Met Shaggie and headed out for a planned first dive at Canyon Lake followed by a dive at the Comal river. I needed a fill which we got at a shop in San Marcos on the way out for $7. We found out from the shop that North Park where we intended to dive was closed for the winter but we drove by to make sure. Closed. The website says it will reopen on March 1, 2006.
We went around to the other side of the lake to a boat ramp and it looked pretty good from the shore. Connected my reg to the same tank I had used for the two dives on Sunday at Travis and just refilled in San Marcos. It had a pretty serious air leak we traced to the valve. Switched to the other tank I had brought and it only had 2400 psi. Shaggie decided to let me use his second tank which contained 2750 and we suited up.
The plan was to go out the boat ramp on a heading to 60-80' and then head along the shore until 1500 psi and turn back and move a bit closer to shore and a bit shallower for the return trip. We made a surface swim out a bit and dropped down to around 10' and gave each other the OK. Shaggie had been here before and was our navigator for the dive.
At 10' vis seemed alright, but at 68' where we leveled off it was more like 3'. And we both had good lights. At one point I checked my air and looked back up and couldnt even see Shaggie. He had his light shining away from me and when he panned it back to my side I could barely see it. I couldnt have been more than 4' away. The bottom was fairly silty and we were staying about arms length above it most of the time. Didnt see much. 1 catfish that was 3-4' long and the occasional can or stick. Temp at 68' was 55 deg.
We turned the dive and very gradually moved shallower along the shore as we headed back. Vis was maybe 6' on the return after we got above about 30'. Quite a few stumps and remnants of downed trees along the shore. Shaggy found one rubber worm, but not much else of interest. We decided to head to the surface and check our position and we were about 30 yards from the boat ramp. There was a small boat getting ready to launch and we swam back on the surface.
Back at the car and unloading I am thinking that I was glad Shaggie was such a good navigator. At depth the combination of poor vis and lack of corrective lenses made it impossible for me to read my compass or my depth guage. Every now and then with just the right angle of the flashlight and squint I would get a depth reading. I could make out my air because I knew the colors. Shaggie comments 'not much of a dive was it?'
It was good to meet Shaggie and finally get a dive in with him and all in all I enjoyed the dive. We had tried to get together on a couple of other occasions but it never worked out.
Got a hamburger and headed down river road to New Braunfels. We needed to get an air fill and headed to a dive shop I had found on the internet. They werent doing fills that day, but directed us to a different shop that would be able to give us a fill. Turned out that shop was closed. So the Comal dive will have to wait for another day.
Willie
We went around to the other side of the lake to a boat ramp and it looked pretty good from the shore. Connected my reg to the same tank I had used for the two dives on Sunday at Travis and just refilled in San Marcos. It had a pretty serious air leak we traced to the valve. Switched to the other tank I had brought and it only had 2400 psi. Shaggie decided to let me use his second tank which contained 2750 and we suited up.
The plan was to go out the boat ramp on a heading to 60-80' and then head along the shore until 1500 psi and turn back and move a bit closer to shore and a bit shallower for the return trip. We made a surface swim out a bit and dropped down to around 10' and gave each other the OK. Shaggie had been here before and was our navigator for the dive.
At 10' vis seemed alright, but at 68' where we leveled off it was more like 3'. And we both had good lights. At one point I checked my air and looked back up and couldnt even see Shaggie. He had his light shining away from me and when he panned it back to my side I could barely see it. I couldnt have been more than 4' away. The bottom was fairly silty and we were staying about arms length above it most of the time. Didnt see much. 1 catfish that was 3-4' long and the occasional can or stick. Temp at 68' was 55 deg.
We turned the dive and very gradually moved shallower along the shore as we headed back. Vis was maybe 6' on the return after we got above about 30'. Quite a few stumps and remnants of downed trees along the shore. Shaggy found one rubber worm, but not much else of interest. We decided to head to the surface and check our position and we were about 30 yards from the boat ramp. There was a small boat getting ready to launch and we swam back on the surface.
Back at the car and unloading I am thinking that I was glad Shaggie was such a good navigator. At depth the combination of poor vis and lack of corrective lenses made it impossible for me to read my compass or my depth guage. Every now and then with just the right angle of the flashlight and squint I would get a depth reading. I could make out my air because I knew the colors. Shaggie comments 'not much of a dive was it?'
It was good to meet Shaggie and finally get a dive in with him and all in all I enjoyed the dive. We had tried to get together on a couple of other occasions but it never worked out.
Got a hamburger and headed down river road to New Braunfels. We needed to get an air fill and headed to a dive shop I had found on the internet. They werent doing fills that day, but directed us to a different shop that would be able to give us a fill. Turned out that shop was closed. So the Comal dive will have to wait for another day.
Willie
