Howdy K-10:
I haven't reported on the Scientific Diver course in awhile, so here's the scoop. It's been about 6 months since I was there, and there have been some changes (change seems to be ongoing), so maybe LarryL can fill you in on the current situation.
Spring Lake at Aquarena Center is my favorite freshwater dive in Texas. It would be a great place for a family dive. LarryL and his son took the course and dive there, but you might want to check to see if there's a minimum age. Just like you have to get your open-water certification before you can take advanced, nitrox, cave, etc. certification, you do indeed need to get the basic authorization to dive course before you can take the specialty courses.
The lake is filled by an estimated 200 springs with an average flow of 170cfs making it the second largest spring system in Texas (after Comal). It has a constant year-round water temperature of about 72°F. Visibility varies with the weather, but I've not seen it less than 40'. The springs bubble out at the edge of the Balcones Escarpment and the water comes from the Edwards Aquifer. The lake is home to several threatened and endangered species.
The springs in San Marcos have never gone dry in recorded history. The area around the springs has been continuously inhabited for thousands of years, but the current ~10 acre lake was created when the San Marcos River was dammed over 50 years ago. The lake used to be home to the Aquarena Springs amusement park, but the old park is now owned and operated by Southwest Texas State University (SWT). When it was still an amusement park they had a few rides, glassbottom boats, and a submarine theater with a mermaid show and diving pig. They still have the glassbottom boats, and the submarine theater is still there, but the mermaids are long gone. The "backstage" area for the mermaid show is still there and provides a sheltered area for changing when it's too hot or too cold out.
When SWT took over the park, it became an ecological preserve. Spring Lake is home to the endangered San Marcos gambusia, the fountain darter, the Texas blind salamander, and Texas wild-rice, and the threatened San Marcos salamander. There are numerous other water creature too. You'll dive with a wide variety of fish, turtles, snails, water birds, and even the occasional nutria. There's an old (inactive) underwater archeological site in the lake that is kept in place for the tourists.
The course is a weekend course with classroom and dives. If you like shows on The Discovery Channel or Nova on PBS you'll like the course. They cover the geology, hydrology, archeology, and biology of the lake, and also cover the rules and laws regulating diving in this protected area. You have to pass written tests for each module, but I'd hazard the guess that no one has ever failed. You'll also have to pass a dive skills test in the old theater area which involves ascents and descents, swimming through hoops, swimming under an overhead frame, and moving a heavy object to demonstrate buoyancy skills. It would be possible to fail this test. After you pass the dive skills test, you do several dives out in the lake along the old river channel where many of the springs are. You even do a night dive.
Once you complete the authorization to dive course, you can dive in the lake. The only charge to dive in Spring Lake is you have to work on a project while you're there. You might be cleaning the windows on the submarine theater or glassbottom boats, pulling hydrilla weeds, working in the demonstration garden, counting fish, whatever. The work isn't hard and there's plenty to see and do while you're working. They've tightened up the diving some since I started diving there. Once upon a time if you just showed up they'd find something for you to do and they allowed solo diving if you didn't have a buddy. Now they seem to be assigning tasks in advance when you contact them, and require a buddy.
The only downside I can think of is initial cost of the course, the distance from Fort Worth, and the work requirement. It's certainly worthwhile to do and I recommend it highly.
Hope to see you there,
Bill
