List your favorite Texas dive sites....

[bogrady]

Jim,

Be sure to stop at Oak Hill Scuba before you head to Windy Point. Mack and Justin run a great shop. We moved from NY to Oak Hill 10 years ago. I think there was still at least one ranch someplace in town, but its sure enough gone now! I'll be in China that week or I'd offer to join you.

 

[Guba]

My list of favorite Texas sites (But then, I haven't made ALL the dive spots in Texas--that's my goal! Lofty, isn't it?) In no particular order...

Flower Gardens/Stetson Banks National Marine Sanctuary--Absolutely wonderful! But then I'm biased. I liked it so much I became a volunteer for the FGBNMS. Of course, the oil platforms in and around the NMS are great, too.

Lake Possum Kingdom--Scuba Point is okay, but if you can get a boat and get closer to the dam, the vis clears up markedly. Governor's Cove is a good location, as is the wall around mile marker 12.

Comal River--this is unique. Shallow (a tank lasts a LOOONG time) but clear and warm. Great drift dive...try getting THAT in Texas! Plus there are all those 'tubers' to pop up next to and surprise. Lots of "treasure" along the bottom too, dropped by tubers. : )

Aquarena Springs: again, shallow, but what vis! 100 foot is not uncommon. Lots of unique aspects as well, including the oldest continuously occupied archaeological site in Texas. Watch out for the glass-bottomed boats, though. WAVE as they pass overhead!

Balmorhea St. Park--Extremely clear (as long as you can get around the training classes. Still, with water bubbling up, it doesn't take long to clear if it should be silted up.

Lake Travis is good. Enjoyed my certification classes there.

CSSP (Terrell, Texas) is a pretty good dive. Best aspect there are the friendly folks running the place. A very enjoyable place to get underwater.

(Nearly Texan...Lake Elmer Thomas is only a half hour or so north of the Red River on the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge. Good vis and quite a bit of fish life. Most of it is shallow (20-35 feet), but near the dam it's nearly a hundred feet deep. No real amenities, but there's plenty of room to spread out even if there is a class there.

I look forward to diving the other sites everyone has suggested. See ya'll underwater!

 

[ahanin]

[GOOGLE]Flower Gardens[/GOOGLE] and Blue Lagoon - I love the muck diving!

 

[outback]

Behind the waterfall at Joe's Crabshack on the Comal! 2 minute dive, but a buzz!

 

[texspeleo]

There are a lot of cool Texas dive sites. I lived on Lake Whitney for five years, and particularly like Soldiers Bluff and Walling Bend Parks. Another Texas secret in Stillhouse Hollow. I haven't been since 2003, but we consistently were gettin 20-25' vis in the winter and 10-20' in the summer. There's a nice dive site next to the big marina north of the dam, and some control room remains that are fun to explore in about 40' of water, and some old bridge remains, if you follow an old road bed into the channel towards the dam from the marina. Stillhouse has great blue water and a fair amount of hydrilla. The channel cats will swarm you if you bring them some treats. The Comal is a really cool night dive. Bioluminescent catfish, fresh water prawns, just to name a couple highlights. Oh yeah. There's a Seiko 300m Diver somewhere deep off of Mansfield Park in Lake Travis (left it there in '92), but you'll need some special gas to look for it. That's the last time I dove with a two piece watch band. Nice thread!

 

[FAT BOY SCUBA]

Although most all of my favorite Texas dive sites have already been listed........ here is a Texas dive site no one has mentioned:

Hamilton Pool:


Hamilton Pool formed when a cave over an underground river collapsed thousands of years ago leaving a large waterfall spilling over a large open cavern. The pool is located where the Pedernales River and Hamilton Creek join in southwest Travis County near Austin.


We dove Hamilton Pool for my dive club Underwater Explorers to see if we wanted to have a club outing there or the San Marcos River. We dove both this weekend and San Marcos River got the nod again however, this is a pretty neat dive and I think worth the trip. It may be the most scenic place I have ever dove in Texas and your non diving friends will enjoy the time on the surface while you are diving. There was not a lot to see underwater besides turtles, catfish and some perch but hey, that's Texas diving.


