Dive In

Dive into the best scuba spots in Austin and beyond

Yes, you can scuba dive in Austin.

When summer heat bears down on Austin, water is the go-to for relief, and going underwater — as in scuba diving — is even better. If you can’t escape to the Caribbean or South Pacific, no worries, Austin offers some killer options. Read on for five local dive spots, plus a special event.

Windy Point, Lake Travis
Local dive shops Scubaland Adventures and Tom’s Dive & Swim organize outings to this and other Lake Travis sites. Windy Point Park has an onsite air fill station, carts to transport equipment from the parking lot, and stairs that lead directly into the water.

Beneath the surface, divers can explore boat wrecks; an old car; unique metal sculptures including a scuba diver, sea turtle, and shark; and more. For advanced divers, there’s a canyon wall plunging to deeper than 100 feet.

Enjoy Bubble Hour dives here every other Wednesday through the summer with Tom’s Dive & Swim. Bring your own gear.

Quarry at Reveille Peak Ranch
This dive site, located in a former graphite mine on a private adventure ranch, is one of the clearest bodies of water in Texas with an average visibility of 20 to 30 feet. The granite walls and bottom contain graphite that sparkles when illuminated with dive lights.

During summer, the water temperature is about 80 degrees at the top, but below the thermocline, at about 15 feet, it drops as low as 50. Wetsuits of 5 or 7 millimeters are therefore recommended.

Stairs and shallow platforms make it easy to enter the water, and four shelters are available for gearing up and post-dive debriefings. All diving is organized and escorted by dive professionals. Contact the ranch to join or schedule a group.

Spring Lake, San Marcos
Through the Meadows Center for Water and the Environment, those with science diving certification can explore Spring Lake’s crystal-clear waters.

With a temperature set at a constant 72 degrees year-round, the property is home to more than 200 artesian springs, eight threatened and endangered species, biological and archeological research sites, one of the densest population of turtles in the United States, and more.

Not science diver certified? The Meadows Center and some local dive shops provide training. Another way to get your fins into this lake is through courses that hold open water checkout dives here, including Scubaland Adventures and Tom’s Dive and Swim.

Canyon Lake
Canyon Lake Divers offers shore and boat-based diving. The lake, a reservoir on the Guadalupe River, features 80 miles of shoreline and an average depth of 43 feet.

Enjoy a variety of dive sites, including Comal Park and North Park, via pontoon dive boat and shore diving weekly on Sundays and Mondays.

Underwater at Comal Park you’ll find walls, overhangs, and, deeper down, trees. North Park features ledges; boulders; fish shelters; and many sunken objects including cars, boats, and a motorcycle.

The lake hits a maximum depth of more than 120 feet, with average visibility of 5 to 10 feet, improving to about 40 feet below the thermocline at about 40 feet. Surface temperature reaches the high 80s in summer with temps below the thermocline 5 to 10 degrees lower.

Comal River
Enjoy a cool drift dive on the Comal River, the shortest river in the country at 2.5 miles, with a maximum depth of 15 feet and visibility averaging of 5 to 15 feet and better.

Tubing is hugely popular here, and tubers drop all manner of now-sunken treasure like sunglasses, jewelry, cell phones, and cameras. Plus, chutes and rapids installed for tubes can be shot with an inflated BC.

Tip: Look for tiny Fountain Darters, an endangered fish found only in the Comal and nearby San Marcos River, as well as perch, bass, and carp, freshwater clams, and snails.

Local dive shops such as Tom’s Dive and Swim schedule occasional trips here outside of peak tubing season. Or just round up a few friends, rent gear, and leave a car at your take-out spot.

Women’s Dive Day Event
Woman's Dive Day, a worldwide event organized by the Professional Association of Dive Instructors (PADI) on July 15, aims at encouraging more women to take up diving. Dive World and its Girl Scout Scuba Troop created an underwater heritage trail from biographies of influential woman in diving printed on waterproof paper in acrylic frames and placed at various locations at Windy Point Scuba Park in Lake Travis. From 11 am to 8 pm, follow the trail to learn about the history of women's contributions while diving.

Why learn to dive?
Scuba diving provides a full-body workout combining cardio and strength training and can burn up to 800 calories in 60 minutes. According to Kristin Valette, chief marketing and business development officer for PADI Worldwide, diving is a social sport and fosters a sense of accomplishment, builds confidence, and is empowering for everyone at every skill level.

