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The Diving Rebels, joined by the Scubadillo Dive Club, will continue our annual tradition of the underwater cleanup of the San Marcos River on Saturday March 19th, 2022. We can no longer park in the parking lot near the entry point as we had for many years previously. Consequently, we will meet at Rio Vista Park (exit location) in the 12 – 12:30 PM time frame and gear up there. We will then shuttle divers to the entry point on Aquarena Springs Drive where we plan to enter the river about 1 PM. Before we get in the water, we will get everyone together for a group photo. There are usually one or more folks with our group who aren’t diving the river and who can perform the shuttle efforts and this is greatly appreciated. Please see the attached map noting these locations.

As usual, Steve is the outing coordinator, and his cell number is (214)[masked]. If you would like to participate in this event or running late, please contact him either at his cell number via either call or text or email me at [masked]. For the day of the outing, call him if you are running a bit late so we know to wait for you. If anyone is interested in carpooling, you can either make your own arrangements or contact me.

As usual, we will enter the water on the south side of the Aquarena Springs Drive bridge and exit at Rio Vista Park, about one mile downstream. The attached map also notes the exit location. For the most part, this is a relaxing fresh-water drift dive and in some places early in the dive you can just obtain a stable, motionless position and let the current move you along. Depending on the water level, there may be some rather shallow spots about one-halfway along the dive, but these are navigable.

We will have 1st and 2nd place prizes for the collector of the most trash and as well as 1st and 2nd place prizes for the collector of the most unusual piece of trash, as voted by the participants. So, bring your mesh laundry bags and/or onion sacks and be prepared to scour the river bottom for collectables.

After the dive, for those who are interested, we will meet for our traditional Saturday evening dinner together. For the past few years, we have eaten at a wonderful restaurant called The Root Cellar Cafe (http://www.rootcellarcafe.com/), so we will look to go there again. The Root Cellar manager was very generous is providing gift cards for the restaurant and I will pursue this again. On Sunday morning, we most likely will follow our past practice of breakfast at Herbert’s Taco Hut (http://www.herbertstacohut.com) for those who would like to join us there.

There are a number of reasonably priced motels in the San Marcos area, fairly close by the river. You might want to check out https://www.booking.com/city/us/san-marcos.html. Last year, I was able to book a room in a private home using https://www.airbnb.com/s/San-Marcos–TX–United-States/homes. Camping is also available in the area if you are so inclined.

For those outing participants who have completed the Dive Authorization Course (DAC) or the former Diving for Science or Scientific Diver certification programs and are interested in performing a volunteer dive in Spring Lake on Sunday, there is again an opportunity for you to perform a volunteer dive in the lake. In consideration of the societal challenges we are facing, I inquired about the potential for diving in Spring Lake to Caleb Henderson, the Spring Lake Diving Coordinator. His response is as follows.

COVID has definitely affected our operations, but we are still scheduling and allowing volunteer activities.

All requests to dive are now submitted through our online system. You can find the form using the following link. https://www.meadowscenter.txstate.edu/Stewardship/Diving/AquaCorps/volunteer-dive-request.

Steve is the outing coordinator, and his cell number is (214)[masked].
For more info go to https://www.scubadillos.org/event/annual-clean-up-the-san-marcos-river-dive-and-dinner/