Showing posts with label Lake Travis. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Lake Travis. Show all posts

Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Photography and TX Fish

Texas lakes and rivers almost all have fish and aquatic life. The best way to remember the wildlife you encounter underwater is to take photos while you dive.

Underwater Photography
There are many cameras available for divers, from film to digital and D-SLRs (Digital Single Lens Reflex). The priority for your camera is for it to have a water-tight case accessory that is made for scuba diving. This case creates an air-tight seal so your camera stays dry as you dive, and it still allows you to use the camera.

Once you purchase a camera and case, be sure to keep the O-ring seal clean and in place. If the O-ring has just a single strand of hair on it, the seal could leak and your camera could get flooded. Below is a photo of this O-ring seal.

On left: Red O-ring providing water-tight seal on camera case. (Source: NNC1)

For more information about photography, you may want to take a course about it through PADI. PADI has a Digital Underwater Photographer course to learn about choosing the right camera and refining your underwater photography skills.

Fish in Texas
There are many kinds of fish in Texas. Here are the fish and other aquatic life available at the dive sites I have already mentioned.
  • Aquarena Springs (original post)
    • fountain darter, San Marcos salamander, black bass, sunfish, perch, gar, crawfish, cichlid, turtles; Check out Scuba.Linda's Flickr stream of aquatic life at Aquarena.

Fish in Aquarena's Aquarium, representative of fish in the Springs (taken by me)

Cichlid in Aquarena's Aquarium (taken by me)
  • Flower Garden Banks (original post)
    • angelfish, goatfish, moray eel, wrasse, goby, damselfish, and so much more, since it is a coral reef. See the entire list at the FGB website.
  • San Solomon Springs (original post)
    • spiny softshell turtles, Mexican tetras, channel catfish, Comanche Springs Pupfish, Pecos Gambusia (mosquito fish), crayfish, Roundnose minnow, sunfish

Tetras in San Solomon Springs (Source: Flickr2)


  • Athens Scuba Park (original post)
    • There are very few fish here, if any, because the lake used to be a clay pit, and the pH of the water could be uninhabitable for many fish. The lake is best known for the sunken items that you can explore and photograph, because of the great visibility.
  • Lake Travis (original post)
    • catfish, bass, trout, crappie, sunfish, bluegill, carp, shiner, minnow, gar, freshwater eel, Texas cichlid; see a fish identification chart for variants of these fish.

Catfish in Lake Travis (Source: FM Dive News3)

And in all my future posts, I'll provide you with photos of fish you can see, and let you know what species to expect at the dive sites.


Footnotes
[1] Naked Nimamok’s Corner. (n.d.). Retrieved March 30, 2011, from http://nimamok.wordpress.com/
[2] Rebecca dlghtflyswt. (n.d.). Flickr. Retrieved March 30, 2011, from http://www.flickr.com/photos/dlghtflyswt/63640348/in/photostream/
[3] Photo Archive. (2007). Fargo-Moorhead Dive News. Retrieved March 30, 2011, from http://home.earthlink.net/%7Efmdivenews/fmdn-photo-archive.html

Friday, March 25, 2011

Lake Travis


About 20 miles Northwest of Austin, TX is Lake Travis. The lake features 270 miles of shoreline with an average depth of 62 feet, according to LakeTravis.com1.

Why to Dive at Travis
Lake Travis has a variety of dive areas, and offers divers a chance to experience many of Texas' great aquatic creatures. One of those dive areas is Windy Point Park2, where you can
...find boat wrecks and unique metal sculptures of a scuba diver, a sea turtle, a shark and a manatee along with ...a jet ski, some small boats, a larger sailboat, a Pinto, and more!
Windy Point Park on Lake Travis is shown below (a bit above the red "A" in the center), and note that this map shows only a portion of the lake.

Source: Google Maps

Transportation on Travis
The business Lake Travis Scuba3 is one option, because they provide boat transportation to multiple dive areas on Lake Travis. Their boat, called the Giant Stride, is "a 30-foot Pontoon Boat customized for scuba diving."

Local Divers
You can also find dive buddies for your Lake Travis dive trip by contacting local dive groups. One such group is the Bay Area Divers club, which has members always diving and welcoming newcomers to join in. Two other dive groups you can check out are the CHUM Club and the Austin Scuba Club.

Parks and Amenities
The Lower Colorado River Authority (LCRA) and Travis County Parks maintain 15 park areas on Lake Travis.  A map and descriptions of these 15 parks is on the Texas Parks and Wildlife website.

Resources Summary

Footnotes
[1] All About Lake Travis. (n.d.). Retrieved March 25, 2011, from http://www.laketravis.com/main_about.htm
[2] Windy Point Park. (n.d.). Retrieved March 25, 2011, from http://www.windypointpark.com/scuba.asp
[3] The Boat. (n.d.). Lake Travis Scuba. Retrieved March 25, 2011, from http://www.laketravisscuba.com/about.html