eviestevie
Registered
my buddy and i decided to try our first dive into the comal river this weekend. we took two cars down there so we could shuttle ourselves. we followed jay smart diver's advice on where to leave the cars. here's how our day went:
from southbound i-35, we took the 187 exit in new braunfels and followed seguin ave to the right. once at the round-about, we took the first exit to the right which landed us on san antonio street. followed san antonio til it dead ended on union ave. took union ave until it dead ended on lincoln st. like jay said in previous posts, right at this intersection you can see the last public exit for the comal river. it looks like a small plaza covered in green awning. we took a right on lincoln st. we did a u-turn and parked the first car on lincoln street facing north along the curb in front of the apartment complex. this is about a 5 minute walk from the last public exit. we then loaded all of our gear in the second car and drove it to the start point.
to get to the start point from lincoln street, we went back to the intersection of lincoln and union. the police had lincoln st blocked off at union, so there is only one way to turn. we make a left on union, back to san antonio st (or you can go past the lights at san antonio/union, one block up, to south st. make a left at south and that will take you practically to the entrance to prince solms park). we make a left on san antonio and then took the first right on liberty av. entrance to the prince solms park is on the left. we paid $7 to get in. once you pass the pay points, follow the circular street to the right. it's one way on sunday. don't know about the rest of the week. when you get half way around the circular road, there will be a big sign on the right that points to the tube chute enterance, stop your can and unload your scuba gear. put anything you need to back in the car. have one person wait with the gear while the other person goes to park the car.
put your scuba gear on (sans fins) and walk down the steps to the chute area. follow the stairs to the left and it will take you to where you can enter the water south of the chute. there are plenty of stairs to help you in to the water.
it was fairly shallow in this area, so we inflated our bc's and floated to the dam, which is less than a 5 minute float. you can just inflate your bc and float over the dam with no problems, but what i didn't know is that as the water flows off the dam, it generates a circular undercurrent on the other side. me, not knowing this, floated over the dam without my goggles on or reg in mouth. bad move. i got stuck in the under current and couldn't move forward, nearly getting sucked under several times. my buddy made it over the dam with no probs and saw me struggling just to swim out of the current. luckily there was another swimmer nearby who was able to grab my hand and pull me out. moral of the story: have goggles on and reg in mouth and go under water once over the dam so the undercurrent can "shoot" you out past all the water madness.
once passed the dam, the dive was a beautiful drift dive. visiblity about 7 feet. not a lot of kicking, just floating with the water. i took my camera, but wouldn't do it again until i have learned better bouyancy control. i'm still a new diver and banged the heck out of my knees on the bottom. probably wouldn't have been as bad if i would have had two hands to push myself up from the bottom when i got close. plus, i found the water was just too swift to take any good shots.
about half way through, beware the rapids. buddy and i floating under water serenely, calmly, when all of a sudden there are bubbles everywhere and we are being shot cannonball style through the water. i lost sight of buddy. banged my knee up real bad again, trying to protect the camera. couldn't see a darned thing and didn't know what the heck was going on, so i inflated my bc and went to the surface. buddy had done the same thing. once we realized we were both safe, we were telling each other what a cool experience that was. the "rapids" lasted less than 5 minutes before it was completely calm again and we went back under.
buddy and i still couldn't figure out how we were going to see the last public exit from under water, but when my aluminum 63 ran out of air and we surfaced, we saw the big sign over the water announcing the last public exit. we were about 150 ft away. i'll guess one of us will always have to wear the 63. we swam over to the stone stairs and exited the water. don't know how you all figure out when to surface if not wearing 63's. too bad there's not an underwater sign or anything. i'm worried we might not be so lucky next time.
buddy and i got out of the water and climbed the stairs to the plaza under the green awning, made a left and walked back to the car. by the way, there are porta potties here. for whoever. for whatever.
beside the knees being torn up, i loved this dive and can't wait to do it again. i saw lots of fish, some quite large, sunglasses, and beer cans (though not as much as i expected). buddy also recovered some lighters and found a functioning watch. there were no weeds (like in the san marcos)!!!! the bottom was stone for the most part.
