Cave diving in Poland is not the easy job. There is no big resurgence in our country. Most diveable sumps are placed in the Tatra Mountains on the southern border. There is an alpine type karst; the temperature of water is about 3 oC. The sumps are deep in the caves - usually several hundreds meters below the entrance. The cave diver must be extremely fit to get there with all his equipment.
The main diving places are at the bottom of big vertical caves such as Miętusia, Śnieżna Studnia and Wielka Śnieżna. There are also some sumps in horizontal caves such as Kasprowa Niżna, Bystrej, Dudnica, and Zimna. The development of exploration over the last four years is covered in this paper.

The deepest cave dives took place in Miętusia cave. There are two separate, vertical sequences of the pits in the lower parts of this cave. One of them is called Wielkie Kominy (Great Chimneys) and the second Ciasne Kominy (Narrow Chimneys). For many years these two sumps remained unconnected, but many clues indicated that a connection is possible. The exploration in Ciasne Kominy was undertaken by cavers from the club Sekcja Grotołazów Wrocław. The bottom of the last pit is divided into two separate lakes. Wiktor Bolek explored the south one. Within the years 1996-98 four assaults were made. On the dive on 29.12.1998 the depth of -70 m was reached at the distance of 135 m from the lake surface. It was a definite end of the exploration. The dive lasted 76' including 53' decompression. Trimix was used as bottom gas, air as travel mix and oxygen for final decompression.
Norbert Ziober explored the sump under the north lake. At first the sump went to the north, but then it turned south in the direction of Wielkie Kominy. On the dive on 29.12.1998 Norbert found a guideline and a weight belt, which were placed in the sump from the Wielkie Kominy side. The distance from the northern lake to the connection point is about 130 m with maximum depth of -29 m.
Cavers from Speleoklub Warszawski have been exploring the sump in Wielkie Kominy since early 70s. In that time the vertical part was descended to -30 m and a horizontal tunnel was discovered. There is a connection point with Ciasne Kominy in this tunnel, but it was discovered almost 30 years later. In the second half of 90s Krzysztof Starnawski explored more underwater passages in this sump. At the beginning of 1996 he found a side tunnel at the depth of -12 m. He swam there the distance of 180 m at a max depth of -21 m to the dry gallery called Podwójne Życie Weroniki (The Double Life of Veronica). In February of 1997 Krzysztof and Andrzej Czubalski swam through this sump once again and climbed the meander in the gallery and found the next sump Klarowny (Clear). Krzysztof dived through it in 1999. It was 15 m long. A new dry gallery was found of length 50-60 m. But it was a dead end for exploration in this branch.
A bit of new underwater terrain has been explored recently in Jaskinia Bystrej. This cave is a complex horizontal one. There are many minor sumps, but the place for diving is a sequence of five sumps in the main passage. The first four were known from early 70s. The exploration in the fifth was stopped in 1987, when Aleksiej Petrujkic drowned there during exploration. The exploration in this sump has been recently undertaken once again by Krzysztof Starnawski. In bad conditions (low visibility and tight space) he was able to pass 200 m with max. depth of -28 m in sump. He emerged in a small chamber. The Sump VI started there, but the entrance (a vertical slit) was too narrow.
Several diving attempts were made in the sumps, which are at the bottom area of Jaskinia Wielka Śnieżna - presently the deepest cave in Poland (814 m). In this cave the main streamway goes through three sumps at the bottom: Syfon Dominiki, Syfon Beaty and sump Jeziorko X (the deepest point in this system). They were explored in 70s and 80s. A way through Jeziorko X was not found due to low visibility. The problem lay in Syfon Dominika, which was muddy and narrow. The stirred up mud in this sump went to the last sump and descured visibility. After many years of exploration a new dry passage to the sumps was found. Syfon Dominiki was by-passed through Syfon Dziadka. It allowed the undertaking of exploration in Jeziorko X in clear water. Maciej Tomaszek from STJ KW Kraków carried out the assault. He swam 30 m in the last sump. At the depth of 7 m he arrived at sump’s deflection, which was choked by boulders. He tried to remove them, but the mud was stirred and he had to return. Next assault was made by Piotr Kępkiewicz in the year 2000. During the dive he removed the choke, but he did not pass through.
There are also sumps in the side streamways in Wielka Śnieżna, which deliver water to the main stream. They can be dived against the current and dry passages beyond the sump must be explored by climbing. One of such sites is a sequence of Syfon Krakowski and Syfon Magdy. Andrzej Stupak dived through Syfon Krakowski (9 m long) in 1991. This was done by free diving. It is the only time in the history of Polish cave diving when a sump was explored in free diving style. The next sump (Syfon Magdy) was explored using full equipment in the same year, but no further way in the dry passage was found. Wiktor Bolek and Norbert Ziober undertook the exploration in this place once again in 1999. A 130 m long passage was found after Syfon Magdy. It was possible after climbing up in a narrow slit. The last point resched was 30m higher than the water level in the sump.
In two other caves containing big sumps, no new underwater terrain was gained during past four years. The exploration achievements in these places were summarised in the special issue of „Jaskinie” (The Caves) published on the occasion of 12th International Speleological Congress.

Apart from exploration of sumps in the Tatras, Polish cave divers took up the challenge of exploring the sumps in Europe. Krzysztof Starnawski, who, after several attempts, submerged to -180 meters in Hranicka propast in Czech Republic, made one of the greatest achievements. It is a vertical pit, which was penetrated by a sonda operated from the surface to the depth of over 200 m. But no man dived there deeper than Krzysztof. His dive lasted 4 hours and 21 minutes. He used 11 bottles. Water temperature was 12-14 oC.
Another exploration was made in the Bihor Mountains in Romania. Wiktor Bolek submerged to -80¹ m in the second sump of Izbucul de la Tauz. This sump is a ramp, which goes slowly downwards. Sand and grit fill the bottom. At the depth of -74 m there is a squeeze, which stopped previous explorers, but was passed this time. Afterwards the passage opens up and exploration is still possible.
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^{1 - The sump was deepened by Wiktor Bolek} to -85 in August 2001