Lake Travis NY Dive Report

[-=>Larry<=-]

Four Brave Souls gathered at Mansfield Dam at noon today and we had our New Years Dive!

I was a little disappointed not to see many of the names from the Central TX TSDT I was looking for, but the group from my LDS was properly festive.

I was diving in my 5/3 fullsuit & Carol P :gorgeous: , whom I buddied with was in similar. Got to try out my Xmas presents, new boots and AvantiQuattro fins. Ron Carlisle [carlislere] & Tony G were having fun in rather new-looking drysuits.

The day was beautiful - got up to ~65 degrees and lovely sunny with precious little wind to stir up my cedar fever [a rather nasty local alergy for many of us!]. Ron brought out hot apple cider, chips & dip and peanuts!

Oh yea, the dive..... :cold:
Carol & I did a max depth of 51 feet for 50 minutes. I should note the 51 feet was going down looking for visibility, we lost each other twice - so decided to just hang in the 20-30 ft regions, and I literally kept a grip on her BC so as to not get separated again! [Temp = 61 degrees, vis maybe 5 feet!]

A good time - but I think I'll be going back to Aquarena for me next few dives. [Maybe not though, Ron asked me to be a student for Carols ITC :dunce: ]

Ron & Tony went back for another, while Carol & I left to go back to pulling down the Xmas lights, etc.. - - I'll let Ron describe what they did. Will try to add some pictures tomorrow.

 

[Dee]

Our Chilly Armadillo Dip went about the same way. We had 4 divers...ScubaTexasTony, TPH, Beast, and Homey. Water temp was 56º and air temps around 65º with a light breeze.

There were several attendees too smart to get in the cold water, ut: , ScubaPup, Grandbaby Ryan and daughter Jody, Steve's Debbie brought some excellent blackeyed peas for luck, ChrisPete and his most fabulous Chai Tea and hot chocolate, Homey's Lisa and two kids. A good group!

Mike, the owner of TL, surprised us with a Texas sprad of smoked brisket, ham and turkey, potato salad, dressing, sopa pias, cheesecake....way to much food.

A very good start on the New Year!

 

[carlislere]

Happy New Year, gang! As >Larry< said the day was beautiful for our NYD dives. Tony G. and I wore our new White's Aqua Pro drysuits for the occasion. We dove up towards the dam on the first dive. We made it to 69 feet and the temp was 57 degrees down there. Vis a 2-3 feet, but we saw quite a few fish at depth.
After a 2 hour surface interval, we moved over to the cove area and dove from the nearside point back into the cove. We looked for an old wreck, but did not find it. There were lots of catfish in the cove, however.
We all had a great time. Looking forward to getting back out there with my Polar Bear ITC class later in the month.

 

[Cave Diver]

Dee once bubbled...
Our Chilly Armadillo Dip went about the same way. We had 4 divers...ScubaTexasTony, TPH, Beast, and Homey. Water temp was 56º and air temps around 65º with a light breeze.

Looks like we shoulda hung out closer to home. TxDeepDiver myself, and another buddy made the drive up to CSSP where we met up with Poseidon. Passing through the numerous small towns on our way, we noted the temperature... In the mid 50's when we left home, dropping into the low 40's as we moved further north, then we saw recorded temps of 32, then 30, 29, and finally a low of 28 just outside of Tyler... Brrrrrrr.

Driving down hwy 429 heading to the scuba park we noticed a thin layer of ice on some of the standing water in the roadside ditches and a considerable amount of frost in the fields. Not a good sign I think to myself.

Well, we didnt just drive 5 hours to wimp out now, so into the drink we go at about 9:45.

First thought after I jumped in: Holy **** it's cold!

We descended and found the bottom to be pretty wiped out. Suspect that it was stirred up from a couple of guys with scooters that got in just before us.

We ended up finding a max depth of about 50' and did a 45 minute dive. I finally called the dive because my hands were going numb from the cold. My computer showed a water temp of 45 degrees.

Okay, that's enough polar bear diving for me until I get some polar mittens. Poseidon dove bare handed, but called his dive a little earlier. He started with a less than full tank and surfaced when he hit his reserve mark. Still don't know how he managed to keep his fingers from falling off tho...

 

[-=>Larry<=-]

For my convienience - I ended up putting the pictures on DiverLink - Here's the Reference - Picture Post on DiverLink

Noting my absence - I'm the gear loaded Blue Ranger & the wet spot closest on the picnic bench - thus supporting my claim that I really was in the water!

All the best for the New Years!

 

[carlislere]

I should have taken a picture of you while I was looking over your camera yesterday! Cool pics, Larry!