can't wait to do it again.
from southbound i-35, we took the 187 exit in new braunfels and followed seguin ave to the right. once at the round-about, we took the first exit to the right which landed us on san antonio street. followed san antonio til it dead ended on union ave. took union ave until it dead ended on lincoln st. like jay said in previous posts, right at this intersection you can see the last public exit for the comal river. it looks like a small plaza covered in green awning. we took a right on lincoln st. we did a u-turn and parked the first car on lincoln street facing north along the curb in front of the apartment complex. this is about a 5 minute walk from the last public exit. we then loaded all of our gear in the second car and drove it to the start point.
to get to the start point from lincoln street, we went back to the intersection of lincoln and union. the police had lincoln st blocked off at union, so there is only one way to turn. we make a left on union, back to san antonio st (or you can go past the lights at san antonio/union, one block up, to south st. make a left at south and that will take you practically to the entrance to prince solms park). we make a left on san antonio and then took the first right on liberty av. entrance to the prince solms park is on the left. we paid $7 to get in. once you pass the pay points, follow the circular street to the right. it's one way on sunday. don't know about the rest of the week. when you get half way around the circular road, there will be a big sign on the right that points to the tube chute enterance, stop your can and unload your scuba gear. put anything you need to back in the car. have one person wait with the gear while the other person goes to park the car.
put your scuba gear on (sans fins) and walk down the steps to the chute area. follow the stairs to the left and it will take you to where you can enter the water south of the chute. there are plenty of stairs to help you in to the water.
it was fairly shallow in this area, so we inflated our bc's and floated to the dam, which is less than a 5 minute float. you can just inflate your bc and float over the dam with no problems, but what i didn't know is that as the water flows off the dam, it generates a circular undercurrent on the other side. me, not knowing this, floated over the dam without my goggles on or reg in mouth. bad move. i got stuck in the under current and couldn't move forward, nearly getting sucked under several times. my buddy made it over the dam with no probs and saw me struggling just to swim out of the current. luckily there was another swimmer nearby who was able to grab my hand and pull me out. moral of the story: have goggles on and reg in mouth and go under water once over the dam so the undercurrent can "shoot" you out past all the water madness.
once passed the dam, the dive was a beautiful drift dive. visiblity about 7 feet. not a lot of kicking, just floating with the water. i took my camera, but wouldn't do it again until i have learned better bouyancy control. i'm still a new diver and banged the heck out of my knees on the bottom. probably wouldn't have been as bad if i would have had two hands to push myself up from the bottom when i got close. plus, i found the water was just too swift to take any good shots.
about half way through, beware the rapids. buddy and i floating under water serenely, calmly, when all of a sudden there are bubbles everywhere and we are being shot cannonball style through the water. i lost sight of buddy. banged my knee up real bad again, trying to protect the camera. couldn't see a darned thing and didn't know what the heck was going on, so i inflated my bc and went to the surface. buddy had done the same thing. once we realized we were both safe, we were telling each other what a cool experience that was. the "rapids" lasted less than 5 minutes before it was completely calm again and we went back under.
buddy and i still couldn't figure out how we were going to see the last public exit from under water, but when my aluminum 63 ran out of air and we surfaced, we saw the big sign over the water announcing the last public exit. we were about 150 ft away. i'll guess one of us will always have to wear the 63. we swam over to the stone stairs and exited the water. don't know how you all figure out when to surface if not wearing 63's. too bad there's not an underwater sign or anything. i'm worried we might not be so lucky next time.
buddy and i got out of the water and climbed the stairs to the plaza under the green awning, made a left and walked back to the car. by the way, there are porta potties here. for whoever. for whatever.
beside the knees being torn up, i loved this dive and can't wait to do it again. i saw lots of fish, some quite large, sunglasses, and beer cans (though not as much as i expected). buddy also recovered some lighters and found a functioning watch. there were no weeds (like in the san marcos)!!!! the bottom was stone for the most part.
can't wait to do it again.
. Seems tubers love that spot to dump all their trash.
