impressions from the dive, my thoughts drifted like shadows through the underwater forest of Zaovine lake. The orange mud and dark brown branches of the artificial lake occupied my thoughts for a long time. During our decompression, we used signs to communicate and share our impressions.
The lunch was excellent and lifted our spirits up even more so we were pretty disappointed when we realized that it was already dark and that it was high time to start our trip home. The line of cars began going down the mountain along the winding road. After a 4-hour drive, we finally made it back to Belgrade richer for a new experience.