Dive Condition Reports

[Jay_SMART_Diver]

Dove Barstow's Windy Point Yesterday with Rubber Duckie. Weather was hot and a pretty good wind kicked up later in the afternoon. Made 2 Dives visibility from 70' up was ok maybe 5-10 foot in some places, below 70 went to crap quick, less than a foot past 90' to 120' Water Temp at depth was mid 50's.

Dive 1: 1:05pm 92' max, for 44 minutes, min water temp 55.8F
Hour and 48 min interval
Dive 2: 3:38pm 121' max, for 49 minutes, min water temp 55.8F

 

[Aquatrax]

CSSP

Surface - mid 70s
Low 70s down to 20ft
Mid 60s starting at about 25ft
55 lip numbing degrees at 45ft

2 dives, one 63 minutes, one 43 minutes, second dive called due to hunger

Ps. Cole Mountain Cafe had Pecan Cobbler, my Kryptonite.... Awesome!

 

[James R]

Lake Travis = May 29 & 30
Did multiple dives at Starnes Island & Cypress Creek Wall and one in Devils' Cove over the weekend.

Devil's Cove = silty as can be, little to no viz, but we did recover the anchor we were looking for.

Starnes Island - Lake was really rough due to the wind, so the 1st 10' was pretty bad viz, then opening up to 8-10' or so between 10-50' depth. Still a good layer of poor viz at 50-55' which continues to 75' - didn't go deeper. Many generous donations of sunglasses were found both days, including Rayban, Oakley, and D&G Madonna edition hah
Temps 78 down to 65 at 75'

Cypress Creek Wall - It's got deep silt, but viz below the 10' mark is actually pretty decent, similar to Starnes around 8-10' or so. There are silt clouds here and there, but overall it's not bad. There were a ridiculous number of anchors pulled out this weekend, so if anchors are your thing, you missed out!
Temps 78 down to 72 at 55'

It sucks that you can visibly see the lake drop week to week. Come on rain!!

 

[driftwood]

Vis: +60'
Temp: Same (72)
Spring Flow: 112cfs

Cleaned algae in Deep Hole. We were careful to not screw up the vis too badly, but the boat drivers commented that they couldn't see anything a hour after we finished.

On a side note, another dive team found three horse molars and marked them. They were recovered by archeologists and dated to the early ice age. Call it 60,000 years old. The moral is that if you find something, leave it in place, mark it and report it.

 

[Dive South Padre]

South Padre Island
Texas Clipper June, 4th was 82 degrees on the surface to 60 fsw. From 60 fsw to 80 fsw water temp dropped to 77 degrees. Visiblilty was 70 feet to 65 fsw. Then dropped to 30 feet in the thermocline.
Iron Reef Little Sara June 5th was 82 degrees to 50 foot. Visiblity was 50 feet.
There is some fresh water in the gulf from the Mississippi River flooding.

 

[driftwood]

Vis: +50'
Temp: Same
Spring Flow: not posted today by USGS but very low, my guess is around 110cfs

Three of us were assigned to the Cream of Wheat to Catfish Hotel run. Most of the low pressure springs in Cream of Wheat are not flowing. It gets very narrow in some parts of Little Riverbed (I can almost touch plants on both sides now). The hump into Ossified Forrest is getting very shallow. Use extreme caution going over it.

Ossified Forrest is looking great, very little algae or coontail. The hump into Riverbed is very overgrown. Again, use extreme caution. Riverbed is getting narrow due to coontail heads along the sides. Not much algae at the top and a medium amount at the bottom. Normal amount of algae in Catfish Hotel.

The low flow limits the amount of work you can do on a dive. We have to be mindful of the time it takes the vis to recover. After a medium amount of work, call the recovery time an hour. People are paying good money to see the springs from the glass bottom boats, so we need to respect that.

 

[scubashawn123]

Really glad to have an early riser join me at Windy Point Bob Wentz - thanks for being my buddy today DAvid

Bob Wentz and The wall dives times 2- water temperature in 80's down to 60-70 feet

However, past 60 feet no viz today with wind and boat traffic and low lake levels.

Visibility sucked worse than ever - will try again next weekend

 

[James R]

June 12 - Lake Travis w/Lake Travis Scuba
1) Starnes Island
The wind has the wall-side of the island pretty rough, making a good bit of silt in the first few feet. Once you get past that it's actually pretty good down to 60' (max on our dive was 59'). Temps are definitely warming!
Temp surface 82, Temp at 59' 76
Viz 2-3 at surface to 10' and opening up to 10' or so at 50-60' depths

2) Cypress Creek Wall
Stayed shallow here looking for treasure, avg depth for the dive 32'
It's not near as windy here, so the surface is a good bit calmer. The bottom is really thick and easy to stir up.
Temp (same as above)
Viz around 6-10' to our max depth of 40 and average 32.

 

[driftwood]

Spring Lake, San Marcos, June 16

Vis: 40'
Temp: Same
Spring Flow: 106cfs

A lot more algae in the sand at Cream of Wheat, Ossified Forrest and Riverbed. I can now touch plants on both sides in Little Riverbed at the same time. Catfish Hotel wasn't too bad once we cleared some coontail that dropped there. The humps into Ossified Forrest are still very shallow.

 

[scubashawn123]

Lots of treasures to be found and discovered during today's Lake Travis Scuba boat diving.

STarnes Island and Cypress wall had a large amount of sunglasses, one wedding ring, a fender for a boat and a beaver hat.

Temp down to 67 feet was in the 80's

Visibility varied from milky to about 5 or 8 feet maybe depending on the location underwater.

Lots of enthusiastic divers on board to share the fun with.

Thanks Robert for another wonderful day diving out on Lake Travis.