Balmorhea Trip Report April 4-6, 2008

[ScubaTexan]

I think I just had an aneurysm ......

No, that was a conniption...

 

[jeffro360]

newbie to Balmorhea here.... but just wondering where/how far the closest air fill station is?

heading up there for an april 17 trip.

 

[scubabum2]

Air fills are really close, just down the road a short ways.

I believe the dive shop has a new name - it was in mentioned in Rodales a couple of months ago, but here's the website of the old dive shop.
Toyahvale Desert Oasis, the San Solomon Springs Outfitter

 

[Debraw]

Go out the front gate, make a left and there it is. We brought all of our own tanks so I did not use the shop but it is still there.

 

[cruiser]

The ones in your first post were a teaser and made me want to see more

 

[amascuba]

Great report. Balmorhea is really a great spot to just get away from it all, do a couple dives, and see some awesome scenery. You're absolutely right about the stars. With the lack of light polution it gets very dark there and the stars just light up the sky. You definitely don't see stars like that in a city.

Troy and I headed out Friday around noon and made it into Balmorhea around 7pm. We unloaded our motorcycles and took a scenic sunset ride through the Davis mountains to Fort Davis and had dinner and a great mexican restaurant in town. We drove back into Balmorhea ( about 32 miles each way) around 9:30pm and it was the best motorcycle ( as a rider and a driver) EVER. The sky had a million stars, there was no wind, and no traffic. It was surreal and I swear I felt the earth spinning as the sky stood still. You just don't see stars like that in the city.
We woke up early Saturday morning and had breakfast at the local truck stop near the highway. We got our dive gear together in the late AM and did a 30 minute dive in the "pool". It was great, water temp was 75 and the sun was shining. Water was clear, fish were plentiful. We got some great video of the wild ducks diving to the bottom of the spring searching for food. That was pretty coo, I had never seen a duck underwater before, eating. They stay down a LONG time. There were lots of pup fish and minnows. It was a great dive and I will post pictures. We will also post a video on the new scuba video channel also and leave a link in this thread.
Later that afternoon we got back on the bikes and headed to the McDonald observatory. They have a new telescope and we took the tour of the smaller one but skiped the tour of the larger one. Troy and I hit the snack bar for water and ran into a very nice group of women who were driving and bike riding around the country since Feb 14 and were headed to San Diego. Once we cooled off we headed into Fort Davis for dinner at the The Chuck Wagon and ice cream at the Caboose next door. It's right across the street from Fort Davis historical site. We were treated to a DPS officer pulling over people one right after another, it's 30MPH in Fort Davis, they are not kidding. Another fantastic Motorcycle ride back down the mountain, through Wild Rose pass, into Balmorhea. The weather was great so we relaxed behind the San Soloman court motel and took in the sunset, cool evening air and chatted with a very nice couple from Canada who were really enjoying their tour of the SW. Today we got up packed up the scuba gear, the motorcycles and drove back home. It was a great weekend and Troy and I are really looking forward to more "ride and dives" over the next year.