adder70
Contributor
Sounds like there may a couple of days of diving over Christmas.
I will definitely be going on Friday the 26th, and it sounds like some people, maybe including some Texas Swamp Divers, will be going Saturday as well. I may try to get to the Saturday dive.
Ideas for locations:
Ginnie: awesome dive, probably best overall, but steep for some ($27 per diver day); Multiple springs and runs, ultra clear water, and you can drift the Santa Fe and see some bigger fish (schools of mullet, gar, possibly even a gator). THe site says this is best in summer, though, so it may not be that great over Xmas. (just the drift part.)
Rainbow River (not the state park part): BEST VALUE BUT: requires someone with a boat, any boat. NOT NECESSARILY A BOAT FOR DIVING! Probably works best with a little john boat. You don't have to get back in. You just boat upriver and make your boat the dive flag. drift back down with the boat, and pull it over to the ramp. Then someone climbs in either before or after removing gear, according to their preference. There's a little private boat ramp that charges either $2 per boat or $2 per person, either way that's cheap. Lloyd Bailey's will have instructions to the ramp. I went a few years ago with Lloyd and a small group. There are lots of neat fish, turtles, etc the whole way, and really cool little boils everywhere.
Manatee: Inexpensive ($5 per diver) and decent facilities (no hot water if I recall, not sure of showers), but some consider it boring. (I like the fish, I could just hover and watch them all day, but I am weird, even for a diver!)
I will definitely be going on Friday the 26th, and it sounds like some people, maybe including some Texas Swamp Divers, will be going Saturday as well. I may try to get to the Saturday dive.
Ideas for locations:
Ginnie: awesome dive, probably best overall, but steep for some ($27 per diver day); Multiple springs and runs, ultra clear water, and you can drift the Santa Fe and see some bigger fish (schools of mullet, gar, possibly even a gator). THe site says this is best in summer, though, so it may not be that great over Xmas. (just the drift part.)
Rainbow River (not the state park part): BEST VALUE BUT: requires someone with a boat, any boat. NOT NECESSARILY A BOAT FOR DIVING! Probably works best with a little john boat. You don't have to get back in. You just boat upriver and make your boat the dive flag. drift back down with the boat, and pull it over to the ramp. Then someone climbs in either before or after removing gear, according to their preference. There's a little private boat ramp that charges either $2 per boat or $2 per person, either way that's cheap. Lloyd Bailey's will have instructions to the ramp. I went a few years ago with Lloyd and a small group. There are lots of neat fish, turtles, etc the whole way, and really cool little boils everywhere.
Manatee: Inexpensive ($5 per diver) and decent facilities (no hot water if I recall, not sure of showers), but some consider it boring. (I like the fish, I could just hover and watch them all day, but I am weird, even for a diver!)
