nice day on Travis

[shaggie]

Hello again everyone! Just thought I'd post a quick report about Windy Point on lake Travis.
It was a beutiful day to be on the lake. I got there at 9am and thought that surely more people will show up and take over all the empy benches. Turns out, I was wrong! The weather was warm, sunny and calm. My bud and I dove from the stair 3 and did a surface swim to the south boundry of the park. We dropped down to 75ft on the wall. From there we went down to about 100ft and wound our way through the trees between 85 and 100 ft. The water temp was 60deg. and the vis was much better than two weeks ago. It was good enough that we didn't have to bump into branches to find out there was tree there! I wasn't going to do this (lest anyone decide to take a long drive based on my report) but MY estimate is that it was 8-12 ft. There is a pretty hard thermocline at 60ft and the rain we got earlier in the week I think helped water out some. Even closer to the surface, the vis wasn't horrible, partialy due to the lack of OW classes I think.
We did a second dive from stair 1 and dove north outside the park again. We kept it mostly shallow, around 20-45 ft and seen lots of nice size fish; carp, drum, cats, and something that looks like a really big shad. Found some sunglasses, a crescent wrench and a post level.
It was definatly one of the best dive days I've seen at the lake in while.

Till next time
John

 

[Debraw]

I 2nd that for Travis. It is much better than a couple of weeks ago. Lake level seems a bit lower but the stairs are still in the water and that is a good thing. Troy and I closed the shop and headed to Lake Travis/Windy Point. We set up camp and were in the water for our night dive at 10:50PM. Tried a Dive Rite slimline HID and that really brightened up the night dive! Went to the sailboat and made a left down the wall, hit about 45 feet. Little bit of setiment in the water and that's where the thermocline started. My computer read 77 degrees. Traveled up the wall and found the elusive Mares Snorkel fish covered in sediment. I kept swinging the light back and forth to see what other goodies I could find. Would have to say the vis was a good 15 feet. Almost ran into the biggest carp I have ever seen, at leas 3 feet long and big ol'flapping lips. Very cool. Lots of drum also. We kept the dive short, mostly just to get cooled down before we turned in for the night. I will try my doubles for the first time tomorrow.

 

[Willie]

... It was a beutiful day to be on the lake. ... It was definatly one of the best dive days I've seen at the lake in while.

Thanks for the report John, glad you had a good day. Sounds like I would have enjoyed it, but no diving for me until maybe middle of next week due to family affairs. I am hoping to get one more day in before going to Roatan.

I 2nd that for Travis. It is much better than a couple of weeks ago.

Congrats Debra & Troy. Enjoy the weekend. How will you know what to do without a bunch of others to watch out for?

Willie

 

[Debraw]

LOL, good one Wet-Willie! We do have a AOW class this weekend but they have their own instructor and DM. Troy and I are doing the first dive of our Tec 1 so we are the students this time around. I just woke up and I am sitting here at the park before the rest of the divers get up. One of the Tec instructors is analyzing his tanks and I will be following him shortly. Y'all have a great day !

 

[texdiveguy]

Debra and Troy.... have fun on your dives today and the start of the program!!

 

[Willie]

Troy and I are doing the first dive of our Tec 1 so we are the students this time around. I just woke up and I am sitting here at the park before the rest of the divers get up.

Congratulations, give us a good report when you have a chance. Isnt it great that they have wireless access there at WP?

Willie

 

[Crazyduck]

Debra,
Great to hear of the night dive.
There’s nothing quite like a late night dive to 110ft, gliding down the slope with a HID and dive buddy to cool off the evening.

Looking forward to hearing what you thought about your doubles.

Sorry I missed the weekend.
Andrew

LOL, good one Wet-Willie! We do have a AOW class this weekend but they have their own instructor and DM. Troy and I are doing the first dive of our Tec 1 so we are the students this time around. I just woke up and I am sitting here at the park before the rest of the divers get up. One of the Tec instructors is analyzing his tanks and I will be following him shortly. Y'all have a great day !

 

[Debraw]

Well after a great night dive, I woke up Sunday morning to the analyzing of tanks and inspections of doubles and gear setup. I immediatley became overwhelmed and started questioning my need for the tec training. Troy and I did what was supposed to be a deep dive on our singles and we got down to 80 feet where we were met with poor visibility and very cold temps. I read 61 but I wasn't at depth long enough for it to read a true reading. I am sure it was colder than that. Vis was about 6 inches in a milky white haze. We came up to about 40 feet to wind back down the wall to our exit point. I started to really question why I was doing all this in the first place. I think I just got swept up in the gear, the pace, and the places I could see if I could dive to 200 feet. I then realized Troy and I had not been recreational diving since December and our Cayman trip. Long story short, I never got in my doubles. I am just to tired to haul that gear up and down those stairs repeatedly, calculate air consumption, gasses, etc. I think as a diver I think it may just be enough for me to be a dive shop owner right now. Troy is going to go on and go through the course but my training is on hold for me for a little while. So many aspirations so little time!

 

[Crazyduck]

Debra,
It takes a big person to honestly look at the gear and what is involved and think twice about it. I feel exactly the same way about my drysuit. I love it, I feel great in the water. But getting actually into the water I feel like a glad bag with feet.

There are some other options for doubles. I have a few friends with bad backs and they dolly their doubles down to the water.

I am sure that you will do just fine.
Just continue to move along and take your own pace.

You might want to wait till mid summer and do the dive with a light wetsuit and have the guys carry the tanks to the water. Just a thought...

Later, Andrew

 

[Debraw]

You know it was weird, when i went to post this, I thought "wow everyone is going to think i am such a loser for turning back now." Then I thought about the new diver who will be standing there feeling a pit of peer pressure and then gets into something they can not handle. I think I can handle the gear, the calculations, and the task loading but not in the middle of dive season, 12 hour work days, and all that goes on in my day to day shop life. I think sometimes when you get involved with this sport there is this need to go on to the next level, achieve more, accomplish greater depths, have better gear, it seems endless. I have spent 4 years knocking my lights out to get where I want to be with the shop and now that it's here....I want to complicate it. So I guess a new thread may be in order.....is recreational diving enough to keep you interested? It is for me, right now. Time to pleasure dive, take some pictures and leave only bubbles.