Diving in Lake Travis, Texas
REPORT BELOW THE PICTURES!
So...it is time talk about diving in Texas. I now live north of Austin about six miles from Windy Point and the Mansfield Dam on Lake Travis. I have all my dive gear set up in my garage, and on the very few days that I am actually in town and not travelling for work I get to go and dive there.
The lake is huge and full with water, bigger than Lake Pleasant but about the same depth in the middle. The first picture above is of Windy Point Dive Park and the real difference between Lake Travis and Lake Pleasant is that there are several actual scuba parks set up with lots of interesting stuff under the water.. cars, planes, boats, memorials etc. It also gets very deep very quickly so I have been working on my techincal diving, I can be at 120 feet within 200 feet of the beach. I regularly dive to 150 feet plus to practice decompression diving and get used to all the gear again.
Windy Point has been set up with steps to the water and very nice platforms for teaching dive skills on. They had to do that because the slope is so steep, but they have them at 20 feet, 60 feet and 100 feet. There are also chains and lines leading down to 130 feet, and I found two boats below 40 feet.
Mansfield Dam is a big dam just like the one at Lake Pleasant. You can dive in the part in front of it and play in sunken boats, an airplane fusilage and other interesting stuff or follow the dam structure and find portals and walk ways. This is STILL A LAKE, but it is good to be in the water.
There is also a scuba charter boat...not unlike the Scubateers. Lake Travis
Scuba (Robert) runs the Giant Stride, a nice pontoon boat specifically set up for diving. I have yet to get a ride on her as she is busy and booked the days that I am home!
I had a guided tour of Mansfield Dam from John Linsey at Scubaland. Scubaland is a very nice and well organized store, and if I ever get back to teaching, I hope that it is there.
So, here are some links:
