Dive Condition Reports

[cindycycle]

Visited Deep Hole to clean away excess coontail.

The park is open so a couple of glass-bottom boats passed over.

Visibility was below average due to other divers in the water earlier that day.

Had a wonderful time as always in Spring Lake.

 

[driftwood]

Vis, could be better, the cutter boat was stirring things up
Temp, same
Spring Flow, 160cfs and holding

Five of us split into two teams and worked Deep Hole and Arch Site. The passage from
Deep Hole to Arch is clear and Arch Site is clean enough to now do a proper cleaning.

Note, the Aquarena staff have added another dive site to the list, Arch Site/ Kettleman. Kettleman is a small spring south of the dock along the west bank of the lake. Once all the plants are cleared, a good place for a "critter" hunt along the bank.

Happy New Years!

 

[James R]

Dec 31
Comal River - viz about 12-15, usual temp, lots of critters...nice way to end 2010 diving. Current is about the usual, clearing out the big clouds of crap we were stirring up flipping rocks and such over to look for mud-bugs.

Jan 2 - Lake Travis
1) Shaker Plant
The site still has the lines, though one new line leads to a wall near a grotto but with the viz at 10' it was hard for people to find.
So, yeah 10' viz and 58 degrees at 101'

2) Wreck Alley
We moored up at the upside down pool. We made our way to the houseboat, then to the trees, then back around to the park to visit the rest of the usual stuff. Viz in the trees was better than in the park, but still 10' at most. From the bottom of the trees the branches aren't visible with two divers' can lights. Still, not too bad for wreck alley.
10' or so viz, and same temps of 58 degrees at 97'

We had a great day. Thanks to all who came out today do dive with Lake Travis Scuba!

 

[carlislere]

Mansfield Park cove
Water temp: 59 degrees
Visibility: murky 5 feet
Max depth: 67 feet
Was going to dive at Dive Area, but the gate was closed and locked, so went to the boat trailer parking lot and dove the cove. Went to the far point and dove the grottos because my right ear would not clear below 67 feet. Saw a few catfish and explored the grottos.

 

[driftwood]

Spring Lake San Marcos, January 6

Vis, 50' and cloudy
Temp, Same
Spring Flow, 170cfs and holding

Nick had four of us clear the path from Deep Hole to Catfish in preparation for the next Diving for Science Class.

The deep passage from Deep Hole to Arch Site is clear, just to the left of a straight 270 compass shot from Fault Line. I cleared a path from the north corner of Arch Site to the Dock at a 330 heading. John and me cleared a path to Catfish Hotel from the Dock at a depth of 7'. When you hit the large patch of Arrow Root, start looking toward your 2 o'clock for the deep blue that is Catfish Hotel. The humps into/out of Ossified Forrest have been cleared.

After the dive, I talked with Nick about the scheduled demolition of the old Aquarena Center. The project was supposed to start this February. That has now been moved to August. We have at least 7 more months, and probably more, till diving is interrupted. Aaron had previously told me that the Diving for Science Program will be the last to be shut down and the first to start back up.

 

[cavemn]

Air Temp 64
Surface temp 59
Temp to 120' 58
Vis to 20' 3-5
Vis 20' to 70' 5-7
Vis 70' to 120' 7-10
Vis 123'+ 0-1 Milk Shake consistency

 

[Dave55]

Lake Travis - Mansfield Dam 1/8/2011

water temp 57 degrees. Lake has dropped nearly 2 degrees in the last 7 days.

visibility: 3-7 feet down to 60 feet

 

[texdiveguy]

Dove Clear Springs Scuba Park yesterday 1/8/2011......

I was the only diver in the park, Robert the owner was there, and open for business!

Water column temp. was 49F.

Vis was good.

 

[James R]

Lake travis - shaker plant & wreck alley.

Today, conditions were pretty tough. The AOW class from scubaland & two other divers braved pretty chilly water and even colder windy/rainy conditions!
air temp 44-47, misty rain and windy
Viz 1-3' at both sites to 101' & 57 degree water.

 

[Lake Travis Scuba]

Trip Report January 9, 2011 – Shaker Plant and Wreck Alley

The only people crazy enough to be at the lake today are scuba divers – Today, wet suit divers ruled! Outside air temps in the 40’s with rain, water temps around 58* and decreased visibility of 3’-5’ didn’t stop the Scubaland Advanced Open Water divers completing their deep an...d wreck dives, Anthony or our special guest, Ellen, from taking a dive.

The deep dive was completed at Shaker Plant, allowing the divers to descend the mooring line to the blocks and transit over the ledge following the guidelines through the site. While the students completed their skills, Anthony and Ellen toured navigation square before moving to the ledge and around the remnants from the plant.

Upon surfacing, the divers warmed up as best they could using the warm water poured in their wet suit and wrapping up inside the cabin to stay out of the wind. The boat was moved to Wreck Alley so they could perform the wreck module while Anthony and Ellen took a tour through the pecan trees.

The only people on the lake were scuba divers. No other boats, no sailboats, nothing. A tech class was being conducted by Paul Murphy at Windy Point, our divers were out for a boat dive. The Park Ranger just shook his head in amazement as we unloaded the boat and the divers departed for the day. Crazy divers!

Photos at: Trip Report - January 9, 2011