Stillhouse/Belton Lake

[jalistair]

Is anyone diving Stillhouse or Belton lake this Friday or Saturday? I would like to link up with someone diving there for a local dive this weekend.

 

[ftwdiver14]

I am looking to go that way next Saturday, the 21st. I was going to make a post Monday but since you started one. If you can make next Saturday I would be happy to do a couple of dives with you.

 

[oldschool]

I'm planning on a couple of dives at Stillhouse. I usually dive there with a couple of buddies from Ft Hood. You're more than welcomed to join us. We usually get there about 0800 and dive at the scuba park. Just let me know....

 

[jalistair]

Ah the 21st I have a 24 hour duty, however I am heading out to Stillhouse today, Aug 14 and should be there this afternoon. Have a few things to get done before heading out there.

 

[aus.diver]

Is there some kind of dive park there, and dive shop? What is vis like there, comparable to Travis? I have tried contacting a dive shop there with no luck.

 

[jalistair]

There is a dive park on site although I have not dove to that location yet. You must bring a marker as there are boats overhead. The dive shop that was there has gone out of business. (You know the joke, Obama must love small business's because he is turning large ones into small ones!) However there are two dive shops close by that you can fill your tanks up at. One is in Killeen, C&J Divers, and the other is in Temple, Blue Dolphin Divers. Both are great places and you will do fine with either. When you go to dive at Stillhouse let the park ranger know you are going to dive at the marina and you will not have to pay a park fee. Park at the parking on the curve just before the marina unless you coordinate with the marina to dive off of there, rumor has it there is a sunken boat off the marina they will let you dive at from time to time. Temps will be about the same as Lake Travis, visibility is not as good, maybe 1-3 feet but still good enough to dive in. The only thing I did not like was the boats overhead, it creeped me out, esp since I did not have a dive marker. With it you SHOULD be ok. Ah there is some sort of sea weed that grows there as well that can get to be about three or four feet tall at the bottom of parts of the lake so if you don't like that you can just swim to a different part as it is not everywhere. I would wear a wet suit because of that stuff though.

If you want to dive there let me know as I would not mind going there from time to time.

 

[jalistair]

There is a dive park on site although I have not dove to that location yet. You must bring a marker as there are boats overhead. The dive shop that was there has gone out of business. (You know the joke, Obama must love small business's because he is turning large ones into small ones!) However there are two dive shops close by that you can fill your tanks up at. One is in Killeen, C&J Divers, and the other is in Temple, Blue Dolphin Divers. Both are great places and you will do fine with either. When you go to dive at Stillhouse let the park ranger know you are going to dive at the marina and you will not have to pay a park fee. Park at the parking on the curve just before the marina unless you coordinate with the marina to dive off of there, rumor has it there is a sunken boat off the marina they will let you dive at from time to time. Temps will be about the same as Lake Travis, visibility is not as good, maybe 1-3 feet but still good enough to dive in. The only thing I did not like was the boats overhead, it creeped me out, esp since I did not have a dive marker. With it you SHOULD be ok. Ah there is some sort of sea weed that grows there as well that can get to be about three or four feet tall at the bottom of parts of the lake so if you don't like that you can just swim to a different part as it is not everywhere. I would wear a wet suit because of that stuff though.

If you want to dive there let me know as I would not mind going there from time to time.

 

[ftwdiver14]

Let me add to this also. When you enter the Park, the fee is only $4 I beleive. If you park atthe swimming area and dive there someone will come around and check if you have a receipt on your windshield. I am not sure what problems you may face if you don't have the receipt but the $4 to me is worth it.
I haven't dove at the docks yet but I hear it is good for classes.
I dive out in the swimming part which is before you get to the docks. There are 2 platforms.
There are lines from the small one that goes east to a big dark wall that drops that gets dark and cold fast. YOu will need a line and a good light to go there. I haven't had the nerves or experience to go there yet.
The other platform has 3 lines off of it. One loops around back to the platform after taking you to a motorcycle, 2 boats, a propeller, turtle scuplture. The other line take you to the old water treatment plant. The last time I was there it was about 40' and the temp was around 67 degrees. However the vis opened up to about 20'.
It is a good dive, I like it because it isn't crowded. However, Jalistair is correct in that you need a dive marker. I was out there and when I came back up my flag was gone. I assume a boater took it. They can get annoying.

 

[svnipp]

Definitely not for this weekend, but 1 to 3 ft vis doesn't sound very enticing. However, 20 ft sounds great. Now, the question is who's right, Matt or jalistair? I'm sure I'll end up diving there at least once just for the log book if nothing else.

 

[jalistair]

both of us are probably right, if you look at Matt's posting he said it OPENED up to 20' I stayed close to the shore because I had no marker, no light, and no dive buddy. The deepest I dove there was around 20 to 25 feet and visibility at that level is pretty much 1-3 feet. At least on the day I dove there. Last weekend at Lake Travis visibility was only 5 feet or so, until you went down below the thermalcline and it opened up to 20ish. The general rule seems to be the deeper you dive, the better the vis.