Diving Spring Lake
- Thread starter PeppermintPaddi
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It's a good reason to dive dry. You don't have to wear the banana suits if you're in a drysuit. 
Aquatrax
Contributor
Thanks Carrie!
I recently started diving dry and do not have the buoyancy worked out yet, better spare the sensitive aquatic environment until I get it dialed in.
I recently started diving dry and do not have the buoyancy worked out yet, better spare the sensitive aquatic environment until I get it dialed in.
driftwood
Contributor
You should dive with John and me. We will be more than happy to show you how much respect we have for the "sensitive" environment. Personally, I was shocked watching Ethan work in the lake the first time.
There are some areas that you need to be very careful. The top of the list is working in Weismeuller Spring. If you are not careful the north bank can collaspe into the spring. Another instance comes to mind as well. One of the staff divers "cleaned" Cream of Wheat with a scooter. He managed to blow all the sand out of the site. Guess who got to replace it.
The banana suits are something of a joke, but they do make divers more visible to the college aged, minimum wage boat drivers.
firemanjoe
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what types of research projects can you do at this site? Are there any attractions to it?
Aquatrax
Contributor
Scooter huh? More of the Nuke and Pave method. I guess Joe and I are going a little to easy on the site.
Haven't been sent into the Weismeuller end of the lake yet but thanks for the info, I will commit that to memory.
When you take the Diving for Science class, you learn about the aquatic critters and plants in the lake. There are various housecleaning jobs that need to be done, from cleaning the springs to plant removal. You learn how to do this in the class. When you come out to volunteer you are assigned a task.
Spring Lake is clear water with lots of fish and turtles. It's temp is 72 year round, so it's a great place for winter diving.
Carrie
OP
PeppermintPaddi
Contributor
Scubashawn123 has posted a couple of videos of diving Spring Lake. You can see the clarity, animals and plants. Never mind the 3 Stooges. It really is a great place to dive.
Life Aquatic Underwater Web Cam
driftwood
Contributor
Hi Joe,
The research projects that John and me have been doing deal with taking water samples from different springs for a grad student. That seems to have come to an end but there is talk about starting a more extensive water sampling program. In addition there is a prof at Texas State that has been tagging musk turtles for years and there has been talk about getting the science divers to do some of collection for him. I will not hang by the neck waiting for either program to happen.
The main attractions to Spring Lake is the incredible visibility, constant temperature year round, the springs and abundant fish. It is a rare dive that I do not see a 3-4# black bass, they follow you like puppies, or have vis less than 30'. Also, once you are finished with the class there are no entrance fees and when the personell is around, they will fill your tank aftter the dive. The money works out that after around 10 double tank dives is breakeven.
driftwood
Contributor
I did mention that incident as an example of how things can go wrong. Used correctly, the scooter do a great job on sites like Arch and Riverbed. But, "nuke and pave" pretty accurately describe our techniques for dealing with coontail. When we are done with a site, it looks like a desert if we did a good job. Not a problem since the mud in the lake is better than Miracle Grow. As a disclaimer, any divers new to the Diving for Science program need to be trained by more expierenced volunteers before they start tearing the place up.
Weismeuller is in the head waters and it is rare that volunteer divers are allowed in that part of the lake. Out of the hundreds of hours I have in Spring Lake, the time I have spent there is less than 5 hours. Very dangerous place to dive when the boats are operating. The site are smalll so you have to be very verticle to work in them and they can be very shallow (8-10'). Not much margin for error between you and the boat's prop. On top of that navigation can be a real bitch. You have to find a postage stamp in the middle of weeds that look exactly the same. The vis in the water may be 60' but the view through the plants cuts that down to 3' at times. John can find his way around the head waters, I cann't.
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