Posted: 6/28/2024 7:00:07 PM EDT
| I finally have time and money and ordered my first set up. Hoping in a couple weeks to start enjoying the lakes of central Texas with the eventual goal of diving flower gardens off the coast next year. Certified in 2004 but I feel like I need the practice before tackling something like that. Meantime I’m north of Austin and will get to experience the scuba parks in central Texas area and lake Travis. |
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Nothing special. Aqualung legend MBS and a 3 gage console, steel Faber 100 tank, generic back inflate aqualung bc cause the local shops weren’t stocking the zeagle rangers. Just my entry into this. Strictly recreation depth but I wanted something decent quality and resistant to the less than optimal lakes around here. Ultimate goal is to get some experience with this equipment and do some off shore dives like the flower gardens in a year. My experience to this point has been fairly tame carribean resort dives and crystal river. Just me excited about really getting into diving and my wife tired of hearing about it. |
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Originally Posted By PresidentJ: Nothing special. Aqualung legend MBS and a 3 gage console, steel Faber 100 tank, generic back inflate aqualung bc cause the local shops weren’t stocking the zeagle rangers. Just my entry into this. Strictly recreation depth but I wanted something decent quality and resistant to the less than optimal lakes around here. Ultimate goal is to get some experience with this equipment and do some off shore dives like the flower gardens in a year. My experience to this point has been fairly tame carribean resort dives and crystal river. Just me excited about really getting into diving and my wife tired of hearing about it. You only bought ONE tank? Why not two? Those are good regs. |
"They know what shipwrecks are, for out of sight of land, however inland, they have drowned full many a midnight ship with all its shrieking crew." - Herman Melville, Moby Dick, 1851, on the Great Lakes
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Originally Posted By PresidentJ: Nothing special. Aqualung legend MBS and a 3 gage console, steel Faber 100 tank, generic back inflate aqualung bc cause the local shops weren’t stocking the zeagle rangers. Just my entry into this. Strictly recreation depth but I wanted something decent quality and resistant to the less than optimal lakes around here. Ultimate goal is to get some experience with this equipment and do some off shore dives like the flower gardens in a year. My experience to this point has been fairly tame carribean resort dives and crystal river. Just me excited about really getting into diving and my wife tired of hearing about it. Good for you, scuba diving is a great sport. Always use care, stay in the present moment and think about what you are doing. |
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Originally Posted By Marie: You only bought ONE tank? Why not two? Those are good regs. I wanted to get a good idea on the steel 100 if that is truly the tank I like vs going bigger. A second tank is on my agenda but I can wait a little bit longer for it. I’m sure a larger tank would be no problem but I was going to do a lot of shore diving. Thank you on the compliment about the regulators. I wanted a sealed diaphragm style one and they looked good, style was nice, and breathing was easy. Wasn’t a fan of the scuba pro rentals I had tried a few weeks ago, but probably just mouth piece related. |
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Originally Posted By PresidentJ: I wanted to get a good idea on the steel 100 if that is truly the tank I like vs going bigger. A second tank is on my agenda but I can wait a little bit longer for it. I’m sure a larger tank would be no problem but I was going to do a lot of shore diving. Thank you on the compliment about the regulators. I wanted a sealed diaphragm style one and they looked good, style was nice, and breathing was easy. Wasn’t a fan of the scuba pro rentals I had tried a few weeks ago, but probably just mouth piece related. An Aqualung Legend set were my first regs in 2016 when I started diving. |
"They know what shipwrecks are, for out of sight of land, however inland, they have drowned full many a midnight ship with all its shrieking crew." - Herman Melville, Moby Dick, 1851, on the Great Lakes
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Originally Posted By high_order1: I want to hear more about these 'dive parks' That actually sounds kinda cool! There are 3 dive parks within a 3 ish hour drive from me. The lakes are intended for scuba diving with onsite dive shop and air refills. No boats on the lakes. They have tons of purposefully sunk stuff like boats, planes, tunnels if you wanted to make wreck penetration etc. windy point is not a dive park but also has underwater objects to check out. https://athensscubapark.com https://www.bluelagoonscuba.net https://divemammoth.com |
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Originally Posted By PresidentJ: There are 3 dive parks within a 3 ish hour drive from me. The lakes are intended for scuba diving with onsite dive shop and air refills. No boats on the lakes. They have tons of purposefully sunk stuff like boats, planes, tunnels if you wanted to make wreck penetration etc. windy point is not a dive park but also has underwater objects to check out. https://athensscubapark.com https://www.bluelagoonscuba.net https://divemammoth.com I have something to research now |
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Originally Posted By Marie: You only bought ONE tank? Why not two? Those are good regs. Have Two steel hp 100 Now. Favorite central Texas diving has been in wheeler branch park near Glenrose. Motorized boats are off limits and love the giant fish. Lots of dive friendly features. Windy point on lake Travis has closed leaving only Mansfield dam or boat rentals. Lake near Georgetown was fun. Found a guys Apple Watch at 40 feet and he was very happy to get that back. Also a guys go pro camera in another lake. Going to try the comal river float soon, but that’s some awful shallow diving. Have a Bahamas dive trip planned in a few months. All in all very happy with the regulators and my set up. Still have my eye on the flower gardens but will want a regular dive buddy for that plus nitrox. That is usually a multi day event. |
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Originally Posted By PresidentJ: There are 3 dive parks within a 3 ish hour drive from me. The lakes are intended for scuba diving with onsite dive shop and air refills. No boats on the lakes. They have tons of purposefully sunk stuff like boats, planes, tunnels if you wanted to make wreck penetration etc. windy point is not a dive park but also has underwater objects to check out. https://athensscubapark.com https://www.bluelagoonscuba.net https://divemammoth.com Originally Posted By PresidentJ: Originally Posted By high_order1: I want to hear more about these 'dive parks' That actually sounds kinda cool! There are 3 dive parks within a 3 ish hour drive from me. The lakes are intended for scuba diving with onsite dive shop and air refills. No boats on the lakes. They have tons of purposefully sunk stuff like boats, planes, tunnels if you wanted to make wreck penetration etc. windy point is not a dive park but also has underwater objects to check out. https://athensscubapark.com https://www.bluelagoonscuba.net https://divemammoth.com Scuba Ranch is a little further up in Terrell but is a very good dive park. |
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