love the boards, had to join the crowd!

[Corsair]

Hi all. My wife and I are still pretty new to diving. We hail from the lovely little town of Decatur Texas. If you don't recognize it, don't worry, neither does a lot of the State. The nearest large cities are Dallas and Fort Worth. So far, we've been out to the marine sanctuary off of Key West and the Athens Scubapark (that's Athens, TX). Planning a dive off the TX coast in a couple of weeks. Anybody else on here from the North Texas area?

Thanks to everyone for making this the excellent information source that it is!

 

[TexasMike]

WOW! We're neighbors!!! =-)

I'm over here in Denton, and also dive Athens every so often. In fact, headed there this weekend if you'd like to buddy up.

I also participate with the ScubaDillos (www.scubadillo.org) out of Dallas and their meeting is tomorrow (Thursday 6/7). E-mail me if you need time/directions.

And we are doing a dive at PK this month if you wish to tag along.

--TexasMike =-)

 

[Natasha]

Welcome Corsair,
I'm sure you'll enjoy these boards.
I'll be moving to Pearland Texas in 2002. That's south of Houston. I'm looking forward to all the local diving.
Maybe we can all get together at some point and go down to Cozumel!
:sunny:

 

[Mario S Caner]

Welcome aboard Corsair, it's great to have you two here... has your wife registered yet?

Sea you in the Deep Blue!

 

[BetterLateThannever]

Welcome to the board Corsair. I haven't certified yet, but hope to soon. I expect I'll be spending a lot of time at the Athens Scubapark myself. Will probably be joining the Scubadillos as well.

Glad to hear you're coming Natasha. Texas is happenin!!!

Jimbo

 

[TexasMike]

Nice to discover that we are finding out who the true Texans are on this board!

Jimbo,

I'm headed to Athens this weekend myself if you'd like to meet up with me. I will probably be there over Friday Night so I can get an early start before o/w students start crashing the vis. I usually camp across from Dock 3 in the shade and have a white and yellow earth pimple tent. Or you can find me hanging out near Ron Carlo's RV.

I also patronize a LDS near you, Sand and Sea Scuba, on Walnut and Abrams (near Richland Collage). Good shop and some darn good instructors.

Do come to the Dillo meeting this Thusday. I will be a bit late since I have to attend a dive trip meeting at 7:00pm in Addison, but be sure to find Lilly Mack who will do a great job of introducing you to the rest of the crowd.

Hope to catch up with you!

--TexasMike =-)

 

[Iguana Don]

Hey guys,

I hail from just north of the Red River and get down there often, have relatives in D/FW. Pass through Denton on the way.

ID

 

[Corsair]

Been considering checking out the 'Dillos myself.

So far I've been really happy with Joe and Larry over at 2 Dive 4 at Royal and Stemmons. We've been looking at possibly going over to The Oasis on Hwy 380 between Denton and Decatur.

The wife hasn't registered yet, but she's not much of one to get online except for email. C'est la vie.

Thanks for the warm welcome guys!

 

[TexasMike]

For the moment, avoid The Oasis (a quarry between Denton & Decatur).

Though that is just outside of my town (within 15 minutes), I have been warned not to dive there due to 1) very primative conditions (no trees, sun cover, an just a few porta-privys), and 2) everyone that dives there gets an ear infection or worse. The quarry is "downstream" from a large cattle ranch and emu farm, so who knows what is going in there. While it would be nice to see some freshwater fish (Athens has none since he treats the water), I value my health over fun.

Rumor has it that it has been recently sold to Ocean's Window and we are hoping that some serious cash will be put into that place to improve it.

Athens is a better spot to go to. Lots of shady trees, an onsite dive shop for air fills or a quick gear repair, very friendly staff, and actually located within town so you can go offsite for a quick bite or get ice or other stuff. It is a bit expensive to dive there ($25/day) but you can purchase a season pass for $200.

Tonight is the Dillo meeting, and I will post any club doings for those who are intersted. And if you want to find me at Athens this weekend, let me know and I will tell you how to find me.

 

[Corsair]

Thanks for the warning on Oasis. I'll have to do some more research on that. Unfortunately I've got stuff going on tonight and this weekend, so the meeting and Athens won't work. You did say something about PK later in the month. That sounds doable.

BTW when and where are the Dillo's meetings regularly?