Dive Condition Reports

[Timeliner]

Diangerfield State Park

Saturday Feb 14, 2009
Air temp in the low 50's with a Sunny sky and little wind.
Surface water temp 51 degrees bottom temp of 47 degrees.
Vis. was about 6 to 7 feet though you could see your buddy's bubbles from farther.
We saw just a few Bass

 

[bogrady]

Mansfield Dam, Lake Travis

Saturday Feb 14, 2009
Air temp in the low 50's cloudy and brief showers.
Water temp 55 degrees
Vis. was about 3-5 feet ... its coming back!
Saw my hand and my gauges, which for Travis lately was much more than I thought I'd see

 

[Zinc]

Feb. 15, 2009
Lake Travis - Old Scuba Park aka Wreck Alley
Air Temp: 60f Sunny w/ light winds
Surface Temp: 58f
Depth Temp: 55f at Max 51'
Vis: 1-3 feet to 40', 3-5 feet 40'-51'
Lake level down 27'

Dove the Old Scuba Park aka Wreck Alley aboard the Giant Stride w/ Lake Travis Scuba. Vis was 3-5 feet, but the existing lines made moving from wreck to wreck pretty easy. Nice day for diving!

 

[Zinc]

Feb. 21, 2009
Lake Travis - Windy Point Public
Air Temp: 60f Sunny and very windy
Surface Temp: 58f
Depth Temp: 55f at Max 70'
Vis: 3-5 feet to 60', 6-10 feet below 60'
Lake level down 27'

Very windy, rough surface conditions, lots of wind surfers at point.
They have now started putting out orange cones (50+) to designate vehicle area out on the point.

 

[Zinc]

Feb. 22, 2009
Lake Travis - Windy Point Private - GTTP
Air Temp: 67f Sunny & calm
Surface Temp: 58f
Depth Temp: 54f at Max 139'
Vis: 3-5 feet to 100', 1-2 feet below 100' although most of our bottom time was zero to 1 foot vis b/c of silt
Lake level down 27'

Tagged along w/ FIXXERVI6 & dive buddy while they worked to extend line on http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/texas-swamp-divers/200364-great-travis-traverse.html. They took the lead, putting down stakes then adding line, most of the time in zero vis. I tried to help out a bit by pounding on an existing stake w/ FIXXER's scuba hammer, and adding some line arrows pointing the direction of shore b/c I couldn't read my compass down there.

Surfaced around 6:30 to a nice sunset and very calm waters.
Good to meet some fellow Swamp Divers on a nice day for diving.

 

[Gillty]

Feb 22, 2009
Lake Elmer Thomas, near Lawton OK
Water Temp: 40-46F
Vis: 10-15ft from surface to 50ft; 15-20ft below 50ft of depth

It was a sunny and a bit windy. We didn't see very many fish but there were a couple of Blackhawk helicopters that flew over and you could hear some (big) guns firing from time to time(artillery training maybe???) over on the Ft. Sill side.

 

[Zinc]

March 1, 2009
Lake Travis - Windy Point Public
Air Temp: 63f Sunny w/ mild winds
Surface Temp: 60f
Depth Temp: 56f at Max 69'
Vis: 5-8 feet to 69'
Lake level down 28'

Parked out on the point (within the new park cones) and entered the water south of the second to last buoy looking south to the point, a bit north from the previous entries. Nice 73 min dive along grotto level. Vis was a bit less than previous weeks but was glad to see temps warmed 1 degree.

Bonus on this dive was finding a hard rock, swim through! Apparently K-valve and I had passed this before... he saw it, I missed it - Thanks for the reminder K-valve (went through it earlier today on side-mount).

Anyhow, it's a very short swim through, really just a rock ring. It is the equivalent size of a minor restriction as found in caves. I was barely able to squeeze through w/ doubles and a 40cf stage bottle in a dry suit. Fun dive!

 

[Phil_218]

3/3/09 @ 1145 hours

Air Temp= 75
Surf= 59
Temp at Depth= 57
Max Depth= 15'
Viz= 10-12'

Exposure protection used: Henderson 7/5mm jumpsuit, 6.5mm hood, 5mm boots and gloves.

Wes Cooksey Park is located just a few minutes south of Camp Wood, Texas on Hwy 55 at the Uvalde County / Real County line. "Lake Nueces" as it is locally known, is a dammed portion of the Nueces River. The water is spring fed, which provides cool water temperatures and good visibility.

This was my first dive in this location and it was a decent site. Marine life was limited, but supposedly they stock the river each year with Trout (I didn't see any). Lots of vegetation on the north side of river and near the dam, but cleared up after about 50 yards from the dam on the channel side (south). The depth is fairly shallow with the dam being about 3' and the max we found was 15'. The man working the campground stated a little further up river the depth gets between 17-19' even in these drought conditions. Not a bad local dive, but so far I don't see much reason to drive more than a couple of hours for it.

Wes Cooksey Park

 

[Zinc]

March 4, 2009
Lake Travis - Windy Point Private
Air Temp: 70f clear skies, mild winds
Surface Temp: 58f
Depth Temp: 57f at Max 69'
Vis: 6-10 feet down to 69'
Lake level down 28'

The lake is slowly warming & visibility is on it's way to improving. Lake (shallow) has warmed about 1 degree / week the last two weeks. Vis is getting better, although on this night dive, there was that foggy effect that wouldn't be as obvious in the daytime w/out lights. Thermocline layers will begin to build as the surface warms relative to depth, but are not yet defined b/c temps are still too uniform, but that's changing relatively quickly.

Best vis I've ever seen here is late March / early April, up to 40 feet:cool3:, before the summer sun begins producing algae, eventually clouding up the shallows. I'm really hoping that the low lake level and rains that are badly needed and hopefully coming won't spoil this window. Either way, we'll track it here.

 

[Zinc]

March 7, 2009
Lake Travis - Windy Point Public
Air Temp: 76f cloudy & overcast w/ medium winds
Surface Temp: 60f
Depth Temp: 57f at Max 70'
Vis: 6-10 feet down to 70'
Lake level down 28'

Nice dive along grottos in the middle section of the exposed point.
Went back to the minor restriction and placed a cookie on the shallow North/South line about 15' above the restriction. I will replace that cookie next time with a white cookie, labeled "R" w/ initials "Zn".