What Can I Expect in Night, Deep Dives at Lake Travis?

[JipThePeople]

For those who have received the AOW cert at Lake Travis, what can you tell about the night dive? The deep dive? I have never been to Lake Travis so I am looking forward to it.

[TxHockeyGuy]

If you're at Windy Point Private (nearly a given) then everything will be on a slope. Lake Travis is really a wide dammed up river so you'll be diving the river bank slope if it will, which is large rocks for the most part. Night diving is the same as any where else with 5-10 ft of visibility and where you go will depend upon your instructor. There are plenty of fish, especially at the platforms as people feed them. There are also plenty of things to look at underwater such as sunk boats and such. For your deep dive it depends on the instructor but they'll usually take you down as deep as they safely can, which with the lake being full I believe is the end of one of the long chains and about 100 ft. There they will have you do some sort of puzzle or drill to show you the effects of narcosis.

At least that was my AOW experience.

[ianr33]

Well it is going to be dark! Normally even on a sunny day it is pretty much black by the time you reach 100 feet. The visibility is pretty variable,anywhere from 20 feet down to a couple of inches. A bright light helps a lot. Be careful of your buoyancy. if you hit the silt on the bottom the viz can very easily go to zero.
There is normally a distinct thermocline at this time of year. It can be 85 on the surface but high 50's at depth. I *think* though that with all the rain we have had the temperature is pretty decent everywhere (All the cold water on the bottom has come out of the floodgates)

[hydro]

Yeah, this past weekend it was about 86 F at the surface and 79 F at around 130 feet. No noticeable thermocline, it just got slightly cooler on the way down.

[ianr33]

How was the viz at 130?

[woody]

Originally Posted by ianr33

How was the viz at 130?

Better than at 10'. About 10'

[dallasdivergirl]

I guess I will need my 5 mil wetsuit for the deep dive

[TxHockeyGuy]

Originally Posted by dallasdivergirl

I guess I will need my 5 mil wetsuit for the deep dive

Probably not actually. It's generally a bounce dive and you're not down there long. I wore a 3mm and it was colder than 79 and while it was definitely on the refreshing side, it wasn't really cold.

[ianr33]

I use a cheap 3mm wetsuit,hood and thin gloves at this time of year. Looks like the temperature is 82 at 60 feet
http://wwwext.arlut.utexas.edu/omg/weather.html

[ertechsg]

Got my SPEEDO out and ready