I'll be in Branson, MO this August and have two people who want to do their Open Water course while I'm there. Can you recommend local sites used for training that are accessible from shore and have training platforms? (I do plan to dive the site to get familiar prior to taking students.)
I saw on divebuddy the dam was listed as being a dive site; is it the area behind the visitor center or across by Peninsula Lookout?
Thanks in advance.
I'm not aware of any sites on Table Rock with training platforms as most of the shops go down to Beaver Lake or Bull Shoals, especially for their Open Water courses. The Dive Park at Beaver Lake is ideal. Two training platforms, lines all over the place, and a lot of cool stuff to see (wrecks, cars, statues, other stuff).
I dove at the dam all winter - not at the visitor center. We parked next to the core of engineers building (same entrance off the road as the visitor center, but instead of going to the right, stay left and the lot there). There are sidewalks/walking paths and one goes down to the park ranger boat dock. I did my Deep Dive class there and there were tech instructors out there a few times because you can get really deep fast. As long as you make sure your buoy is far enough away from the dock that they aren't violating the law when they pull the boat out, you're good. Here's the location -
Table Rock Project Office · 4600 Historic Hwy 165, Branson, MO 65616, Vereinigte Staaten. There's a cable underwtaer from the dock that goes to a large concrete cube - on the other side of it, there's a second smaller cable. It goes pretty much straight out toward the middle of the lake (not toward the dam). It makes a nice descent/ascent line for a deeper dive.
Another site used for a lot of classes is Jake's Point. It's off of Indian Point, past Silver Dollar City -
Jake’s Point · 1154 Tablerock Cir, Branson, MO 65616, Vereinigte Staaten.
There's no training platform, but you can park right at the edge of the water. There's an old trampoline frame at about 20 feet deep out there. If you enter and swim straight south, it goes deep fairly quick - I've hit 95 feet on a 25-minute dive from shore. There's a little island to the left - as you look at the island, there's a wreck at about 60 feet that will be to the right of the island. There's a line that runs from the shore to the island and to the wreck. You'll find it if you head toward the island but it's a long swim. Anyone (like me) who's even a little of an air hog won't make it there and back on a single tank.
