PeppermintPaddi
Contributor
I'm sure Driftwood will jump in here, but those Lake Travis divers are promulgating a few inaccuracies. First it's only $230 for the Science Diving Cert. It's an incredibly interesting class that covers local history, archaeology, endangered critters/plants, aquifer hydrology, and boat rides. It costs about what any diving cert costs and lets you in on some of the best diving in central Tx.
But they don't offer the cert just so you can dive there. It's a federally protected area and people who don't dive there regularly can do some significant damage just because they don't know any better. Hence the need for refreshers -- and personally I think there should be 1:1 supervision of new and re-newing divers by regular divers. I'm thinking you have to get in 6 hours of volunteer diving / year or take the refresher? But that's really not enough.
Our primary job there is weeding and "spring cleaning". Divers are assigned a task in a specific area and that's what you work on. But that leaves plenty of opportunity for sight seeing. Regular divers get assigned further away -- they know you won't get lost. I'm not sure what the total length of the lake is in feet. On those incredibly rare occasions that I've gotten to tag along on a full tour it's taken 40 leisurely minutes to do the whole thing (one way). It's not big but it's packed. There's something new every time I go. With 50 ft visibility you notice things. Your dive bubble is actually larger than the 15 ft you get on an avg good day in Travis. You are also working in the most difficult part of the water column so buoyancy skills you perfect there stand you in good stead in all your diving. Please note that you have to pass a buoyancy test to pass the class.
