North Texas Diving

[George Monnat Jr]

My wife and I finally dove Athens Scuba Park in Athens, TX a couple of months ago. It was four dives in May 2014. I was reminded by a news story I ran across.

Overall, it's a great place to dive, if you don't mind a 3-4 hour drive from Austin. The local hotels have discount rates for divers there, so you can get a decent hotel room for cheap (we stayed at the Super 8 and were very pleased, especially since we could keep our dog with us).

Their web site clearly shows water temperature and visibility. As of this posting, it was:

Updated: 08JUL2014

Facilities: excellent; Right by the water are a dive shop, change rooms, a washing station, parking near the water, lots of pontoon piers, etc. They even have a dog cage (I called it 'doggy prison') that you can use, and they allowed us to keep our dog nearby in his crate. The emplyees were very friendly and helpful.

Accessibility: excellent (unless you include the drive from Austin); you can walk right off one of the many piers right into the water.

Cost: moderate; $20/diver/day (pretty standard price)

Visibility: excellent for green water on most days; if it hasn't rained recently, typically 20+ feet. I've heard it can get to 40+ feet, but there's always the chance that a large class or classes will come through and muck up that fine silt. Without flow, it can stay mucked up for awhile.

Variety of Sites: excellent for man-made (see Obstacles) but poor for natural;

Wildlife: poor; the high (basic) pH means no fish or really any wildlife to speak of - a few strands of tenacious algae is present but not even much of that. It makes for very clear, pretty blue water, though.

Obstacles (things to see, swim through, etc.): excellent; we ran into the newly sunk airplane which was cool. They have other airplanes, tons of boats, motorcycles, a DART bus with cave-practice tunnels attached, etc. I think they have the best 'wreck-diving' park in Texas, as mentioned in the news story.