You Don’t Need a Plane Ticket to Dive.
Lake Travis is fifteen minutes from the shop, and it’s where most Austin divers log the bulk of their dives between trips. Here’s what’s actually down there, plus two easy day-trip options beyond the lake.
Most certified divers in Austin do not learn buoyancy and navigation on a reef in the Caribbean. They do it at Lake Travis, in green water with a flashlight, because that is what is actually here and it is fifteen minutes away. The Austin Aquanauts, the dive club based out of Tom’s, dive the lake informally most weekends. This page is a guide to what is actually down there, not a brochure — Lake Travis is not the Caribbean, and knowing that going in is part of what makes it good training.
Lake Travis
Windy Point Park
Most Austin divers’ first local dive. A public access point on the lake’s west side with an air-fill station and stairs into the water. The canyon wall runs past 100 feet, with boat wrecks, an old car, and a scattering of metal sculptures (a diver, a sea turtle, a shark) placed along the shallower sections.
Starnes Island (Rattlesnake Island)
A gradually sloping wall that drops past 100 feet, with several sunken boat hulls along the way. The shallower sections can be appropriate for Open Water divers when conditions are suitable, which makes this one of the more forgiving sites on the lake.
Wreck Alley
Houseboats, sailboats, motorboats, and cars, sunk intentionally since the 1970s as a training ground. This is where a lot of Tom’s specialty certifications — navigation, search and recovery, wreck diving — actually happen.
Fiesta Haus Wall
A deeper wall dive with a large grotto and an air pocket inside it. A good spot for practicing navigation against a fixed visual reference, best suited to intermediate divers and up.
Oasis Wall
Beneath the Oasis restaurant. Grottos and a hole lined with stalactites that formed before the lake existed, back when the Colorado River just ran through here. This site extends well beyond the depths appropriate for entry-level Open Water divers — stay within the limits of your certification, experience, gas plan, and conditions; deeper sections call for Deep Diving training.
Shaker Plant
The remains of a 1930s–40s materials-processing facility: concrete pads, wooden support frames, and old metal pipework, all at recreational depths.
Cypress Creek Wall
A sheer wall with vertical cracks and crevices, sloping down toward the old river channel. Rated intermediate.
Visibility at Lake Travis varies with season and rainfall, and typically runs somewhere in the 8–15 foot range — noticeably lower than what you’ll see on a Tom’s travel trip. That is exactly why it is useful: it builds the comfort and buoyancy control that make a good diver anywhere, not just in clear water.
Two More Local Options
Canyon Lake
About an hour south of Austin, near New Braunfels. Average depth runs around 43 feet, with a max beyond 120 feet. Walls, overhangs, and a scattering of sunken cars and boats. Visibility near the surface runs 5–10 feet, improving to as much as 40 feet below the thermocline.
Reveille Peak Ranch Quarry
A flooded former graphite mine on a private ranch near Burnet, about an hour northwest of Austin. Visibility typically runs 20–30 feet, well above what Lake Travis offers, with a thermocline around 15 feet and granite walls that catch the light from the graphite still in the rock.
Frequently Asked Questions
Tap any question to expand the answer.
Do I need a special certification to dive Lake Travis?
Open Water certification covers the shallower sections of most sites. The deeper sections of Oasis Wall and Fiesta Haus Wall extend well beyond entry-level limits and call for Advanced or Deep Diving training — always stay within the limits of your certification, experience, and gas plan. Tom’s Deep Diving and Navigation specialties are built with exactly this kind of local diving in mind.
What is the visibility really like?
Lower than you are picturing, most of the time. Lake Travis is not the Caribbean, and pretending otherwise does new divers a disservice. Expect roughly 8–15 feet, sometimes less after heavy rain. That is also why it is good training: it builds the kind of comfort in real-world conditions that clear-water travel diving does not require.
Does Tom’s run guided dives to these sites?
Most local diving happens informally through the Austin Aquanauts, the dive club based out of the shop, where certified divers buddy up for weekend dives. Ask in the shop about who is diving this weekend.
What gear do I need that's different from travel diving?
Exposure protection and a good primary light are the two biggest differences. Cooler, lower-visibility water means most local divers wear a wetsuit (or a drysuit in the winter months) even when they dive in a shorty on a Tom’s trip. The shop can get you fitted before your first local dive — see Shop Gear.
Ready to Put It to Use?
Get certified, then get in the lake. Or skip straight to the destinations these local dives are training you for.
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