Worth the Drive?

[FortWorthDiver]

The wife and I are new to Texas diving - and although it was great to get wet the expierience at Clear Springs was less than memorable for 40 bucks.

Just wondering if I am going to make a 3 hour drive would it be best spent heading down to Austin or Blue Lagoon? We are still newbies and are getting use to our new gear so we are looking for a novice site with better than average viz.

Thanks for the help.

 

[chrispete]

Athens scuba park - I've heard that the deepest point is about 20-25 feet, viz is probably the same as most other TX lakes though. I've never been there, but I'm sure that some of the Dallas Swampsters will be by soon to give better details.

 

[GeekDiver]

Blue lagoon is $15 a person and shallow 28' or less. It can have clear waters but by the time the classes get started can be very bad. Also the water can be hard on your equiptment and theres not much to see. Lake Travis offers alot over Blue Lagoon but is cold and dark at depth, Can't remember for sure but I think Wendy PT is in the $10-$15 range. Not sure what the current temp is but you better bring a wetsuit and a flashlight if you want to go. Vis wont be any better than an avg day at the Lagoon. Travis can get real deep real fast so make plans before diving.

 

[ianr33]

The privately owned Windy Point is I believe $10/day to dive and $10/night to camp. If you go next door to the City?State?? park Windy Point it is $5/day per car (closes at dark)

Toms Scuba in Austin http://www.tomsscuba.com/ has a link to the water temperature in Travis. Apparently it is 75 at the surface today

The visibility in Travis is normally only a few feet,PM me if you would like any more info,I need to get my butt out there again now the weather has got warm

 

[Dee]

FortWorthDiver once bubbled...
We are still newbies and are getting use to our new gear so we are looking for a novice site with better than average viz.

I hate to burst your newbie bubble but if you're looking for viz past the 8-10ft range, you're going to be sorely disappointed. That IS the average in most places. Welcome to lake/quarry diving in Texas! And most places that are used for open water classes will have vis in the 2-5ft range by the end of the first day of classes. If you can be the first onsite some Sat. morning before the classes get there, or go out in the middle of the week, you can find vis in the 20-25ft range. Early on Satuday mornings I've seen Blue Laggon so clear you could see from platform to platform and boat to boat all over both lagoons. On the suspended platforms at Twin Lakes, you can see from one end of the platform (18ft) to the other once the lake turns over.

Hang in there! We've all been in your same place. The local lake/quarry diving may not be everyones favorite but it's what we've got so we make the best of it. For me it's this or nothing so it looks better every time I go under! If nothing else, you'll both become excellent navigators!

 

[FortWorthDiver]

You ain't kidding about the navigation Dee - crash course to say the least - I was glad we were the only 2 out there.

I have seen quite a bit on Twin Lakes, Houston is a bit far but if I am going to drive 3 hours might as well drive 4 and get a little camping in - is it that much better than anything else out there?

 

[Scubatooth]

Ft worh diver

would you care to elaborate on what happened to you at clear springs ? because i consider clear springs one of the better facilities in the DFW area.

Scubatooth

 

[FortWorthDiver]

Tooth -

Nothing happened, and we had a good time - I was just very unimpressed with the viz and the price, I was just wondering if there was anything better out there within driving distance.

 

[Catch22]

Below is the link to Athens. As you can see it is about another hour east of CSSP. It is like a swimming pool with no natural bottom features or fish. They have sunk many toys to play with.

The price at Athens is 25.00 a day per person.

http://www.athensscubapark.com/home.htm

 

[Scubatooth]

Ft worth Diver


Clear springs is a very nice place to dive at, and has been greatly improved and made better since it first opened in june of 2001, and there are alot of improvements on the way.

as for the price that is pretty much the average for most places for getting in and diving(except for athens which is more)

the visability at clear springs is for this area better then average but also it depends on what part fo the lake you diving in (IE near the training platforms on the north side of the lake: is pretty low because of students kicking up the lake pretty bad) the best places to dive at clear springs would be along the east side of the lake past the platforms(along the wall) and in the rescue.

if you have any other questions please feel free to email or PM me. Also if you do want to come out to clear springs again please contact me because i would be glad to give you a tour of the good part of the lake (were the students arent kicking up the bottom)


Finally I would like to extend a invitation for you and your wife to jopin us for out dive weekend at PK on May 31 and June 1st