| Company description
| Diving: relaxing, action-packed, tranquil, adrenaline pumping, adventurous - diving is all this and more - the choice is yours
Can you imagine being in a tropical location diving in crystal clear water, surrounded by brightly colored coral and fish. You and your buddy put on your dive equipment to enter the water and explore the abundance of marine life -- all the while hovering weightlessly underwater. Or, you could be off exploring a new shipwreck off the coast of a small island out in the middle of the ocean - where conditions are challenging.
You`re ready for anything because you`ve invested in the right training and have gained valuable hands-on experience. Is being prepared for worth it? You bet!
Do you have to travel to these areas to learn to dive or take a continuing education course? You can if you like. However, you can also choose to learn most of these skills right here in the DFW metro-plex from Surface Interval Scuba.
One of the first things a diver learns is that there are many exciting dive environments that can be enjoyed under the right conditions and with the appropriate training. To help guide you in the right direction, we`ve listed a few PADI programs offered by Surface Interval Scuba.
We want your first diving experience to be a positive one. We believe in the all-inclusive approach and not the nickel and dime approach. You will receive the most complete training PADI has to offer from certified and insured Dive Instructors. PADI certified and insured Dive Masters will be along on your training dives to assist the instructors and students. Your safety and training is our number one concern
Instruction rates include all books, tests, and some equipment. When calling for quotes from other dive instruction facilities make sure you ask what the added costs of your instruction may be. Books and tests will cost from $30-$50. We include the costs in your instruction fees. Most instruction shops will include the rental gear, but you will have to haul it and keep it clean. If you want to use our gear to train in before you buy your own, we will haul the gear, and keep it clean for you.
Rates do not include mask, fins and snorkel that you will need before your first pool dive. We will assist you in your questions for the purchase of this equipment at our dive shop. The equipment comes in a range of colors, models and prices. Please call for further information.
Artificial Reefs
Artificial reefs enhance fishery resources plus fishing and diving opportunities off Texas
Artificial reefs rise like oases in the desert -- dotting the vast expanses of mud and sand covering the floor of the Gulf of Mexico. These underwater havens provide hard surfaces required for attachment by invertebrates such as barnacles, corals, sponges, clams, bryozoans and hydroids. These reefs are particularly important since the habitat is limited for many of them.
These organisms are the beginnings of an interactive food web that supports a host of reef fish species. By providing food and shelter, artificial reefs can enhance overfished populations of resident reef fish like snapper and grouper. Transient species like mackerel, shark and billfish can also benefit by feeding on the resident fish.
Of course, people can also benefit. Artificial reefs not only enhance fishery resources but also fishing and diving opportunities off Texas. Hundreds of thousands of anglers and divers travel offshore each year. Most use either one of the artificial reef sites managed by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department or the even more numerous unintentional artificial reefs in the form of petroleum platforms scattered throughout the Gulf.
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Blue Lagoon in Huntsville, Texas
You can camp at the park or stay at one of the local hotels in Huntsville like La Quinta, Motel 6, or Holiday Inn Express. We will eat dinner Saturday at The Junction .
Blue Lagoon opened in September 1986 near Huntsville, Texas, as a training area for divers. It still serves in that capacity but is now open to certified divers as a place for them to hone their skills. The site is composed of two lagoons. Non divers are permitted to enter the site with divers, but the lagoons are not open to swimmers. Three large dive platforms exist in one lagoon and two are in the other. There are shelters around both lagoons to provide shade and equipment assembly areas for dive classes, and gently sloping beaches for easy entry. For certified divers, there is a separate area on the far side of Lagoon I that is near the boat and the rock walls, and has a giant stride entry. Blue Lagoon is about 65 miles from Houston. Underwater, the lagoons have a few small boats.
Been There and Done That....
Dive Valhalla Missile Silo!
That`s it in a nutshell.... No, no just kidding there`s more than that to this dive. Actually this is one of the more ``thrilling`` dives I have done in a while. 11 divers assembled in Arlington, Texas for the caravan to get us to the dive site just outside Abilene, Texas. 180 miles each way and we made it in about 3 hours 10 minutes with two stops in between. Not bad for 6 cars and we didn`t even lose anybody. I won`t give you the exact coordinates ( we have a GPS and tracked the whole trip) because I think I would be taking something away from you by not allowing you to read the directions the dive shop who owns the facility provides. The road is marked only by a small dive flag and is removed after each group leaves. The road is TOP SECRET and the way to get the secret is to pay just like we did! The topside of the site has a fair amount of parking and accommodated all our cars just fine. Below are the pictures of the lot, and entrance to the Silo.
We received the grand tour and we were all interested in the site itself and asked a few questions. We made our way down the stairs and through the hallways and rapped on the blast doors. You start to realize this is one cool hole in the ground...literally! The inside of the dive part of the silo itself is a cool 68 degrees and the water temp ranges from 57 degrees at about 110 feet to a water level temp of 61 degrees. You will need a hood, gloves, and at least a 5mm wetsuit/semi-dry suit or dry suit.
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