Dive Condition Reports

[arokdad]

Just returned from Balmorhea today with a group of 8 friends. Had the place to ourselves. I guess everyone has been turned off by the cold front passing trough last week. We had beautiful weather. Started out cold in the morning but warmed to over 70 by the afternoon. My computer registered 75 in the water. Great fun for a 2-day weekend.
Definitely do NOT stay in the park motel! The only positive thing I have to say about it is the "convenient location." But there's a wonderful little motel only 4 miles away you'll be much happier with and has a great Mexican restaurant next door. El Oso Flojo Lodge (just google the name)

And make sure you take the 40-mile trip to the McDonald Observatory for its Star party on Friday and Saturday night. That's a must see.

 

[cruiser]

Date: Sunday, 12/13/2009

Location: CSSP

Water Temp: 51 degrees

Visibility: about 10 feet

Comments: Not too many people at the pond. Water was really clear IN the silos, but needed a flashlight. Bottom of silos 58 feet deep.

7 mm wetsuit
7 mm hood
gloves
39 minute dive

Note: Steps into the water are slick now because of fewer people using them.

 

[psiborg1812]

Just returned from Balmorhea today with a group of 8 friends. Had the place to ourselves. I guess everyone has been turned off by the cold front passing trough last week. We had beautiful weather. Started out cold in the morning but warmed to over 70 by the afternoon. My computer registered 75 in the water. Great fun for a 2-day weekend.
Definitely do NOT stay in the park motel! The only positive thing I have to say about it is the "convenient location." But there's a wonderful little motel only 4 miles away you'll be much happier with and has a great Mexican restaurant next door. El Oso Flojo Lodge (just google the name)

And make sure you take the 40-mile trip to the McDonald Observatory for its Star party on Friday and Saturday night. That's a must see.

Hey! I think i saw you guys on Saturday, was that ya'll!? One of your group gave me and my buddy some cookies on Sunday, those were quite enjoyed by all! I was the guy in the pink doubles set.

Man, i'd never seen the park that deserted, it was so nice. On Sunday we literally ahd the place to ourselves. Great temps shoreside too, in the 60's. Really fun.

I put a few photos online:
http://s247.photobucket.com/albums/gg143/scubacyborg/Balmorhea photos/

I'm the one in the black double hose.

 

[arokdad]

Yeh, that was us. My wife supplied the cookies.
Couldn't miss those pink tanks!

 

[carrielsal]

Training dive with Layne. We were the only divers at the park.
Water temp is down to 58 degrees, no thermoclines. We had planned a dive to 130'. Same 3-5' vis until about 90' where it dropped to about 1'. We turned the dive at 99' due to the lack of vis.

 

[heavyjeffd]

Where: Comal River - Solms Park
When: 12/20, 3:00-4:30PM-ish
Vis: 20-30'
Water Temp: 75F
Air Temp: 64F

After watching a bit of football this afternoon, I got the bright idea to walk out side and see if it felt warm enough to go for a quick dive; it did! So we packed up and headed down to the Comal since it's so nice and close.

Vis was much better due to lack of recent rain. I'd say 30' avg, sometimes more, sometimes less. Current was up quite a bit and the water is still much higher than usual, average depth was around 12', deepest was about 16' (which is nice for the Comal).

Lots of the foliage is back, lots of fish about and a few turtles.

It was a little chilly getting out of wetsuits and into dry clothes but all in all, it was a nice low-stress dive (as the Comal always provides).

 

[psiborg1812]

Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir.
12/20/09

Did 2 dives today at Stillhouse Hollow Marina, not a bad day for diving at all!

Temp: 55 on the surface and gradually dropped down to 52 on the bottom. No noticeable thermocline.

Viz: Cloudy and around 4 feet between 0-35 feet, then opened up to around 6-7 feet after. It gets dark around 40 feet, and once you drop into the riverbed, it gets black.

Stuff: these dives were mostly to see if i would be comfortable in cold water and to see if i could still fit into my shorty. One thing i did not count on was my computer crapping out around 50 feet. Swimming along, going to check my depth, and all i see is a blank screen. That really hammered in the importance of backups, and i was thankful i was wearing a watch and a depth gauge. Weird thing though, it started back up again after i got to around 20 feet, and had no record of the dive. Guess it's time to send it in. I also hunted up some more "old" bottles and poked around the riverbed.

Good day to dive! I always like Stillhouse, I wish they had camping there so we could do class training there.

 

[carrielsal]

Evening dive to 70'. Water temp 56 no thermocline, same crappy 3-5'. I found the Pinto only because caught my leg on it. Very few fish.
My left sleeve started leaking water 45 minutes into the dive and it sure got cold fast.

 

[carrielsal]

James R and I volunteered at Aquarena today scrubbing the clamshells in the training area. We must have scrubbed on them for over an hour. Afterwards Pearl gave us permission to swim the circuit from the training area to deep hole. I have been leery of leading tours for the DFS classes (I have been getting turned around in the plants outside of Arch), but I managed this time to not get us lost.

 

[arokdad]

Comal River
Surprisingly low vis today...5-10 ft. It rained 4 days ago but I bet it was a large group of divers yesterday who stirred up the water. Wait a few more days before you go out.