Athens Scuba Park or Possum Kingdom? Recommendations...

[Sonic04GT]

Planning a trip this Fri-Sat up towards Dallas to dive somewhere different. Looking at Athens Scuba park and Possum Kingdom? Which would you recommend and is it feasible to hit both? Where is the best place for fills/gear and lodging?

We are in Killeen and open to other recommendations as well, within 5 hours driving. How is Houston? 288 Lake and Mammoth Lake?
We have dived Stillhouse, Belton, Windy Point, and Comal River.

Thanks
-Chris

 

[Guba]

Lake PK has very few opportunities for shore diving (well, decent shore diving that is) and no air reasonably close, so unless you have a boat, your better bet is Athens. If you have access to a boat, then that's a whole different matter.

Another good choice in the Dallas area is Clear Springs Scuba Park, a quarry near Terrell (about a half hour east of Dallas). It has full facilities, air station, and underwater features that provide some interest.

 

[texdiveguy]

NEITHER!!!!

Clear Springs Scuba Park in Terrell,Texas on a Friday if possible, weekends are a bit crowded with classes of students. Clean, and air fills available. Camping or close by motels/eats.

 

[ZzzKing]

Better than either is to keep driving on to Oklahoma. Dive Lake Murray or, if you have an extra hour each way to drive, Broken Bow are both significantly better. If you have to dive one of those you mentioned, Possum Kingdom is much better and less caustic. (I still haven't gotten the gunk off my gear from the one time I went to Athens) Possum Kingdom is worth renting a boat. Just take several tanks.

 

[richerso]

OK. I am sure I will only confuse the issue here; but here goes:

Between PK and Athens? I don't know. I will argue with everybody here about the p|#$ poor visibility at PK. PK just sucks - in my opinion. After listening to everyone in Texas about the great vis at PK and then going to dive it, I was extremely disappointed. . . . . Then to come back to civilization and question people about it, I got two very distinct answers from a multitude of divers. (1) I got "Gee, <<scratching head>> I guess it was 20 years ago when I was there last. I wonder what changed????? Or (2), I get - "Well, I never saw it the visibility that bad. You must have gone on a bad weekend. I don't believe the visibility is that bad."

I call bull%Sit. PK sucks. And now, by the year 2010, there is no good public access to PK. The land around the lake has been purchased by private "home community" developers. All of the access land is privately owned save one or two boat ramps. I am sure I will get an argument out of someone about this.

About Athens: Athens is a nice scuba park. However, it is only 20 ft deep. Take what you will.

Clear Springs Scuba Park (CSSP) is a nice park. It has a max depth of about 55 ft. It is fun. Take what you will.

Other options: I am a big fan of: (1) Lake Murray (oklahoma), Marietta Landing. Murray is just a lot of fun. It is interesting. It is deep. And it is just a neat dive.

(2) Broken Bow Lake (oklahoma) -- Broken Bow is just an awesome lake! Period. Go dive Broken Bow! It is really cool! So is Murray! But; hey Broken Bow is nice!

For most all options around here, you had better carry your own air tanks to support all operations.

 

[texdiveguy]

John......just picking on you,,but in the silo this past weekend it was 62ffw/58f and ok vis.. Safe diving !

Clear Springs Scuba Park (CSSP) is a nice park. It has a max depth of about 55 ft. It is fun. Take what you will.

 

[ZzzKing]

For Lake Murray, contact Scuba J's Dive Shop at 580 223 4832 for fills. Don't remember what I paid for fills last fall. They are nice folks.

I heard a rumor that the shop near Broken Bow that I knew of is closed.

Clear Springs has a fill station on site. Fill's are $8 I think. Part of an airplane, two boats and a 50' shark.

Athens has a fill station on site. The water quality sucks. You will be scrubbing your gear for days. It has a cool airplane and a lot of other miscellaneous stuff.

The Scuba Park at Possum Kingdom closed a couple of years back. I had some really nice limestone wall dives there as recently as 3 or 4 years ago. (John!) You'll need a boat.

And then there are the tunnels in Paris...

 

[chris1999]

Other options: I am a big fan of: (1) Lake Murray (oklahoma), Marietta Landing. Murray is just a lot of fun. It is interesting. It is deep. And it is just a neat dive.

(2) Broken Bow Lake (oklahoma) -- Broken Bow is just an awesome lake! Period. Go dive Broken Bow! It is really cool! So is Murray! But; hey Broken Bow is nice!

What did you like about both of those? what made them neat?

 

[Lake Travis Scuba]

If you only dove at Windy Point you have missed many other sites on Lake Travis. Check out our web site, Welcome to Lake Travis Scuba and select the Maps and Locations tab, for the list of sites we visit.

Enjoy your diving this weekend and come out for a dive from Giant Stride soon.

Robert
Lake Travis Scuba
Welcome to Lake Travis Scuba

 

[Joe-Diver]

Possum Kingdom has passed it's prime. It's old enough now the silt has really piled up and the particulate is constant. It's never recovered from the floods several years ago. I have not been since Scuba Point closed, but I have kept up with reports from divers and they've always been the same: poor vis.

PK, in it's day, was a spectacular lake. I can remember back in the 70's skin diving on the island at Hell's Gate...vis was incredible at 20'+....and I'd chat with the divers at Scuba Point and they'd say the same.

Last dive I did was right before SP closed up...vis was the suck down to 45', but after that it opened up real nice. I remember breaking through the silt at 45', and could see the bottom of the cliff below me at 75' with my UK shining down.....the old truck was still there...the car...the merry-go-round.....all the stuff was aged and silty, but there.

Losing Scuba Point was a real hit to Texas diving. That place was legendary and one of my regular diving season haunts. I still really have not gotten over it. Tons of great memories, dives, and good times there. Lost a part of me when it closed.