Dive Condition Reports

[Zinc]

March 8, 2009
Lake Travis - Oasis Wall
Air Temp: 78f cloudy & overcast; light winds
Surface Temp: 60f
Depth Temp: 56f at Max 72'
Vis: 6-10 feet down to 72'
Lake level down 28'

Surface on the lake was very calm all day.
Dove the Oasis wall from aboard the Giant Stride of Lake Travis Scuba.
The grottos are huge heading south! My buddy Neal, found what by appearance could be an extinct spring with a tube going back perhaps 12 or more feet, further than I could see. The tube is very small, impenetrable (don't try it); The best part is what we saw inside...
This tube has the first Speleothems I've ever seen in Lake Travis w/ a dozen or more 1 1/2 inch straws hanging from the ceiling.
Reminder for us all: If you ever see anything like this, please don't go poking in the hole and destroy these unique decorations, b/c they won't be back in our lifetime. Thank you.
Really liked the walls at Oasis, with nice shelves and that cool, blackness below. Want to explore this more...
Very cool dive!:cool2:

 

[Phil_218]

Canyon Lake, Ramp #1
9 March 09 @ 11:28 AM
Air Temp- 71
Surf Temp- 57
Bot Temp- 57
Visibility- 4'
Max Depth- 44'
Bottom time- 57'

Dive number 23. Lake level is still dropping, but visibility has improved from .5' in Dec to 4' today. At about 45' it became dark quick.

Exposure protection used: 7/5mm jumpsuit, 6.5mm hood, 5mm gloves and boots.
One buddy used 3mm protection and was able to dive for a while, but was able to dive only about 30 min. (After dive he stated he will be buying the 7/5mm)

 

[austinspace]

Lake Travis, Windy Point (private side)
15 March 09 @ 10:30 AM
Air Temp- 55
Surf Temp- 57
Bot Temp- 57
Visibility- 10'
Max Depth- 80'
Bottom time- 39'

Four Scubaboard'ers out for a couple of good dives today. First went left (south) from the staircase. Decent light to 50', dark below 60'. Went briefly to 80' with our lights on. Second dive went right (north) and stayed above 30'. Water temp was no problem - wore 5mm wetsuit with 5mm hooded vest under, and 3mm gloves.

Didn't rain, but the sun stayed behind clouds the whole time, so bit of a chilly surface interval.

 

[Zinc]

March 15, 2009
Lake Travis - Windy Point Public
Air Temp: 55f cloudy & overcast; very calm no winds
Surface Temp: 60f
Depth Temp: 57f at Max 73'
Vis: 10-15 feet down to 73'
Lake level down 27'

Lake was very calm. Really nice 10-15' visibility down to 73'. Considering the darkness below, I suspect that visibility may reach up to 20' below 75 feet or so...
Despite the weather forecast, the calm weather made it a really nice day to go diving.

 

[Zinc]

March 18, 2009
Lake Travis - Mansfield Park
Air Temp: 80f sunny; very calm, light wind
Surface Temp: 59f
Depth Temp: 57f at Max 109'
Vis: 10-15 feet avg. down to 105'; milky fog below
Lake level down 26.5'

Evening dive starting at the Dam. Dropped outside the jailhouse to 100' enjoying some remarkable 10-15' vis. Hit a milky layer of fog at 105'. Noticed some light layers developing @ 60' & 40'. Spent some time along the base wall (very nice vis!) and then up in the shallows @ 40' with 10'+ vis except for the occasional smoky cloud.

 

[Zinc]

March 21, 2009
Lake Travis - Windy Point Park
Air Temp: 80f partly cloudy; light wind
Surface Temp: 60f
Depth Temp: 57f at Max 80'
Vis: 8-15 feet down to 80'

Vis is good but spotty in places. Expect it to get better as surface temps warm.

IMHO now thru the month of April is PRIME DIVING SEASON in terms of both visibility & topside weather.
Main consideration is the 57f temp...

