A Visit To Balmorhea

[Cudabait]

On Wednesday, April 25, after spending four days in Alpine with a group of friends and taking a tour of Fort Davis, La Cuda and I made a planned stop at Balmorhea State Park. We had been talking about making a dive there for the past couple of years. The chance came on our return from an annual reunion with professional friends.

We pulled into the park at about 11:00AM and checked in. We stayed in one of the rooms on site. I should say there are two types of rooms...one with kitchen and one without. Rooms is an understatement. More like a suite. We chose w/o kitchen....two bedrooms with three double beds, plenty of closet space, and rack for hanging gear on the back porch facing the canal.

We had come prepared to dive at least one dive....two full 80's, 5mm wetsuits and u/w camera. We suited up and enterred right away. There was only one other diver at the location! La Cuda was first to enter (ladies first) and was immediatly surrounded by begillion Mexican Tetras. The viz was about 100'. The water temp was a little warmer than we had expected. We had expected 70 to 72 and it was a toasty 76! We also saw and photograhed numerous turtles that kept buzzing us. There was a least one diving duck which was beautiful to watch as it dove to a depth of 20' and rooted among the weeds.

Now to the main purpose of out dive........the endangerred species of fish that are found in San Soloman Springs. the Comanche Springs Pupfish and the Pecos Gambusia. Yep! Did we ever see them! Once we identified the Pupfish we set about trying to photograph them. I'll probably have to rate some of my photos XXX. I actually got several pics of the little critters mating!

Other species seen in th sprins were lsargespring Gambusia, Roundnose Minnows, Green Sunfish and Channel Catfish up toabout 2 1/2 feet long.

All told, it was a wonderful experience. We dived for 1:02 to about 21ffw. It is an altitude dive, about 3600 ft. So we took that into consideration in dive planning.

We would recommend an overnight stay and a couple of dives to anyone going or coming that way. The diving is probably better during school months. Park Rangers told us that the park is always full during summer. Also campsights are available for tents and RV's.

It's a must see as a historical and dive location at least once!!

Regards,

 

[texdiveguy]

On Wednesday, April 25, after spending four days in Alpine with a group of friends and taking a tour of Fort Davis, La Cuda and I made a planned stop at Balmorhea State Park. We had been talking about making a dive there for the past couple of years. The chance came on our return from an annual reunion with professional friends.

We pulled into the park at about 11:00AM and checked in. We stayed in one of the rooms on site. I should say there are two types of rooms...one with kitchen and one without. Rooms is an understatement. More like a suite. We chose w/o kitchen....two bedrooms with three double beds, plenty of closet space, and rack for hanging gear on the back porch facing the canal.

We had come prepared to dive at least one dive....two full 80's, 5mm wetsuits and u/w camera. We suited up and enterred right away. There was only one other diver at the location! La Cuda was first to enter (ladies first) and was immediatly surrounded by begillion Mexican Tetras. The viz was about 100'. The water temp was a little warmer than we had expected. We had expected 70 to 72 and it was a toasty 76! We also saw and photograhed numerous turtles that kept buzzing us. There was a least one diving duck which was beautiful to watch as it dove to a depth of 20' and rooted among the weeds.

Now to the main purpose of out dive........the endangerred species of fish that are found in San Soloman Springs. the Comanche Springs Pupfish and the Pecos Gambusia. Yep! Did we ever see them! Once we identified the Pupfish we set about trying to photograph them. I'll probably have to rate some of my photos XXX. I actually got several pics of the little critters mating!

Other species seen in th sprins were lsargespring Gambusia, Roundnose Minnows, Green Sunfish and Channel Catfish up toabout 2 1/2 feet long.

All told, it was a wonderful experience. We dived for 1:02 to about 21ffw. It is an altitude dive, about 3600 ft. So we took that into consideration in dive planning.

We would recommend an overnight stay and a couple of dives to anyone going or coming that way. The diving is probably better during school months. Park Rangers told us that the park is always full during summer. Also campsights are available for tents and RV's.

It's a must see as a historical and dive location at least once!!

Regards,

Nice report....yea it one of those Texas log book sites!!

 

[Richard Moody]

Its a reat place to dive. IMHO night dives there are the best since you have less activity from certifying divers, and the aquatic life is a lot more active at night. Lot's of crayfish, etc. Love to watch the ducks diving to the bottom as well. Plan on being there weekend of June 2-3. Also, while camping there you can see up close mule deer, fox, ring-tailed cats, and tons of stars at night.

Thanks for the posting...

 

[Timeliner]

Last night I dreamed that I bought an airplane and all of my long distance dives were suddenly only minutes away....

Is there a landing strip close by ?

 

[chrispete]

Last night I dreamed that I bought an airplane and all of my long distance dives were suddenly only minutes away....

Is there a landing strip close by ?

Seven Springs (16TA) is 5 miles away but is a private airstrip. The nearest public airport is Pecos Municipal (KPEQ) at 25 miles from Balmorhea SP.

Can you tell I've looked into this before too

 

[BillT5]

Thanks Cuda Bait!! I've been there twice myself, had a project in Alpine and didn't pass up the chance to dive on the way there. It's an awsome dive, all what Cudabait said and more!! I didn't have an U/W camera at the time though, looking forward to your pictures.