Sam’s Diving Molnar Janos Caves

If I need reminding, this experience reinforces that I am no cave diver. Props to those of you who are, you are very skilled and patient people.

Nonetheless, I am always excited at the prospect of a new dive and this is certainly no exception. Molnar Janos cave is a thermal water, limestone cave in Buda, fed by spring water seeping through a fracture in the Buda Marl into the Malom Lake. The cave is just about right on the bank of the Danube. You can't see it from the street - in fact if you're not looking carefully it's hard to find the dive centre which is quite modest about its branding. It looks like a ruin behind a big fence from the street.

It feels otherworldly as you open the door, immediately feel warmth and humidity, and look down a long dark corridor to a hive of activity and light at the other end. You walk past a selection of wheelbarrows (preferred mode of transporting gear to and fro) and an occasional scooter (preferred mode of transporting staff to and fro) and come to the gearing up station at the top of the stairs leading to the dive entrance.

from the front entrance

scooter to get around on

gearing up station

The water is a consistent temperature year round, 27 degrees on the surface and down to 20 degrees when you pass through the thermocline (my favourite part of this kind of diving, especially on the ascent). My research leads me to expect something similar to diving in cenotes in Mexico, which I loved, so I anticipate also loving this.

But it is a bit different, not least in that where I dived in cenotes it was technically cavern diving, meaning you're never further than 60m from an exit so while some cave diving rules apply, you don't need to use all the same gear (the guides usually do). It was also 24 degrees so roughly the same amount of neoprene required as my usual
diving.

Here though it is technically cave diving, so there is gear. There's double cylinders mounted on a steel plate which combined apparently weigh about 40kg, and there's a 7mm wetsuit. A lot more weight and neoprene than I am familiar with.

you can't really see but double tanks on a big steel plate

It's warm and humid and the wetsuit is snug enough I can't get it on without going for a dip in the water. I come back upstairs and stand with limbs akimbo, feeling like an astronaut as my guide trusses me up and tucks everything away so I am not at risk of tangling or catching on things.


I make the very sensible decision to leave my camera behind for the first dive, knowing my focus will largely be on establishing neutral buoyancy in this unfamiliar get up and any spare attention should be reserved for just taking in my surroundings. Best decision I ever made and translates through to my 2nd dive as well, so I'm afraid there are no in water pics.

I spend the first half of the first dive bouncing along the guide line trying to get my buoyancy right. I have one moment of near inversion as I turn slightly too far to see a patch of crystals above and to the right of me, and grapple wildly with the guideline to right myself so I don't go right over. Obviously this happens frequently to non cave divers, and luckily my delightful guide Eta had warned of the possibility and advised the importance and method (wildly grappling) of avoiding total inversion. Crisis averted.

About midpoint in the first dive I establish something marginally resembling neutral buoyancy, although I am still a far cry in this gear from the experienced cave diver whose languid movements and delicate frog kicks are a sight to behold. In any case, I am now better positioned for the rest of this Dive and the 2nd to really take in the imposing limestone formations; the beauty of the range of crystals when the light of a torch plays over them; the many and varied fossils we pass. At one point we stop and cover our torches while Eta turns hers to fluorescent purple and we watch minuscule shrimps going about their cave dwelling business.

some real cave divers

We move so slowly on both dives that once we are through the thermocline on the descent, despite the 7mm wetsuit I am cold. But I love going through it. You can see it in your torch light, it takes on a shimmering appearance, a bit hazy for a moment as you pass through, like the effects in films when someone is going through a portal to another world. Here, it was especially gratifying passing through on the ascent, which feels like swimming into an incredibly warm spa.

stairway down to the water

I drag myself back up the stairs to the gearing up station to relieve myself of all the gear, and feel thoroughly satisfied and a reinvigorated sense of respect for proper cave divers. The Dive centre staff were amazing, very professional, helpful, knowledgeable. I would highly recommend this experience to any divers keen to get wet in Budapest.