Any warm deep lakes?

[Makushr1]

I am thinking about going to the Comal river this weekend, but I've been wanting to do a little deeper diving. I suggested lake travis to my friend but he said it would be way too cold. Any suggestions?

 

[texdiveguy]

All of your northern Texas inland water bodies have cooled down by this time of the year. I see by your bio you are new to diving, and I am assuming you have limited thermo gear. The river dive is good year round,,,,shallow/warmish/clear/wildlife. You can continue your diving skill devlp. and still have fun. Most lakes will reg. now a 6-7mil wet suit or dry suit for comfort. You can rent semi-dry or heavier wet suits (gloves/hood) from many shops. Keep diving thru the winter even if in a pool to keep active in SCUBA and work on skills.....you will be in better shape (dive wish) for those warmer spring time dives! Of course a trip south would be great also......for me I enjoy the challenges presented by cold water/weather diving.

 

[Tom Smedley]

The Coon River Pond...

 

[daniel f aleman]

Lake Amistad.

 

[Jay_SMART_Diver]

Dec 23rd: Lake Travis visibility is 5 1/2 to 6 feet with a very bright sun and the water temperature is 59 degrees.

 

[richerso]

It's been my experience that all of the lakes around the D/FW area to include Travis are somewhere between 55 F and 59 F at this time of year. I would not really recommend diving without anything less than a 5 mil suit, or 7 mil suit, or dry suit.

Having said that, I did conduct two dives recently in a full body 5 mil suit in 59 F water. I was reasonably comfortable throughout the ordeal except I did get cold towards the end of the second dive. The temp did prevent me from doing a third dive which I desperately wanted to do.

A dry suit is definitely the way to do cold water diving (anything less than 65 F); however, I do not recommend dry suit diving to new divers. My personal belief is that you must have at least 40 or 50 dives to even consider a dry suit.

The dry suit adds another task load to your operational requirements. It's a very important task too. Improper dry suit diving technique can QUICKLY lead to a run-away ascent; usually in a feet-first orientation which simply adds to diver disorientation and inhibits the ability to respond to the emergency. New divers are not prepared for dry suit diving. Even for experienced divers, I always recommend the Dry Suit Specialty course.

However, all is not lost. Before I was dry suit diver, I rented a semi-dry from the LDS. It wasn't too bad and it allowed me to dive in February. Consider renting a semi-dry. It's really not a bad option and it will allow you to dive cold water. You will still definitely need gloves and a hood though.

 

[CharlieSierra]

Do you think South Padre would be cold this time of year?
Anything within a 4-5 hr drive for me is good, and I can easily make SPI in 5 hrs. (4.5 if law enforcement is cooperative/not around).
I just got my OW and the weather turned cold on me. I'm itching to get in the water.

Chris

 

[Willie]

Anything within a 4-5 hr drive for me is good, and I can easily make SPI in 5 hrs. (4.5 if law enforcement is cooperative/not around) ... I just got my OW and the weather turned cold on me. I'm itching to get in the water.

Hi and welcome. I found myself in your position last September -- certified the end of August and itching to just go somewhere.

Four of us went out to Balmorhea and spent Fri & Sat night. We made 2 dives the first afternoon/evening and then 2 the next day before heading home early on Sun. Not very deep, but the clearest water I had been in at the time and lots of fish. Watch the board and you can plan on going when other scubaboarders are there.

Check here ​

for some pictures and a couple of videos I posted.

Not something you would want to do every weekend, but I thought it was well worth the long drive. We also made an afternoon trip into the mountains and to McDonald Observatory. Very nice side trip.

Willie

 

[merminge]

wet-willie

I checked out the web page for Balmorhea

http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/spdest/findadest/parks/balmorhea/

It looks like you need to bring your own air for fills. Is that correct?

Great movie by the way.

 

[Willie]

I checked out the web page for Balmorhea ... It looks like you need to bring your own air for fills. Is that correct?

We rented 2 tanks each from our LDS before we went. There is a dive shop within walking distance of the Park, but you need to call ahead of time and inquire about availability.

http://www.texasescapes.com/WestTexasTowns/ToyahvaleTexas/ToyahvaleDesertOasis.htm​

They only have so many tanks and they only do fills on Saturday or something like that. We decided to take tanks with us and not have to worry about it.

Great movie by the way.

Thanks, it was a lot of fun.

Willie