Favorite part of this dive... hanging midpoint on a telephone poll like tree (@ 20' tall) and being able to see the lake bottom and the top of the tree in ambient light around 65' depth:cool2:

 

[ianr33]

March 21st 2009
Jungle Gym,Mansfield Dam
Temp at Surface 60F,at 100 feet 56F
Vis. 0-30' good (20 feet) 30-70' O.K.(5 feet) below 70' miserable (1 foot)

 

[psiborg1812]

Lake Travis-Windy point-3/19/09
Surface temp in the 70's
bottom temp 56 degrees @ 120 feet max depth.
vis around 4' till after 70 feet, then dropped FAST to about 1'
wore a 3 mil suit and a hood, didn't have any problems. buddy of mine wore a 3 mil shorty and a 4 mil full suit and was toasty.

good dive, broke a personal depth record, we had some trouble in the grove, grabbed a tree and caused a silt-out. Said silt out made us lose each other for a few minutes, then we saw each other's lights and hi-tailed it outta there! kinda freaky when you don't know which way is up and can't see your gauges. On the plus side though i found a still working UK secondary light!

Canyon lake-Comal Park-3/20/09
Surface temp in the 70's
Bottom temp 58 degrees @46 feet max depth
vis varied from 3' to less than 1'
again with the 3 mil suit, had no problems with cold.

some overhangs and rock walls that were fun to explore, first time using and deploying a dive flag, thought that was neat. Also the overhangs went pretty far in some places, so we had to pay attention to where they were. Found a pair of sunglasses that are in good condition, cool dive!


Comal River from tube chute to last public exit. -3/20/09
surface temp in 70's
bottom temp 69 degrees @ 12' max depth
vis was amazing-around 6-7 feet!
no suit, just swim trunks, but didn't get cold at all.

This was the most enjoyable dive by far! We started out at the tube chute area and then drifted till we reached the last public exit. Only problem was the river maps which we read north-south while we were standing south-north, so we basically went the wrong way on the river and had to walk for a bit to get back to our cars. But it was totally the maps fault, not ours! The life in the river was great, saw several perch schools, loaches, crayfish, bass, and catfish. Sorry Guba we had to dive that day because of some family stuff going on with me! But we'll definitely be back and i'll let you know when!

Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir-Stillhouse Marina-3/21/09
Surface temp in the high 70's
Bottom temp 56 @ max depth of 47 feet
vis was good, 4 feet or better
3 mil suit again, no problems with cold
We explored the marina area and the other dive area from the "island." Thnk it would be a great place to take advanced students, especially for navigation or night diving. Used the flag again, saw several boats and a really weird hole looking thing on the bottom of the lake. Scared a few turtles and fish, found a pair of reading glasses and an old old beer bottle. good site! Didn't have to pay for parking because we told the front gate we were diving! Only thing we need is an area to camp out near the entry site.

 

[Zinc]

March 22, 2009
Lake Travis - Bob Wentz Park (WP Public)
Air Temp: 78f cloudy, overcast; windy
Surface Temp: 60f
Depth Temp: 57f at Max 83'
Vis: 8-15 feet down to 83' (under 5' at times)

Shallow vis was nice, but got very spotty b/w 40' & 60'. Cruised the line from the exposed peninsula north. Hit a few familiar trees and stumps, all with greater vis than previous encounters.:cool2: It wasn't consistent however, but still plenty of breaks to make you appreciate your actual surroundings.

 

[Zinc]

March 29, 2009
Lake Travis - Wreck Alley (Old Scuba Park)
Air Temp: 70 Sunny & calm; light winds
Surface Temp: 62f
Depth Temp: 60f at Max 48'
Vis: 8-10 feet down to 48'
Lake level down 27'

Dove Wreck Alley from aboard the Giant Stride of Lake Travis Scuba.
Really nice, calm, sunny day out on the lake. Water temps warming up. Visibility OK, 8-10'. Lots of particulate matter suspended in the water column, limiting visibility beyond 10'.