Houston's Premier Scuba and Dive Shop Oceanic Ventures Inc.

(713) 523-3483 (dive)
5808 Newcastle Drive
Houston, TX 77401

local diving

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Puffy Clouds in a Blue Sky, Hydrilla Fairy Forests and Fresh Water Sponges – Scuba Diving in Texas

Texas Blue Sky and Puffy Clouds
Texas Blue Sky and Puffy Clouds (c) Ann Keibler
Madison and I decided that a Sunday afternoon at 288 Lake was just what was needed for the holiday weekend. It was a beautiful, picture perfect Texas blue sky day with just the right amount of white puffy clouds. We met on the back side of the lake at Ted’d favorite spot, where he also met us, continuing his work on the mapping project . The water was warm at the surface , 79 or 80 degrees f , and cool but nice 76 at depth. Visibility was awesome, at least two body lengths of Madison, so 12+ feet of clear !! The Hydrilla looked like a “Fairy Forest” dusted with soft powder on each of its star like leaf patterns. And as if each was placed at differing heights to make a perfect arrangement. It reminded me of the opening scene of the recent Oz mneue.
ANN HydrillaWe visited the boat that lives under the big red ball. The very curious blue gill “damsel” fish alternated between farming their algae and staring at us. The eyes are surrounded by a very thin iridescent coral pink colored ring. And they love to come stare at you if are holding still or the also like a nibble or two at your glove. They are occasionally chased away by the perch “barracuda”. It was too warm for the “penguins”. Madison said they had left when the viz was so bad this winter and it was starting to warm. But we did see what we think are the start of several patches of an encrusting light pinkish sponges. It had started to encrust around the wood support on the roof, around the broken out window near the port side cleat, and in one of the exposed cable bands on the aft port  roof. We had never seen a fresh water sponge but are fairly certain that is what is growing there.  The pattern is similar to encrusting sponges, they have the tell-tale mouth holes, and skeletal structure, texture, indicative of a sponge.
All and all it was a good day. We both got two 60 minute dives on one cylinder, swam the lake underwater, found new critters, and enjoyed Madison special lettuce and cheese sandwiches and dark chocolate.
How was your Sunday?
Come visit 288 Lake in June with me and Madison and meet the barracuda and damsel fish.

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Scuba Divers Enjoy Wade's Crawfish

Crawfish Chef Wade Sparks
Chef Wade finally gets to sit down and enjoy some crawfish.

The secret is the garlic and the butter at least that is what Wade was overheard saying this weekend at Wade’s Cajun Crawfish Boil down at 288 Lake.  Whatever the secret mix of ingrediants were, everyone on hand said that his crawfish were the best they haever eaten!  And this was from some “professional crawfish eaters.” Wade kept the pots going with sack after sack of crawfish and with a seperate pot of Gumbo cooking away.

The group sat down to cold tea (& a few beers), warm crawfish, corn, muchrooms, garlic and hot gumbo over rice.

In addition to the crawfish boil, Alex had a group of Advanced Open Water students and Vernon had some Dry Suit Students.  The divers had a great time with a lunch break in between.  Steve Soulen wven had time to set the First Dive Cache in Texas. A really fun weekend — Thank’s Wade!

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Houston's First Dive Cach Ready for Scuba Crawfish Boil Weekend

David & Steve in Mexico
David Dobrowski and Steve Soulen, OVI Cache Master, in Cozumel
Oceanic Ventures, own Cache Master, Steve Soulen, announced that he will have Houston’s first Dive Cache ready for divers to discover during Wade’s Crawfish Boil and dive at 288 Lake on March 24, 2013.  If you are unfamiliar with DiveCaching it is the underwater version of GeoCaching, a sort of treasure hunt using GPS coordinates and a little detective work.  These caches are placed for others to find and discover the locations.  Inside each cache is a log for the finder to sign as well as a treat which was placed there by the last group to visit the cache.  The idea is to sign the log and then you can take something from the cache but you must leave something in it as well.
Steve will be placing the cache somewhere in 288 Lake and then posting the instructions on how to find it on the GeoCache website.  He will also monitor the cache and post the logs periodically to the website.  He has plans for placing other DiveCaches in area lakes to make the search even more fun.  Keep watching for hints to this location as well as others around Texas.
Watch this  short video clip to learn more…

