Austin Area Newbie Diving

[Riff Raff]

Hello, all! I've just started my basic Open Water certification class at Tom's Dive & Swim in Austin and am having a blast thus far. We were going around in class seeing where everyone was planning to dive, with answers of Cozumel, Cancun, British V.I., St. Croix, and even Bali. The only destination I'm planning in the near future though is central Texas... Any suggestions for groups to go with for Austin area diving after class ends? Does anyone run a dive boat in Lake Travis or something like that? Just wondering where I should be looking for diving in the home area, apart from all the Flower Gardens trips and Cozumel expeditions.

 

[archman]

you don't need no stinking boats in Austin! Just pop on over to Windy Point or Mansfield Dam. Great diving at both places, although I'm mighty partial to Windy Point (prettier, more fish, more sunken stuff).

Canyon Lake isn't too far down the road from you, but Lake Travis is better so why bother! You can also get some sweet river dives out of the upper Comal River in New Braunfels. Snorkeling in the San Marcos river is great too... you can do that year-round.

 

[parrotheaddiver]

There is always someone at Travis on any given weekend. If you want to go just put up a post you will probably get a lot of posts letting you know who and when someone will be there. Just join in.

BTW welcome to Scuba Board. :dazzler1:

Hey Archman is Windy Point more expensive to get into than Mansfield dam area? :06: I haven't been to Windy Point in many years. I usually go to Mansfield dam or Canyon

 

[ZenSquirrel]

Deep Blue Scuba has a dive boat on the lake. Their
dive site has some sunken boats, toilests, fake
grave markers, a fire hydrant, platforms, and a wall
dive. It is kinda nice to go off the boat because:
1) I like hanging out on boats.
2) You don't have to deal with mud and sand.

Minus side:

1) You have to lug your gear down to the boat which is
further than walking down to the Manfield Dam entry point.
2) Close quarters if the boat is full (this could be a plus
depending on how attractive you think the people
next to you are. ;-)

If you wanna dive sometime, just send me a PM.

If you don't know, SCUBARACER and I are going to go
camp at CSSP this weekend. I think we have more room
if you want to come and if you will be done with your OW
by 5/7/2004.

Keith

 

[SCUBARACER]

Hey I'm down to dive!

 

[Riff Raff]

Hehe, thanks for the offer but won't be finishing up at the lake until 5/16 I believe. The Deep Blue diving boat sounds pretty good. I actually checked out their North location recently and was a bit put off by the one guy on duty who had apparently finished his own OW certification a day or two prior. Eek! But yeah, was looking for group expeditions like that for my initial newbie phase. Thanks for the info!

 

[PurduEE]

Hehe, thanks for the offer but won't be finishing up at the lake until 5/16 I believe. The Deep Blue diving boat sounds pretty good. I actually checked out their North location recently and was a bit put off by the one guy on duty who had apparently finished his own OW certification a day or two prior. Eek! But yeah, was looking for group expeditions like that for my initial newbie phase. Thanks for the info!

Oak hill scuba has some regular groups out at the lake during the spring/summer.

You can check their forum at www.oakhillscuba.com/phpbb2

In addition, I believe that pisces used to have (still has?) a summer dive club that dives out at the lake once a week.

 

[WaterWayne]

Any suggestions for groups to go with for Austin area diving after class ends?

Check out Austin Scuba Club. After subscribing to their Yahoo group forum, you'll have plenty of options, as well as great fun at the happy hours.

 

[Tx_Jeff]

Here a a few sites as well as pictures

http://www.duggandiving.com/maps.htm

http://www.deepbluescuba.com/mainpages/dbwheredive.htm

http://home.flash.net/~piscestx/windymap.htm

Fore treasure check Hippie hollow (on one of the deep blue scub maps, and Devil's Cove (if there are boats in there you might not want to dive here)
eck Hippie hollow (on one of the deep blue scub maps, and Devil's Cove (if there are boats in there you might not want to dive here)

 

[ae3753]

A lot of people meet up for night dives at Mansfield Dam on Wednesday.

Check out www.diveaustin.net as well.