Moving to Austin

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JesseT

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Messages
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Location
California
# of dives
50 - 99
Hi everyone,

I'm moving to Austin from California. Can the Texas folks give me tips for fun diving in central Texas as well as off the gulf coast?

thanks
 
lake travis is the local diving

but you're better off just flying to cozumel
 
Fling Charters has weekend trips to the Flower Gardens, but runsongas nailed it, Cancun/Cozumel is a 1-1.5 hour flight away.
 
Get certified to dive in San Marcos at Spring Lake. Shallow at 29' max, but Carib vis before you start working. BTW, if I don't see a 5lb black bass on a dive, its a very rare day. Spring fed and 72 degrees year round.

You have four LDS's to choose form. Scubaland, Toms, Dive World and the Dive Shop in San Marcos.
 
Fling Charters has weekend trips to the Flower Gardens, but runsongas nailed it, Cancun/Cozumel is a 1-1.5 hour flight away.
It's between 2:15 - 2:30 to Cancun. 1:30 would be awesome though. Still a pretty short flight.
 
Cozumel is definitely an easy trip from Austin...but, the Flower Gardens is an amazing place to dive. Those trips are going to get blown out more often than something like Cozumel, but given that you're within driving distance, it's not to be missed.
 
Sorry, I just joined and saw this. I hope this info is still helpful to somebody.

I have 100s of dives in Lake Travis (about 30 in the last 2-3 months) and quite a few in other Texas lakes. Not counting tiny places (not really lakes) like Spring Lake or Athens, Travis has the best average vis. Due to the invasive zebra mussels, it's been noticeably better this year. Before classes get in, it's been around 15' above the thermocline and >20' below it. After classes, mainly at Windy Point Park, it can drop to 5' shallow.

Travis is currently 26' low, so getting in and out at Mansfield Dam over rocks can be iffy. At Windy Point Park, there are stairs all the way in and out. There's more to see at Windy Point, but it's $15 per person ($8/person after 3 PM) vs about $10/car at Mansfield. At Windy Point you can get cylinders filled, too (I think $10/fill).

Another good Lake Travis option is boat dives on the Giant Stride (LakeTravisScuba.com - Premier Scuba Diving at Lake Travis in Austin, TX!). You can treasure hunt Starnes Island where the party boats pull up and drunk kids lose their stuff.


In my opinion (and others'), Stillhouse Hollow Lake about an hour north of Austin has the 2nd best vis - on average.

There are other good dive sites such as volunteering for cleanup in the federally protected Spring Lake (San Marcos) and drift diving the Comal River (New Braunfels), both which are spring fed meaning clear, cool water.

I'm willing to answer questions or be a dive buddy most weekends (may be after a class).
 
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