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Local Texas Scuba Diving – Reveille Peak Ranch

Quarry at Reveille Peak Ranch
The Quarry
Off the beaten path is a little known dive site in Texas.  It is just four hours from Houston, in the Texas Hill Country.  This site, the former home to the Dixon/Southwestern Mining Company is an open seam graphite mine.  Once the site of large draglines and steam shovels, it is now a water filled oasis in the heart of the Llano geological uplift.  This crack in the earth is filled with rising ground water, a natural spring and rain water and prneudes a natural habitat for a small number of fish and turtles.  You will find most of the fish in the shallows among the hydrilla plants that occupy the first ten to fifteen feet of water.  Below that, there are relatively shear walls or granite, marble, limestone, sandstone infused with graphite.  It is this graphite which makes the deeper depths. Interesting.  The bottom is covered with black sand and sparkling graphite.  But, this dark bottom and the orientation of the body of water make the deep parts of the seam as dark as a cave dive – little to no natural light can be seen at the bottom.   And the bottom is relatively deep with depths ranging from seventy to one-hundred feet.

Aside from the opportunity to try out your new diving lights, the quarry prneudes you the opportunity to use your hoods, gloves, heavy wetsuits or a dry suit.  The water temperature in the quarry was a brisk 71 degrees at the surface to a much colder 56 degrees at the bottom.  But, with all of these variances, there comes a treat in Texas – visibility!  While the first twenty feet had a slight green algae induced hue, the visibility was a respectable fifteen to twenty feet but drop into the cold, dark part of the quarry and the visibility grows to 40 to 50 feet.  Of course, at this part of the quarry, your light is the limiting factor.

Pavilian at Reveille Peak Ranch
The Pavilian at Reveille Peak Ranch

This quarry sits in the middle of a outdoor enthusiasts dream location, the Reveille Peak Ranch.  Designed by owner Vol Montgomery, as a place where you can enjoy activities away from the hustle and bustle of the city but not give up all of the conveniences.  The central feature is a large pavilion with ponds, pools, a commercial kitchen and a bar, perfect for any company sponsored function.  It overlooks a manmade lake stocked with bass and pearch so the fishing is active and the fish are large.  The fact that the Ranch operates a hook and release program and also feeds the fish makes them larger than you might find in a natural lake – of course this is Texas and we only have one natural lake so who cares.  This is a mecca for mountain bikers with miles of trails with different skill level challenges.  There are walking and hiking trails with a new nature center under construction.  Kayakers and paddle boarders will also enjoy the small lake which has trees sticking up from the depths to add to the paddling practice.

Tent Campsite
Tent Campsite

The Ranch also has camp sites scattered around the pavilion area that prneude for tent camping or RV camping with electrical hook-ups for both 30 amp and 15 amp hook-ups.  There are warm and cold water showers for both and toilet facilities near the Pavilion so you don’t have to go too native.  The staff at the Ranch are on hand to help you find your way or to make suggestions.  Andrea is the diving coordinator for the Ranch with John, a former mountain biking circuit rider, is on hand to help coordinate things.  Vol is also on the property to make sure things run smoothly.

The Ranch staff can also host other activities for groups including skeet shooting, children’s activities and obstacle course events. 

While there are some motels and guest cabins nearby, our group of explorers, which dwindled from twelve to six, all stayed and camped at the Ranch.  Ann loves camping so this was just up her alley.  Of course I am not really a tent camper anymore so my solution was to rent a small teardrop camper from a local dealer here in Houston.  It turned out to be the perfect match for the weekend with a comfortable bed and a nice place to prepare food.  Remember our motto here at Oceanic Ventures – local diving is a Barbeque interrupted by diving and as David likes to say, it is all about the food.  Wade brought steaks, potatoes and fresh cord for Saturday’s post dive dinner and I brought two nice bottles of wine to go with it.  I also had a surprise – homemade ice cream, made on site.  Of course it was not the most appropriate dessert because the temperatures dropped to a brisk 48 degrees.  But in my mind, ice cream is perfect any time.  We built a nice fire and shared dive stories and adult beverages until one-by-one we began to fade and drift off to sleep.

