Posted: Fri, 2 Apr 2010 08:33 AM - 8,025 Readers

By: Tiffany Young

Recently Robert Weiss, owner of Lake Travis Scuba, picked up two technical divers in his 30-foot pontoon boat at Windy Point on Lake Travis. The men were on a mission: to find a boat that had sunk to the bottom of the lake and see if it could be moved to a safe dive spot for scuba divers to explore.
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While not part of his routine, Weiss, who established his transportation services for divers in 2007, is always looking for creative ways to ensure divers get the most out of their experience on Lake Travis.

“Many divers around Austin don’t see Lake Travis as a destination site, but people come from all over Texas to dive here,” said Paul Murphy, an independent dive instructor who teaches classes both from Weiss’ boat and Windy Point.

One reason Lake Travis makes for an interesting dive is its historical aspect. Below the surface (although during last summer’s drought, some of it began to peak above the surface) is Shaker Plant, a plant made for sorting rocks while Mansfield Dam was being built. Some of the platforms are still underwater, and divers can explore them and other remnants of the plant. Weiss has ropes set up between destinations, so divers can go from site to site without worrying about getting lost—Lake Travis with its low visibility (typically you can only see up to 10 feet away underwater) can be intimidating to inexperienced divers.

“A lot of people don’t like diving at the lake, but I love it,” technical diver and dive master John Andrews said. “You can run across old property lines, find fossils of shells and clams, and the Shaker Plant is really cool.”

Andrews got his certification in 2005 and has made about 500 dives, most of them in Lake Travis.

He said diving with Weiss is his preference.

“Robert will take you wherever you want to go,” Andrews said.

Some of the advantages of diving off a boat include not having to lug gear into the lake and being able to dive right into the lake at the diver’s point of interest. Weiss can also simulate a drift dive, which means he follows divers so they do not have to swim to the boat.

Last summer Weiss saw more business than the year before because of the drought. While many divers typically swim off a platform from Windy Point, last year the platform was above water and divers had to climb down rocks into the water, which can be difficult with heavy gear. Weiss’ provided the convenience of jumping in off his boat.

Weiss no longer teaches scuba lessons, but he is certified as a scuba instructor and previously taught at Scubaland Adventure Inc. He is often hired by local dive shops to take classes on the lake and has already begun booking weekend trips.