Anybody ever dive "rock hole" in East Texas?

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bluedart

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Messages
15
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Location
Lufkin TX
# of dives
0 - 24
Well I just started diving and since I find it coming up in most my conversations lately, I heard about a spot from some locals called "the rock hole".

Well my dive buddy and me went to check it out this evening and found a crystal clear pond about a 3/4 an acre. I asked my LDS if he has ever heard of it and he hadn't so I was hopeing someone here has.

We didn't get the chance to dive it since my buddy is my 13 year old son and I have to rent his BCD, but I promise to give a report when I do.
 
How deep is this pond? Can you take and post some topside pictures...also the GPS coordinates would be great.


Thanks in advance
Dave
 
No not the blue hole, the one I'm talking about is in the Davy Crockett National Forest.
 
One link includes "The Blue Hole no longer exists. Over the years, people trashed the site and it was finally drained and a fence was placed around the area," while the other seems to talk about diving it? :idk:

But he said "rock hole?" There is a Rock Hole ranch near Houston.

Whichever, I'm concerned about two newbies, one 13 yo, diving a remote hole with no adjacent support, possible fishing lines, etc.
 
Well I just started diving and since I find it coming up in most my conversations lately, I heard about a spot from some locals called "the rock hole".

Well my dive buddy and me went to check it out this evening and found a crystal clear pond about a 3/4 an acre. I asked my LDS if he has ever heard of it and he hadn't so I was hopeing someone here has.

We didn't get the chance to dive it since my buddy is my 13 year old son and I have to rent his BCD, but I promise to give a report when I do.

Unless you are a Shek prodigy I would recommend you NOT dive an overhead environment without proper training. And a 13 yr old dive buddy? come on
 
Forget I asked. Why is it that when someone post a question it turns into a lesson on moral judgment of Dive or not to Dive. You guys just keep diving your scuba parks and being part of mainstream society, I'll keep exploring a new underworld every chance I get. A safe dive is a well prepared dive, I've already learned this on Sam Rayburn with an encounter with a barbwire fence, Thank God for pliers. What makes this a overhead dive?
 
Okay, everyone, let's all take a deep breath and step away from the flaming darts for a bit.

The way I see it (and I'm no expert by any means), the suggestion to dive a new site and the subsequent concerns stack up like this...

Curiosity is great concerning new dive sites. I've checked out one or two myself (nothing great to report yet), but I can honestly say that I was nowhere NEAR the most experienced diver there. There were very knowlegable divers in our party, and we followed dive plans that relied upon their experience and expertise. Absolutely NO ONE dived outside their range of training, and the equipment used went well beyond what most of us routinely employ for most of our diving.

The concerns, if I'm reading between the lines accurately (again, I could be way off base) is that the location and description of this proposed site makes it a candidate for a sinkhole that could have significant subterranean involvement...read that "CAVE". The location is not too far from known karst zones, the perfunctory description matches a sinkhole, and the water is described as "very clear", which hints that it might be of spring origin. Hence, the suggestion of overhead environments, which can be a very sexy siren beckoning inexperienced divers to come play, and that's how people get hurt in a heartbeat.

I think what most folks are suggesting, therefore, isn't a "stay away" edict, but a "use all possible caution", and this probably includes the involvement of divers with the knowlege, training, and equipment who could lend a hand in safely checking out this new location and evaluating its suitability for divers of various skill levels. (I'm not one of those divers, though...I defer that distinction to others here on the board, many of whom would jump at the opportunity to participate in an exploratory dive.)

Bluedart, your profile suggests that, while you may be well trained for OW, you are still quite new to diving, and most of the other posters assume that your son is similarly experienced. I don't believe anyone is passing a "moral judgement", but there is reason to suggest caution in approaching this new site, and I (for one) don't think that's unreasonable.

Therefore, I suggest we start this discussion over. Is there a chance that we could come up with a happy middle-road approach to this thread?

(I'll get off my soap box now...)
 
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I never heard of it till I read your post. So I did a Google search and found a picture. Looks good in the picture. I will have to drive down there next year and check it out. Thanks for the post. It's always good to hear about a possible site around here.
 
My guess is that you will find something similar to Blue Lagoon where the water is slightly acidic so not much living there. Good luck and let us know how it goes.

Randy
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/perdix-ai/

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