The scenery of the Ranch make this a perfect escape for divers and non-divers alike.  The diving, while cold, was interesting and fun.  The geology underwater is interesting with the graphite seams in the formations sparkling in the light.  Navigation is easy since the quarry runs north to south and there are no known caves or major overhangs.  Surface intervals are relaxing with a deck near the campsite or on the floating dock.  There are also hiking trails around the quarry if you feel you need more exercise.

One note for divers – the quarry is not open to the public.  To dive here you must go with a dive store, like your friends at Oceanic Ventures. 

Dive Mom's Birthday BashHow did we enjoy the weekend?  Well, Oceanic Ventures has decided to throw Dive Mom and birthday bash up at Reveille Peak Ranch on 26-28 April 2013 (i.e. this coming April).  Everyone is invited to the party and if you are interested in renting a teardrop trailer contact Charlie at hitchandgoadventures.com ahead of time and let him know you what one just like ours (we have already put in a reservation).  But don’t worry; Steve Soulen will be coordinating the tent campers and the ever present campfire! 

So, mark your calendars for April 26-28 and plan on joining us for a VERY fun weekend!

See More Photos from the weekend on our Facebook Fan Page or by clicking here.

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Scuba Diving Practice – Local Lake Diving

open water october 2012
The Early Morning Arrivals for Wades Excelent Adventure Barbeque

Wow!  We had a great time up at Blue Lagoon yesterday.  Wade proved once again that he is a master at the smoker and grill.  The wild boar and grass fed brisket were awesome and no one went away hungry.  While the weather threatened and delivered on the ride up to Huntsville, the weather at the Lagoon was nice and we had clear skies in the afternoon. 

Practice your buoyancy skills locally…

I am often asked “do you still enjoy diving at Blue Lagoon?”  I think what they actually mean is, that since I have been all over the world what can I possible find to do at Blue Lagoon or any local diving venue for that matter.  What they fail to understand is that local diving affords you the opportunity to practice and maintain your skills.  There is also a social aspect to local diving which I have often described as a barbecue interrupted by diving.

In order to keep the dives interesting you have to go in with a plan or purpose.  In my earlier diving days I used local diving as a way to improve my navigational skills.  It was a challenge to find all of the objects in the lake and return to the beach without surfacing.  These skills have served me well over the years.  To keep these skills sharp, I still practice underwater navigation in the lakes. 

You can use your time underwater at these local venues to improve your buoyancy.  In an earlier article I talked about using the underwater boats as a fixed point of reference and forcing yourself to hover in place.  Another drill is to swim like a slalom skier maintaining neutral buoyancy and proper trim while swimming in and around rocks, trees, stumps, etc. 

Pick objects on the bottom and swim around them, maintaining your trim and placement in the water.  Work on making the turns without using your hands for steering.  As you improve, try making sharper turns and then introduce changes in depth to your drills.  Remember the first rule of scuba, breath continuously.  Some people start concentrating too much on the drills and maintaining neutral buoyancy that they start violating this rule.  Keep breathing but use your breathing to help you achieve these depth changes (unless you are on a rebreather of course). 

As you do these drills, work on not kicking up the bottom.  The tighter your turns, the more you will need to be in a bent leg diving position using “helicopter turns” and small very specific kicks to move through your course.  If you are unfamiliar with these turns or this style of diving, then you might find an Advanced Buoyancy Control class useful. 

The group diving with me this weekend got to experience this type of diving first hand as we wove through the boulder fields around the lake.  Of course they skipped a few turns because they thought I was just doubling back, lost.  Little did they know we were heading back to our entry point 50 more minutes in the future.