The visibility was 10' over all opening up to maybe 20 in places. The bottom is covered in silt so stay off it and your viz will be decent. It is a fairly large pool so even with a dozen divers you will not be in each others way. We went in Feb so we had the place to ourselves. I can see this place teaming with swimmers in the summer time so this may be better suited to early and late in the year diving. Be sure to call (512-264-2740) before you go as they do close it to swimmers from time to time. The cost was five bucks per vehicle and the parking lot is sized for 75 cars, when all spaces are taken, cars are held up at the gate until a space opens I am told. You don't want to try to dive here with that many people in the pool anyway and it will not be a problem if you go early or late in the year as we did. The nearest air fills are in Austin so take all the tanks you need. There is nothing here to eat or drink so bring all that with you as well. There are some decent bathrooms to change in. The hike to the pool in just over an 1/8 of a mile down a path which is not bad but the hike back up in full scuba gear is a little tuff so be prepared for that too. When we were there they were in the process of making a nice service road to the pool from the parking lot for the employees to use. This may be completed and would make the trip walking to and from the pool a lot better.


Hamilton Pool is located about 30 miles west of Austin on FM 3238. From SH 71/U.S. 290 junction southwest of Austin, take SH 71 about 81/2 miles to FM 3238 (Hamilton Pool Road), turn left and travel about 13 miles to the preserve. The entrance to the 232-acre preserve is on the right.

 

[jac]

under the train tracks, rio vista park, san marcos river. when a train's going over!

 

[underwasser bolt]

in the dfw area, athens can't even compare to cssp. athens has no life, is clay bottomed, silts out quickly; facilities are OK. cssp has much better facilities, in my opinion, vis is better, there is abundant life; both have about the same number of wrecks/sites underwater to explore. I doubt i will ever return to athens after diving cssp.

 

[ftwdiver14]

I got certified at Athens Scuba Park in June. I like that they have so many things to search for and find there. However they need their platforms off the bottom, during my open water cert. it got so murky we couldn't see much. Actually it was my instructers doing. He had us all stay down waiting for our turn with a class of 10 and it was tough (as newbies) to keep our fins off the bottom there. I will go back there though.

Last month we went to Blue Lagoon, I loved the clear water there but they need more to look for. We just found 2 boats and a bucket 2 times by accident in Lagoon 1. Next time we will dive Lagoon 2.

This past weekend we went to Clear Springs. We didn't fing the airplane but we did see the shark. I guess now we need to go back and find the coffin...not to use though :11:.

Next month we are thinking about Windy Point at Lake Travis. Has anyone been there lately? Looking at their map they seem to have quite a bit to look for.

 

[darthvader]

Next month we are thinking about Windy Point at Lake Travis. Has anyone been there lately? Looking at their map they seem to have quite a bit to look for.

Windy Point Park is a cool place to dive Lake Travis. The MAP should be taken with a grain of salt, but the depths are accurate enough if you put in the right lake level.

If you want to find the Pinto, you need to do so on your first dive, since everything else is in shallower water. Here's how to find it. Use staircase #1. The chain shown on the map no longer exists. Instead, go on snorkel to the flat rectangular platform floating West of stair #1. Descend down the line to the large sailboat. Then go on compass heading West (away from the bank) until you reach the right depth. You will cross a ledge that runs roughly parallel to the bank. Then turn South (left), following the ledge, but staying below it. You will definitely need a good dive light for this dive! It is like a moonless night dive down there, even on a bright sunny day. For your ascent, just head East (uphill) towards the bank, and you will very likely run into some fun stuff to look at while doing your safety stop.

I'm told that South of the Pinto there is a Pecan grove. There are also some misc trees in the deep water, so it is best to ascend along the bottom toward the bank rather than attempting a free ascent (which might get you tangled in tree limbs).

They have air fills there for about $6, and they have some drinks and snacks, but if you want a real meal, bring it with you. They have overnight camping, and it's common to see a class of newbies camping out in anticipation of doing their certification dives.

I'm told that ownership of the park is to change hands in mid-September. I'm uncertain as to what will happen to the park after that.