Diving, like yoga, focuses on the importance of breathing, which is calming for the mind and body. This controlled, rhythmic breathing can help mitigate intense emotions, improve sleep, and increase stress resilience.

Diving has proved successful therapy for military veterans with post-traumatic stress injury. Divers gain a greater understanding of and appreciation for rivers, lakes, and oceans and often become advocates for oceans and marine wildlife.

fitness vacation nature sports

Genie Is Out of The Bottle

Texas Lt. Governor Dan Patrick starts quest to ban all forms of THC

The THC limit in medical cannabis products is also increasing.

Photo courtesy of TOCC

A ban on THC would not be popular.

Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick is launching a quixotic quest to ban legal THC: According to a release, Patrick is pushing legislation that would ban all forms of consumable Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) from being sold in Texas.

He's promoting Senate Bill 3, which would be carried by Sen. Charles Perry, R-Lubbock, and would ban all forms of THC.

Patrick is unhappy with House Bill 1325, introduced by Rep. Tracy King, D-Uvalde, to bolster agriculture in Texas. It was passed by the Texas Legislature in 2019.

Part of that bill allowed for the commercialization of hemp, which included un-removable non-intoxicating trace amounts of Delta 9 THC.

“Dangerously, retailers exploited the agriculture law to sell life-threatening, unregulated forms of THC to the public and made them easily accessible," Patrick says in his release. "These stores not only sold to adults, but they targeted Texas children and exposed them to dangerous levels of THC."

"Since 2023, thousands of stores selling hazardous THC products have popped up in communities across the state, and many sell products, including beverages, that have three to four times the THC content which might be found in marijuana purchased from a drug dealer," he says.

It seems like the genie is out of the bottle: According to the Baker Institute, hemp in Texas is booming: From 2020 to 2023, sales of hemp-derived cannabinoids increased by 1283 percent, reaching a value of $2.78 billion last year.

And efforts to reel it back in are basically doomed, they say.

"While prohibition may seem like the simplest response, it is almost certain to fail — both in eliminating widespread access to hemp-derived cannabinoids and in protecting the public," they say.

"As of April 2024, Texas had over 7,000 registered hemp dispensaries," they note. "More than 50,000 Texans are estimated to be employed through the hemp sector. A state ban would ruin this industry, but it would not reduce consumer demand for hemp-derived cannabinoids. Instead, consumers would turn to the illicit hemp market that would inevitably form in the wake of state prohibition. Products sold today in state-registered shops would still be available through underground supply networks that would reap billions in tax-free profits."

They say that "a broad ban, even a poorly enforced one, would harm consumers more than the state’s current system."

Meanwhile voters are supporting marijuana decriminalization efforts such as the one recently approved by the city of Dallas, as well as Austin, Denton, Elgin, Killeen, and San Marcos.

Catina Voellinger, Executive Director of Ground Game Texas, a Texas group that has been advocating for decriminalization of marijuana, says in a statement that the legislation would turn back the clock to a more repressive time.

“Instead of banning THC, lawmakers should focus on legalizing marijuana statewide, which would allow for cannabis to be safely regulated, and would prevent countless residents from being harmed by unnecessary arrests and prosecutions for possessing something that is already legal in 24 states," Voellinger says. "We’ve seen repeatedly that this is what Texans want – our marijuana decriminalization ballot initiatives in Dallas, Lockhart, and Bastrop won overwhelmingly this November.”

Daryoush Austin Zamhariri, Executive Director of Texas Cannabis Collective, a group working to change cannabis laws, calls Patrick's endorsement of legislation that would ban all consumable THC products in Texas "tremendously out of step with the overwhelming majority of Texans."

"Poll after poll has shown the citizens of Texas support legalizing cannabis and ending the failed policy of cannabis prohibition," Zamhariri says. "These attitudes have manifested in several campaigns to progressively decriminalize marijuana possession in cities across the state with bipartisan super majority votes through local ballot initiatives. We oppose SB 3 and look forward to working with our coalition partners at the 89th Legislature to bring common sense cannabis reform to the entirety of Texas.”

marijuana politics cbd cannabis