How Do I Join???

[durangodiver]

Hey everybody!

I just joined the forum and found this board. I live in San Marcos (20 min from Austin) and have been looking for a club to do some diving with around here. If you guys are accepting memberships, how do I join?

Thanks,
Adam

 

[TexasMike]

All ya gotta do is just show up for a dive where there are at least 1 other TSDT member available.

As explained at the Memorial Day Lake Travis dive, the club is a very relaxed one with the goal of helping other divers around the state find good people to add to their personal teams, and to dive as often as possible. We are also promoting diving enjoyment versus getting bogged down in group politics.

Any team member can announce a dive weekend and invite any and all members and guests to join in. And there are plenty of experienced folks to help the person announcing the dive weekend so that it is ensured that all who attend have a great time.

See the recent "Austin, TX" thread for a list of divers who are in the Austin area. I'm sure any one of them would love to meet up with you.

And if you every up this way (Dallas/Ft. Worth) let me know and we'll get the North Texas team together with you at one of our local mudholes.

--Mike

 

[-=>Larry<=-]

I was at Aquarena yesterday volunteering with the folks there!

If you're already quailified - I come back about every 2 weeks or so. - and I'll be glad to dive with you

Otherwise - Lots of us dive Lake Travis - somebodies out virtually every weekend.

In the meantime - just act like you're a member anyway! - Most of us won't notice!

 

[durangodiver]

Hey Larry!

I'm taking the scientific diver course this weekend at aquarena. I'm really looking forward to it as I've visited aquarena many times and have always been amazed at the clarity of the water there. What have your experiences been with the diving there and the initial class? I'm doing Lake Travis (central tx swamp) Thursday afternoon with some of my family, but I'm not sure where we're going yet...probably either windy point or mansfield. I'm really excited about the aquarena class, what kind of dives do they have you make there for the volunteer work. How difficult was the class?

Thanks,
Adam

 

[-=>Larry<=-]

One of the better ways to find Info on this board is to use the "Search" feature!
I jsut did one on Aquarena - to local two of the message chains that were "better" in my opinion!Scienfic Diver Course Discussion
and
I got to do SCIENCE at Aquarena

As per the present - the vis is relatively miserable at about 25 feet - I'm not sure that's whether I was later in the day and people were doing stuff there - or because there's quite a bit of algae around that normally is cleared off by now [Mind you - a good day at Travis is ~10 feet!]
Difficulty of the class - not very! - - most of it is education - don't take stuff out [TX Antiquities site] and don't kill the fishies [endangered species area] - - see You've got it! - - - on the other hand - the diving test is a bouyancy course, that's not so easy, but is still quite workable!

Good Luck!

 

[durangodiver]

Hey Larry:

Thanks for the great info. I don't think I'll have any trouble passing the course, and am ready to go. Also, if you need a buddy during the week, let me know and I can probably swing something.

Thanks,
Adam

 

[-=>Larry<=-]

[ and maybe myself too! - Dove with BillP before SCUBABoard was and have tended to eat with divers rather than dive with them ??????]

I was going out to Aquarena this morning with a couple of friends from church - and I invited Adam to join us. I'm jealous - He lives about 5 minutes away and can also sometimes flex his time to get in a dive!!

In this dive - the 4 of us were sent up to the headwaters to clean up "Crater Bottom" and "Weismueller" [sp?] - Vis was pretty nice up there, at least before we started working! Pulled a bunch of hydrilla & finned out Wesmueller also. Adam [DurangoDiver] & I surfaced to find each other just as the first boat started out - and as the new rules say "No Divers in the boat path" on weekends - we scooted to the side then finned back to Diversion where I & one of my friends watched darters & snails till air & time were low.
[Strange - Vis closes in to 20-30 feet about here?]

When we came up - one of my friends got to run back to Austin with some sort of family emergency - So Adam & I did the second dive ourselves. This one was a cleanup / happy cruise around "Excavation". Wow! - This ones been cleaned so well, it actually looks like it's been worked lately. We got a fair bit of the RESIDUAL hydrilla in and around the site and jsut straighted up a bit. The other slightly different bit of this was that they had us enter downstream from normal & swim directly across to the site [avoiding boats again!] - No big deal, a bit of a hike & a new area to swim across. - - Got to have a standoff with a Swan on my exit - but he was happy just to hiss as I tippytoed past way to the side!

Overall - A nice day! - Thanks Adam!

 

[TexasMike]

And welcome to the Team, both of you!!!

Next time I know I'm headed down your way, I'll be sure to inform ya.