Dive Condition Reports

[carlislere]

Lake Travis Scuba
2-tank boat dives to Starnes Island and Wreck Alley
Air temp: 90 degrees
Wind: blowing!
Water temp: 67 degrees at safety stop
64 degrees at 40 feet
53 degrees at 60 feet
52 degrees at 70-100 feet
Visibility: 10-12 foot vis down to 60 feet
2 foot or less below 70 feet
Dive 1- Starnes Island, wall side
Dove to 100 feet here. Kept running into trees, so moved up to 60-65 feet. Did find a pumpkin candy holder, a pair of sunglasses, a mask/snorkel setup, and
a great looking gastropod fossil. The mask/snorkel actually belonged to
someone on the Sunset Cruise that Robert was running after our excursion.
Dive 2- Wreck Alley
Played in the houseboat for awhile then ventured off to some of the other
wrecks. My compass froze up, so ended up wandering a little farther than
planned, but had a great time. Found a dive light and 2 golf balls.

 

[paulw]

Windy Point
Divers: superspeed - paulw
Surface Temp: 63
Temp below 45: 53
Max Depth: 76ft
Vis 0 to 45 : 10ft
Vis 45 to 80: 4 ft
Dive time : 45 min

The vis is changing just a little, the first 10 ft is really silty but it could have been due to the wave action but from there on it was about 10 ft or so with a temp of 64. Below 45 the vis drops to about 4ft and the temp is about 53. We found a putter an a golf ball, watch, weight pouch and a nice fossil.

 

[driftwood]

Spring Lake San Marcos April 7

Water Temp: same
Vis: 40'
Spring Flow: 150cfs

There were four of us this morning and we split into two teams. The water seems a lot cloudier than usual. Nothing big floating in the water, but objects losing definition starting 30' away. A catfish seems to have taken up residence under the largest boulder at the bottom of Catfish Hotel. It is the fourth time I have seen him there and the staff have also been keeping tabs on him. Call it a 75% shot of seeing him on any given day. At the end of the dive we went behind the sub and opened a couple of the hatches to the ballast tanks, yes they still work, not much to see but a good test for a new light (one of the new led lights coming out of China with a SST-50 emitter).

 

[carlislere]

Lake Travis Scuba
2-tank boat dives to Volente Houseboat and Shaker Plant
Air temp: mid to upper 80s
Wind: blowing!
Water temp: 67 degrees at 20 feet
65 degrees at 40 feet
58 degrees at 60 feet
52 degrees at 70-90 feet
Visibility: 10-12 foot vis down to about 50 feet
2 foot or less below 70 feet
Dive 1- Volente Houseboat, max depth 90 feet
Dove around the perimeter, then checked out the wheelhouse and the kitchen. Went on to the top deck and explored there before making one more look around the outside before starting my ascent.
Dive 2- Shaker Plant, max depth 90 feet
We followed the lines around the area that has been marked off, then followed the wall to the west and found a concrete wall. Explored further then returned to the line and followed it up to the anchor line.

 

[rakpix]

April 10, 2011
Mansfield Dam
Austin, TX
Viz 25 FT <== !
Temp 56 F
Assisting with the required night dive for Master Scuba Diver students and Divemaster Candidates at the University of Texas. First dive was the navigation course, with the candidates performing as beachmaster. That was followed by a cookout, followed by the night dive. The navigation course had left a thick layer of sludge in the first 20 FT so we decided to surface swim into deeper water. Descended to 29 feet, then followed the lake contour to the grottos at 48 FT passing a notable thermocline. Wonderful viz at depth!! Haven't seen this in months!!

 

[carlislere]

Mansfield Park Dive Area
Air temp: 85 degrees
Wind: BLOWING!!!!!!!
Lake conditions: Lake was a dirty green color with LOTS of whitecaps, or as Robert likes to say, "ocean conditions".
Max depth: 125 feet Total Dive time with deco: 46 minutes
Water Temps:
10 feet - 73 degrees
20 feet - 72
30 feet - 71
40 feet - 69
65 feet - 67
70 feet - 60
100 feet - 54
125 feet - 53
Visibility: 4-6 down to 40 feet
12-15 feet down to 80 feet
3-4 feet down to 110
1 foot or less down to 125
Sunlight down to 80 feet
Dove up to the dam then down to max depth. Returned to about 110 due to no vis and traveled back up the channel before ascending to the first deco stop. Looks like the sunfish are making nests in the shallows and some bass were lurking or chasing the sunfish.

 

[driftwood]

Spring Lake San Marcos, April 27

Temp: same
Vis: 50'+
Spring Flow: 126cfs
Dive Time: 75min

Did the Cream of Wheat to Catfish Hotel run with Hemlon and Pete Bryant. Visibility was very good. There were a lot of school groups so we had a large amount of boat traffic. A large catfish seems to have taken up permanent residence under the big boulder at the bottom of Catfish Hotel. A lot of Fountain Darters, salamanders and crayfish were spotted in the algae.

Spring flow is getting very low, 126cfs, so we all need to start thinking about not stirring up the muck since the recovery time is getting much longer. The conservation plan for the lake requires a shut down of diving when the spring flow drops below 100cfs. If we don't get some substantial rain in either the recharge or contributing zone of the aquifer, diving in the lake looks pretty iffy in late July and August.

Addition, Four of us were assigned Deep Hole and Arch Site this morning (4/28). Vis was easily 60'. Deep Hole is very clean, Arch Site needs to have the lines redone, the path from Deep Hole to Arch Site is clear, you can see the Dock from Arch Site. I also tried out the MJ850 light again. Very good light for the money despite some issues I have with the design.

 

[TwoBitTxn]

Mammoth Lake
4/30/2011

Overcast skies.

Vis 10-15 feet. May have been better if sun was out.

75 at the surface 65 below thermal at 35ish feet.

Almost no one there.

 

[cavemn]

May 1
Lake Travis
Windy Pt Private
Entry stair#3
Wind: Light but blowing
Surface temp: 74F
Dive time 36 min
Max Depth 130'
0 - 37' temp 74F vis cloudy
50' temp 70F still some surface light about 2-3' vis
60' temp 68F vis opening
70' temp 65F vis opening 7 - 10'
80' temp 63F vis down 1-2'
90' temp 60F vis closing to <2'
100' temp 57F vis 1' or less
110' temp 54F vis <1'
120 to 130' 53F vis <1'
The first pvc stake is at 130' right now. Line looked lightly silty and in good shape. Bottom is very silty but navigable.

 

[cruiser]

Athens Scuba Park in Athens, Texas
Sunday, May 1, 2011
Water Temp: 74 degrees
Air Temp: 81-83 degrees (while at home in Dallas in was 50 degrees)
Visibility: 25 feet

Dive 1:

max depth 27 feet
1 hour, 33 minutes

Dive 2:

max depth 26 feet
1 hour, 36 minutes

A lot of sunken stuff in a small area. Other divers reported seeing 8 bass around the airplane, although I didn't see any. The plane that will be sunk Memorial Day weekend is still topside and generated a lot of interest.

Nice couple of dives and good company.