The world’s deepest artificial diving pool is now Deepspot, which opened in the Polish town of Mszczonow, 25 miles from the capital Warsaw, on 21 November.

At 45.5m the pool beats the former record-holder, which is also in Europe – Deep JoyY-40 in Montegrotto Terme in Italy is 42.5m deep.

Providing another confined-water environment for advanced scuba and freediver training, Deepspot includes five layers of artificial caves and a Mayan chamber for overhead-environment work, as well as a small boat. The main pool section descends to 20m.

The pool holds 8000cu m of water – more than 20 times as much as the average 25m swimming pool. Construction took two years and cost the equivalent of £8 million. There are plans to accommodate visiting divers in an adjacent hotel from which they can watch the underwater activities through viewing windows 5m deep.

Unlike Polish swimming pools the Deepspot complex has been able to open to the public during the coronavirus pandemic because it is classed as a training centre for divers. Only about a dozen used it on the opening day, however, including eight on an instructor course. One described the facility as a “kindergarten for divers”.

Besides the public, firefighters and military divers are set to use the facility for training purposes.

A one-hour slot costs from £67 for one and £105 for two divers with an instructor, £75 for two divers and £146 for two instructors.

The Deepspot website appears incomplete as yet but can be found here.

****** IN OTHER TRAINING news, NAUI says it is extending its offer to all diving instructors of a free instructor crossover course along with five free certifications. Including Open Water, Advanced, Rescue, Nitrox and other specialities, these certifications can be mixed and matched.

The training agency has also decided to freeze membership fees for instructors crossing over or restarting in 2021, in a bid to help “kick-start” an industry that it says has severely suffered as a result of coronavirus. Details from Simon Lodge (Southern UK Rep, simon@europe.naui.org) or Craig Warner (Northern UK Rep, cwarner@europe.naui.org).