Man made rooms behind a Texas Waterfall

[crazyduck]

Sometime ago I had heard of square rooms behind a waterfall. Sounded really strange and something that I needed to checkout sometime. Well, my last trip was with a OW group and I did not want to disappear with a ton of dive gear on. This last weekend was my last trip back and very interesting and productive.

I had fun checking out some overhead rooms originally designed for an ice house. The only down side was the rooms were square and the entrance is under a waterfall. It was strange swimming with the waterfall crashing down on your left and a wall on your right. All of a sudden it opens up to two rooms on your right side. After looking at two very small square rooms (8ft wide, 5ft tall and 20ft deep) I found one broken down room to the far left. This was not a complete room since the ceiling was no more and the full force of the waterfall was crashing overhead. I was playing pull and glide for about a minute but was like being a kite in a wind tunnel. I eventually checked out the entire area and even under the waterfall. This waterfall is the head of a spring feed river the San Marcos River. When I get my underwater camera together I will be back to take photos of the room and the fish. They hangout in the rooms and are huge bass, catfish, armored catfish, and a few local specialties. The only failure was my HID light. Human error- from the lack of charging. We drifted down to the local park, and found a place were the fish were hanging out in tall freshwater grass and wild rice. After surfacing to exit in the park- to everyone’s surprise the questions were the usual—“why are you diving our river?” Little do they know that this is one of the few spring rivers in Texas, 73 degrees year round.
In closing the rooms were originally for an ice house that sat in that location many moons ago. A good friend and cave instructor told me what they were. Up to that point they were the square rooms behind the waterfall.

Dive Safe, Andrew

[D1V3R]

Sounds pretty intense, I'm guessing the rooms used to be above water so you didnt have to go camando style trough a waterfall wearin' 150 pounds of equipment to access them

[crazyduck]

They have a slough nearby were they can divert the water and I am guessing that they coffer damned the site and constructed the Ice House. Presently, the site concreted a special way to slow the water coming from the lake. Divers are only allowed in the lake without special "scientific training.” No comment about access to the lake!
Waterfall was on the left side and the eddies pull you in so it is not hard work at that point. It does get stressful when the water pulsates and you can feel it- really strange. However, it is not a quite dive! Very relaxing hanging in this room with the fish and watching the waterfall. Getting out- well, that took a little while to workout that process without the washing machine effect.
Overall, non-technical almost a cavern dive that was a blast.

Andrew

[JE]

Is the waterfall runnable-? I have a new creek boat i want to test out- 8)

J

[crazyduck]

It is really a hard left turning spillway.
Getting in would be tough, and not getting caught in the eddies would be a pain too! They had a rescue at the site last week, someone got swept in and could not find their way out. Max depth is 12ft I think- left the dive computer in the car!

It is a real blast to take advanced/master diver students (one at a time) and show them current in a safe condition. It blows away their perception of current when the waterfall grabs them and swirls them around. Don't need drugs just a good waterfall -

Besides bad news it is in Central Texas.

HAve fun dude- Later.

Is the waterfall runnable-? I have a new creek boat i want to test out- 8)

J

[flyczek]

I was inspired by your story and happened to be in that neck of the woods this weekend and gave the dive a shot. My buddy and I geared up for a cavern dive, parked at Joe's Crab Shack and walked down to the site. It took a little guesswork to figure out where exactly the place was, but maybe that is a good thing. Like you said, not too technical, but I've seen enough scary OW divers to know that not everyone needs to be in places like this.
The rooms were smaller than I pictured, I never even turned on my primary light, and the reel seemed like overkill, but rules are rules. Neat "secret" spot. The view from under the waterfall was beautiful. I stacked up a few old cans in the back and tossed out a softball stuck to the roof. The abundance of fish regarded me with little concern.
The best part though was just when I decided to just shoot straight out into the surge. What a ride! I was laughing so hard I started to get water around my reg. My buddy and I went through the spin cycle a few times and then collected up our reel and headed out.
Thanks for making my weekend crazyduck!