Dive Condition Reports

[texdiveguy]

Very nice weather today....70's in the afternoon. Was not as crowded as one might guess.

1.) 62 minutes,,,48ffw,,,48f,,,vis 20ft. in the area I was diving. Fish and even saw a good sized turtle. slung 50cf/50EANx

2.) 58 minutes,,,49ffw,,,48f,,,vis 20-25ft. Practiced for Adv. Wreck in the plane, and shoot bag and deco stops for practice.

 

[Dark Eternal]

Lake Travis - Windy Point
4/10

Surface was 63* and it stayed above 60* down to the platforms. Vis between 0-30 feet was poor mainly due to dozens of divers trying out drysuits.

35-70 vis opened up nicely 15' or so. Temps fell down to the mid 50s.

At 70' vis dropped to 5' and temp down to 52*. Vis gradually declined down to almost nothing at 160' and bottom temp was 49*.

 

[Zinc]

April 11, 2010
Lake Travis - Hippy Hollow
Air Temp: Warm 70's, overcast
Surface Temp: 62f
Depth Temp: 53f at Max 115'
Vis: 5-15 depending on depth
Lake Level: 681'msl = FULL POOL

Ianr33 & I headed to Hippy Hollow to see what's down there, hoping to find some grottos around 90'. Parking was no problem and we wheeled our gear about 1/4 mile to our chosen entry point. Along the way, we passed a half dozen naked old men w/ their junk on full display I think the whole day we saw perhaps 30 men to one woman... not exactly the ideal for two straight men, but we were there for the diving.

Once under, it seemed to take awhile to reach the wall, but once we found it, headed south b/w 90-115' depth. Visibility was pretty good, up to 15 feet b/w say 40-100'. Came across some small grottos but nothing really worth swimming into. Still the bottom topography was interesting and we had an enjoyable 1 1/2 hour dive.

The haul out was much more tiring even with the sidewalk. I'm glad we went and checked it out, but that's the last time I'll haul my gear to dive Hippy Hollow. Next I'd like to try diving by boat starting at Oasis wall and head North towards Hippy Hollow.

 

[James R]

Lake Travis - 4/11/10
1) Shaker Plant
Went down and along the wall rather than the rope tour route, nice dive, pretty good viz around 10' or so along the wall, less as we turned back the other way due to people stirring it up a little
52 degrees @ 84'

2 - Wreck alley
Two dives here, was a bit stirred up due to the class doing tasks and such (read: bouncing off the stuff and finning while in an upright posture). Viz was 6-10ish at best (out front, less in the back of the group).
54 degrees @ 73'

Good fun, though the weather was a bit misty and cooler than we'd hoped. Those of us in drysuits had it a bit better since we didn't get overheated up top. Thanks to Robert & Lake Travis Scuba for a good day.

 

[carlislere]

Dove to the dam on Sunday:
Water temp: 63 degrees at the surface, 56 degrees at 60 feet, 53 degrees at 105 feet.
Vis: 12-15 feet down to 105 feet depending on where I was. There was a murk layer at 50-55 feet about half way to the dam.

 

[Cap335]

I went out to Twin Lakes today and was pleasantly surprised,
Lake was full, 70F with 6 ft vis down to 18 ft, 62F with 15 ft vis @ 30 ft.
Topside was clean

Randy

 

[Zinc]

April 18, 2010
Lake Travis - Windy Point Park
Air Temp: High 60's overcast
Surface Temp: 64f
Depth Temp: 52f at Max 128'
Vis: 10-15 feet down to 36', 15-20 feet 36'-100', 10-15 feet below 100'
Lake Level: 681'msl = FULL POOL

LVX & I hit stair 1 at Windy Point Park. Vis is improving, particularly beneath the first thermocline at 36'. Thermoclines are noticeable by temp, but the vis layer's are still not clearly defined. I'm hoping the vis will continue to increase as the thermoclines stratify the water column.

Who knows, we might just hit 30'+ vis by next weekends Swamp Diver Campout

 

[psiborg1812]

Mansfield Dam, Lake Travis

Conditions: SEE ABOVE with what Zinc said, only with less viz, because our students STILL don't understand kicking above the bottom still stirs it up.

Some of the grates on the dam are open and the dam is running enough now that you can hear it well. AWESOME!

 

[LVX]

Where: Windy Point (Private)
When: Sunday - April 18, 2010
Deepest Depth - 121 ft
Dive Time - 46 minutes
Lowest Temp: 54 degrees
Viz: 10 at 120ft, 10-20 ft of viz from 40-80 feet

Thermacline at 35 feet and another around 60.

 

[Zinc]

April 23, 2010
Lake Travis - Shaker Plant
Air Temp: Warm 70's, somewhat clear skies above (distant thunderstorm)
Surface Temp: 66f
Depth Temp: 53f at Max 119'
Vis: 8-20+ We are in PEAK VIS SEASON!!!
Lake Level: 681'msl = FULL POOL

Met up with Oldschool, Carrielsal, Timeliner & K-valve at the Swamper Campout at Windy Point Park. We took a charter w/ Lake Travis Scuba out to the Shaker Plant. Surface conditions were perfect, but the best part was below...

After dropping down the mooring, I broke free early from the line b/c visibility was good enough to see the bottom (70') before we got to the monoliths. I could see 20+ feet horizontally along the floor at 70'; best viz I've seen this year at Lake Travis

K-valve and I left the line & headed for the wall where to my delight the pitch blackness of good vis beckoned us deeper. Vis started to diminish to less than 10' below 110', but still better than most times of the year. We bottomed out at 119' among the piles of large aggregate rock.

We encountered some great grottos and sections of the Shaker Plant I'd not seen before and the vis was best I've seen this year throughout the dive.

NOW is the time if you want to go out and catch the best viz in Lake Travis and there are a bunch of cool Swamp Divers camping out there this weekend!