Questions about Lake Travis

[midnite135]

I am getting married in early April and a few friends and I were discussing a camping trip the following weekend. (Im on a bit of a budget so will do a real honeymoon later)

Lake Travis is in the running and I have always wanted to dive it and wanted to ask a few questions on here. I am the only diver in my group going and I have my own gear minus tanks which I could rent.

Does anyone know a projected temperature range for that time of the year? Would be around April 20th.

Is it usually pretty easy to find other divers as I am not particularly keen on attempting a solo dive with my training in an unfamiliar place. (AOW)

Are most of the good spots shore accessible?

Recommendations on dive spots and camping accomodations/sites would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks all!

Josh

 

[ianr33]

The 2 most dived areas are Windy Point (Actually 2 sites,"Windy Point Public" and "Windy Point Private" AKA Barstows. ) and Mansfield Dam
Tom Hughes park is the best shallowish (~80 feet) dive in Travis.Bit of an adventure getting down to the water and a bad place to hurt yourself,you will probably be on your own there.

Windy Point Public and Mansfield Dam are Travis County parks Mansfield Dam Park, Travis County, Texas

Normally LOTS of divers camping at Barstows Windy Point Park over a weekend,maybe not so many tha early in the year though? You can also camp at Mansfield. Probably best to get a reservation for that.

Here is a dive I did in April last year to give you an idea of water temperatures.Around 65 shallow but only 53 below 100 feet.

 

[scubashawn123]

Recommendations on dive spots and camping accomodations/sites would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks all!

Josh

Hi Josh,

Windy Point private has camping, easy access and carts to tote your gear with a little underwater park and platforms for instructor training for about $10 a day. If you need air fills, compressor at the Scuba shack with Richard are $6. This is a fun place to dive on Lake Travis. Don't have to worry about your stuff getting stolen. We dive it a lot and it would be easy to find a swamper to dive with on almost any weekend.

There are fresh showers and porta potties as toilets on the camp ground. Stairs to enter and exit the water with lots of fun sunken things to find, like sailboats, jet skis, and of course the shark and much more.

Have fun diving.


Regards,

Shawn

 

[riff.diving]

yeah.....Barstow's (windy point private) is set up for that kind of thing, camping and diving.
yeah by the end of April there will be lots of divers out there to join up with....i know during the spring i'm out there about once a week or so.
$10 day/person and $6 air fills. and i think he even has free wireless internet.

 

[k-valve]

Ian is right on with the water temp info. My April dives usually run anywhere from the mid-fifties to low seventies depending on depth. Of course, the later in April you dive the warmer the water will be.

While the two main camping sites are Windy Point Park and Mansfield Dam Park there are lots of places to dive. You might be able to do some boat dives with Buba Dives. Mack was telling me there is another guy doing boat dives at Travis this year too. Can't remember the name at the moment though. Mack??

You probably won't have any trouble finding folks to dive with. Just post to the board when you're getting ready to head out to Travis and I'm sure some of us will try to meet you out there.

Have fun...bring your thick wetsuit or drysuit!

 

[Mack Diver]

Current readings at the test station show a surface temp of 60 and 57 at 60 feet. The temp may go up a little between now and the 20th, but probably not more than 5 degrees.

Bubba Dives is entering their 2nd year of operation. I've heard nothing but positive reviews on Shawn's operation. The new operation is Lake Travis Scuba and is run by Robert Weiss, a PADI MSDT. I think he runs out of Riviera marina. You can check out his website for details.

Camping & diving are different between Barstow's & Mansfield. Mansfield has enclosed bathrooms. It is also a public boat ramp so there will be more traffic there. For diving at Mansfield, you have to negotiate a stairway down to the water. At Barstow's, the area is just for camping and diving. There are stairs down into the water, but you are talking about a few steps as opposed to the 20 - 30 feet at Mansfield. Overall, I think Barstow's presents a more enjoyable camping and diving experience.

 

[PvilleStang]

I recall there was a guy running an operation with a nice sized sailboat that ran trips on Travis. I think the only catch was you were encouraged to speak spanish on board to help learn and brush up on your skills.

K.

 

[texdiveguy]

Lake Travis is a great dive lake.

 

[scubashawn123]

Lake Travis is a great dive lake.

Hi Alan,

Can't wait to see you out there this year.



Shawn O.

 

[texdiveguy]

Hi Alan,

Can't wait to see you out there this year.



Shawn O.

Shawn....like wise for sure!!!