Merry Christmas from Texas! :)

[Peter McCann]

Hey ya'll,
Just wanted to say thanks for all the great info here-much appreciated. It's great for we newbs to benefit from the sage advise of so many experienced divers who are willing to share the knowledge they've gained. I'm in the process of a PADI OW certification, and am looking forward to exploring the world of diving. I've also been buying, returning, and re-buying gear...the more you learn, the more you realize you don't know...

 

[Compressor]

Welcome to ScubaBoard. You've come to a great forum you can spend time during your surface intervals.

 

[BikerBecca]

Welcome and a Merry Christmas to you too.

Where in Texas are you? I may be moving to Houston next year and I'm wondering what the diving is like. I've been spoiled by Monterey, CA.

I'm in the process of a PADI OW certification, and am looking forward to exploring the world of diving.

Good luck getting your OW! You are going to love diving, but be warned it can become an massive obsession. I got my OW in April of 2017 and I was immediately hooked. Today I dive pretty much every weekend, have over 100 dives, work as a Divemaster on the weekends, and starting my AI next year. I guess it's a better addiction than heroine. LOL!

 

[Peter McCann]

I'm in Houston, so I'll travel at least 2-3 hours for clear ocean or fresh water. My OW check out dive will be in a place called Blue Lagoon, about 1.5 hours north of me. It's a couple of flooded quarries...Spring Lake is the headwaters of the San Marcos river, near my my alma mater (Texas State) in San Marcos, ~2 hours west of Houston. The University owns it now, and there are some hoops involved in getting permission to dive there. I plan to jump through them. Back when it was privately owned (Aquarena Springs), I slid in over the dam with a snorkel for a few minutes and was in awe. I don't think there's much to see in our area of the gulf, as we aren't far enough away from the Mississippi Delta. It gets clear off shore...some spearfish off the rigs out there...

 

[scubadiver888]

Welcome aboard Peter. If you are going diving in Aquarena Springs you have to take a course and get authorization. More details are at Spring Lake Diving : The Meadows Center for Water and the Environment : Texas State University.

I used to go down to Galveston and take a boat out to the oil rigs. There is a lot of interesting marine life out there. It is a bit of a boat ride to get out far enough the water is clear enough to dive. Last time I went out we chartered a boat that does fishing trips as well. The boat took us out to an oil rig. We went diving and the boat captain went fishing. Wasn't bad pricing. There are official dive charters but they'll cost you more.

A bit of a trek from Houston but there is the Comal River out in New Braunfels. We'd park a car at 699 S Union Ave., drive up to Hinman Island Dr., enter the river and drift down to 699 S Union Ave. Then we'd use the car we left at the bottom of the river to drive back to the other car.

And if you find yourself in the Austin area there is Lake Travis. Good for some scavenger hunting. There are party boats which take people out to Snake Island. We'd dive under the boats and look for things people drop. Mostly beer cans and sunglasses but sometimes something better. Found some stuff off of Hippie Hollow Park as well (also at Lake Travis).

Most my diving is around Dallas. So all my diving south of Dallas is weekend trips.

 

[Peter McCann]

Welcome aboard Peter. If you are going diving in Aquarena Springs you have to take a course and get authorization. More details are at Spring Lake Diving : The Meadows Center for Water and the Environment : Texas State University.

I used to go down to Galveston and take a boat out to the oil rigs. There is a lot of interesting marine life out there. It is a bit of a boat ride to get out far enough the water is clear enough to dive. Last time I went out we chartered a boat that does fishing trips as well. The boat took us out to an oil rig. We went diving and the boat captain went fishing. Wasn't bad pricing. There are official dive charters but they'll cost you more.

A bit of a trek from Houston but there is the Comal River out in New Braunfels. We'd park a car at 699 S Union Ave., drive up to Hinman Island Dr., enter the river and drift down to 699 S Union Ave. Then we'd use the car we left at the bottom of the river to drive back to the other car.

And if you find yourself in the Austin area there is Lake Travis. Good for some scavenger hunting. There are party boats which take people out to Snake Island. We'd dive under the boats and look for things people drop. Mostly beer cans and sunglasses but sometimes something better. Found some stuff off of Hippie Hollow Park as well (also at Lake Travis).

Most my diving is around Dallas. So all my diving south of Dallas is weekend trips.

Wow, thanks for taking time to share those dives. That's really helpful, especially since I need 30 logged dives as a prerequisite to the Spring Lake class. Where do you dive around DFW? Merry Christmas!

 

[JPipes]

Howdy y'all,
As a fellow newbie that recently drank the kool-aid I will welcome you to the club.

I have been reading and reading this site and the stories others have told to absorb as much as possible. The community is much different than other hobbies, more open and willing to share information. (Thinking in comparison to some auto or competitive based hobbies.) I just wrapped my check out dives at Spring Lake myself a couple of weeks ago. It seemed like an easy loophole to get in those waters early in my dive history, I said I am sure I will be at the lagoon soon and often enough. Now I am really trying to lineup the schedule and equipment to do the Comal, I am ready to get the find wet again. I am quite interested to see it from below considering the times I have been topside.

When is your check out dive? Ready for Texas cold diving in Huntsville?

Here is to a Merry Christmas and a great New Year with plenty of full tanks for everyone.

 

[scubadiver888]

Wow, thanks for taking time to share those dives. That's really helpful, especially since I need 30 logged dives as a prerequisite to the Spring Lake class. Where do you dive around DFW? Merry Christmas!

When I lived in DFW I belonged to the Scubadillos dive club and the Diving Rebels dive club. They planned dives to places like Clear Springs Scuba Park (now called The Scuba Ranch), Tyler State Park, Tenkiller Lake, Wheeler Branch Park, Possum Kingdom Lake plus going down to Comal River and Lake Travis. There were a few other places we went diving. Some times we'd go way up into Oklahoma or Arkansas for a weekend.

I lived in Dallas 2014 to 2015. I move around a lot; I've been 5 other places since then. I actually just started a new project in Dallas. We don't have a signed contract and it might just be 4 months. So until i know I'll be there long term I'm flying back to Canada and diving there right now. But if things work out in Dallas I'll probably join one or both of the dive clubs again.

Or maybe fly from Dallas to somewhere in the Caribbean. Just before my company sent me from Dallas to New York I was toying with the idea of flying to a Caribbean island Friday morning, dive Friday and Saturday then fly back to Dallas Sunday night. I have enough airline and hotel points I could do that once or twice for free.