Pump Station At Lake Stillhouse

[FIXXERVI6]

I was just wondering if anyone on the board has ever penitrated that old pump station at Lake Stillhouse? I have somewhere around 65 dives around the pump station but have never went inside. I have heard of people going inside but have not talked to anyone that has. Myself and a few buddies were thinking about trying it but I would like to get some opinions from someone with first hand experiance. Can anyone help.

Dunno what your level of training is but I'll throw out .02 do not take as an attack please it is not.

Here is the thing with it, cave/overhead training is available to everyone and its economical, its not some secret handshake club, or some elite divers group, anyone can go sign up, take the training. It doesn't have to cost you a fortune it doesn't require huge steels, drysuits, and $3,000 dollar lights. In terms of scuba costs you can get started fairly cheap and if you make smart purchases the gear is re usable, aka if you start with aluminum 80's they can be turned into deco/stage's no waste and aluminum 80's are great for these lakes.

I can not understand why anyone would take on such risk when there are EASY ways of reducing your risk. If your really interested in doing it, do it right.

Since you have such an urge to explore this thing I HIGHLY recomend at a MINIMUM you go to florida/mexico and take a cavern and intro to cave course, hell you can even come along on one of my trips to save on gas and I can get you hooked up with instructors if you'd like. Your chances of surviving would be much higher than if you just went with no training and a pony, zero to hero with some experience dives under your belt would be best, its all fun and games until it goes black.

Even with a reel and pony you need the training with some dives, when things go black and you have speghetti you'll feel your butt pucker up so tight you wont' know if it will ever let go again, and if that leads to panic your already toast. I'm no super diver but I've got training with some dives under my belt, some of them are under horrid conditions, and I've had my butt pucker real hard before, completely 0 visibility (when I say 0 you can't read a guage, light is useless 100% brail) black out with spegehtti, one time under fiarly high narcotic values and I have to just stop moving close my eyes, take a few deep breaths and keep my poo together and fix the situation slowly and methodicly, a reel can save you or kill you, even if you have practice with it, things can go pear shaped, adrenilne and diving don't go well together.

So I'm not flaiming, if you want to check this out then awsome, do it, go get the training and the gear, get some dives in and go check it out, it'll still be there, whats stopping you? If you wanna do it go do it, step 1 in executing the dive is signing up for a cavern and intro class.

 

[ftwdiver14]

PSIBorg and I found those last year. It was very interesting to dive around them and I definately want to go back this year. They are some very large openings. We shined our lights in them and stuck in our heads but couldn't see anything. However, with my skills I had no intention of going in there. The curiosity is great to know whats in there and see it. I don't see that in the cards for me anytime soon.

 

[carrielsal]

 

[redacted]

Do you have electronic copies?

I do have a scanned copy of the area showing the water plant complex, but most it was leveled and some remnants are pretty hard to find. It is good for feature orientation but not location as there are few recognizable land marks. Willie (ScubaBoard - View Profile: Willie) and I did some mapping of the area a couple years ago and I have the map. Willie rigged a GPS in a float and I took him to various points to gather the data. I also made a schematic of the water plant area. Send me an email address and I'll send them to you.

The penetrable structure is below ground level. It looks likae an above ground floor was destroyed in preparing the lake. The structure is about 100 ft square with a single access point big enough to enter. I have been in only up to my ankles. Water inside tends to be clearer and I could see a cement support column about 20 ft inside the structure. There was a line running from the entrance to the support. Beyond that, my small light fell on nothing but a catfish swimming by. The ground inside was rubble sloping down at about 45 degrees, again to the limit of my light (20 ft). If you guys are interested, I can help you plan and provide some support for the dive. Willie is still on the board but not very active. He does have some cave qualifications so he might be interested in participating.

BTW, ankles is my limit and I have no desire to venture into cave certs.

 

[FIXXERVI6]

I do have a scanned copy of the area showing the water plant complex, but most it was leveled and some remnants are pretty hard to find. It is good for feature orientation but not location as there are few recognizable land marks. Willie (ScubaBoard - View Profile: Willie) and I did some mapping of the area a couple years ago and I have the map. Willie rigged a GPS in a float and I took him to various points to gather the data. I also made a schematic of the water plant area. Send me an email address and I'll send them to you.

The penetrable structure is below ground level. It looks likae an above ground floor was destroyed in preparing the lake. The structure is about 100 ft square with a single access point big enough to enter. I have been in only up to my ankles. Water inside tends to be clearer and I could see a cement support column about 20 ft inside the structure. There was a line running from the entrance to the support. Beyond that, my small light fell on nothing but a catfish swimming by. The ground inside was rubble sloping down at about 45 degrees, again to the limit of my light (20 ft). If you guys are interested, I can help you plan and provide some support for the dive. Willie is still on the board but not very active. He does have some cave qualifications so he might be interested in participating.

BTW, ankles is my limit and I have no desire to venture into cave certs.

I've been out there with Willie once before, but the vis was SO bad we couldn't find it

 

[redacted]

I've been out there with Willie once before, but the vis was SO bad we couldn't find it

I have been out to it quite a few times but I have managed to get so turned around in limited vis that I have missed it once or twice. On a good day, I used to be able to surface swim out to it and drop down close enough to be on it within a couple minutes; but it has been well over a year now since I have tried that. There is also a paved roadway with a fairly serious bridge to the NE of the tank in about 75 feet of water. I have seen that with 25+ ft vis but last time I was out there my light that I was holding out to see bottom as I descended disappeared in the mud before I saw it was the bottom so it can be pretty bad.

 

[texdiveguy]

I have a 'set of written directions to the pump house', never been myself, as a matter of fact have dove the lake only once. Would be willing to give this exploration a go when time allows, and after I have well tested some new gear I am waiting for to arrive---Geeeez

 

[carrielsal]

I have a 'set of written directions to the pump house', never been myself, as a matter of fact have dove the lake only once. Would be willing to give this exploration a go when time allows, and after I have well tested some new gear I am waiting for to arrive---Geeeez

Do tell...what is the new gear?

 

[texdiveguy]

Do tell...what is the new gear?

Few weeks back I ordered some of the new ds gators BARE introduced, have used them 3 separate times and love them! Also waiting on a new set of first and second stage, these I hope to give a test run and tweak them if necessary soon, have not yet arrived. Really not any big deals, like a scooter or such..... :depressed:

 

[FIXXERVI6]

How is the vis there in the warmer months? Due to the depth I'd prefer just taking a couple of aluminums vs hauling out the steels for it.