Written by Sebron Snyder
Lone Star Scuba’s Dallas location is tucked away in a quiet shopping center just south of 635 on Preston Road. The large SCUBA sign atop the building guided me to a parking spot at the front door and then in a typical Pavlovian fashion, the Scuba Pro signage gave me the warm fuzzy feeling that quickened my pace into the shop.

I have visited Lone Star Scuba on numerous occasions and it is always therapeutic to go to dive shops to feed the equipment “jones”, even when you don’t buy. Once I entered the store I immediately began checking out gear. For a small shop, the selection is effective and their choice of top brands says something about their shop. The layout of the store is smart and the Palapa/Tiki cash register is a nice touch. A small classroom located in the back rounds out the facility.

While I was there, a student dropped by to finish up Nitrox training. We all stood around and talked shop. This is where I really saw what Lone Star is about. It’s all about getting us back to where we all came from. What is it about hydrogen and a couple of atoms of oxygen that makes us all so happy? After a few minutes, Randy Diercoff, the shop’s director, arrived and we discussed all things scuba.

Q1. How long has your dive shop been in business?
A1. Lone Star Scuba got started back in 1988 out in Fort Worth by Manny Montoro. A few years after that the Dallas location opened. I came on at the Dallas location in a very round-about way. But once I came on here things really took off for me. I can’t say enough about how Lone Star has allowed me to come in and develop as a diver and to impart that knowledge to all our customers. Our Fort Worth shop is a twin to this operation with equal services and training.

Q2. How long have you been diving?
A2. Well, I decided to take a Scuba Class while at Texas A&M back in 1984 because my family was taking a trip to Cozumel. Sound familiar? Unfortunately, shortly after that I had a really bad car accident. Once I recovered, diving became a very comfortable and welcoming place. It is still great therapy for me.

Q3. What got you interested in the sport?
A3. The family trip! Well, it’s a good way to get those Physical Education credits out of the way.

Q4. As a diver, what level of certifications do you hold?
A4. Well, I have over 97 plus certifications and specialties. That includes Padi Dive Master and Master Diver, Naui Course Director and TDI Advanced TriMix Instructor Trainer. Lone Star has been great at supporting the staff and myself when it comes to certification and dive proficiency.

Q5. What kind of training does your shop offer?
A5. We’ve got six instructors on our rolls and we offer all types of training from Open Water basic to Technical diving. One thing I would like to tell you about us is that we are very hands on. I have the ability, as director, to customize your training. Not everyone has the same needs or skill level. After my accident I really understood that. We find the ways to train you safely and effectively so that your diving can be fun and safe.

Q6. What local dive facility do you take students for OW training?
A6. We don’t have a pool here on site but we do use the Saint Marks campus pool. We’ll do open water training at Clear Springs when appropriate and we’ve used Aquarena Springs if weather conditions are unfavorable here. As a standard Austin’s Lake Travis is always on our list.

Q7. Do you offer dive trips and if so how many trips a year do you take?
A7. Yes, presently we are up to about 20 for the year when you include Flower Gardens and that’s about our year average. So, we’re a bit ahead for the year! Tech trips to Fort Lauderdale is a new thing that I am really happy we are doing. There are some great wrecks down there.

Q8. What is the most common misconception about diving, especially among beginners?
A8. Okay, here comes the silly answer. Most people think they are going to be breathing pure Oxygen. Oh, also people think bowling is safer than Scuba. Go figure!

Q9. What does your dive shop bring to the table that is unique to the Dallas dive scene?
A9. What sets us apart? Well, we really get involved with you. Everyone is different that comes through that door. We treat you that way. We support all the major agencies; Naui, Padi and TDI. Along with extremely personal service we do offer Nitrox and Trimix fills.

Q10. This is your opportunity to promote your shop to our readers.
A10. We’re proud of what we do here; we service and train everyone with that thought in mind. You come to the shop and we take the time to make your experience worthwhile. We offer some of the best gear on the market to include Scuba Pro, Poseidon, Halycon OMS Mares Uwatec , Oceanic and Mares. We provide equipment servicing, tank inspection, equipment special orders and some of the best services in the local area. Oh, I think we are the most centrally located shop in Dallas. Being a block of 635 and mid-way between the Tollway and 75 has its benefits. Besides there is a great Chinese Restaurant next door.

You can visit Lone Star Scuba’s web site for more details or stop by and check out their store.

Thanks to Randy Diercoff and Lone Star Scuba.

DallasDivers.com is not affiliated with Lone Star Scuba or any other local dive shop. We exist to promote the sport of scuba diving in the Dallas area.

Written by Rob Neto of www.SouthwestScuba.com. Published by permission of the copyright holder.

An unusual dive. There are several missile silos throughout the United States which have been retired. Most of these silos have been decommissioned, the missiles removed, and the silos sold. The old silos have been salvaged for scrap metal. Some of them have had the control room converted into underground homes.

The silos, which are constructed of 4 foot thick reinforced concrete walls, are about 200 feet deep. Most of the silos near Abilene, TX have flooded with groundwater. The depth of the water makes it about 130 feet deep (conveniently the recreational dive limit). The diameter of the silo is 60 feet.

This silo was converted several years ago by the owner of Family Scuba Center, a dive shop located in Midland, TX. He has done quite a bit of work to it to make it a safe dive.

The silo has some scrap metal that was dropped during salvage efforts, so you can only get to about 110 feet. And being that this is an altitude dive, this conveniently brings you to a theoretical depth of 130 feet.

Water temperature is a constant 60 degrees year round. There are lights in the silo, but not underwater, so it also effectively makes it a “night” dive. So there are quite a few considerations when diving this place–deep, altitude, night, cold water, difficult entry.

As just mentioned, this is a difficult entry, even though it’s been made easier. This is supposedly the only divable silo in existence. The owner has set up a changing/kitting up area. Then you must walk about 100 yards to the stairs, which are fairly steep as you can see in the photos. The platform floats on the surface, so stepping on it with full cold water gear on does make it move quite a bit. Once in the water, you can descend along a line to about 95 feet. Descending along the line is suggested because it’s easy to get disoriented just looking at the concrete walls. Once at the bottom, you can swim off the line and explore the wreckage at the bottom.

Remember, after you surface, you have to get back on the floating platform and walk up the steep stairs back to the kitting area. Then you need to carry all your gear back up to your vehicle. Be prepared to work those legs.

We’ve come across some people concerned about the safety of the water being that this was an active missile silo. We arrived at the silo before the other divers and ended up talking to the owner for quite a while. He said when he bought the place, he was a little concerned about the lack of life in the silo. Because of this, he had water samples sent out to a lab and tested. It came back clean. So you’re not going to glow after this dive! This place is totally dark when it’s shut down. No light means no life. And since it’s a closed system, we’re not going to have any of the cave fish or craws migrate here (although that would be cool).

This is basically a “been there done that” dive. We’ve heard that it’s on the market though, so dive it soon before a non-diver buys it. The owner only schedules dives there through dive shops, and you must have at least 12 divers along for him to open it up. To find out more information about Dive Valhalla, check out their website: Dive Valhalla.

Editor’s note: I conducted a follow-up interview with Rob Neto and asked him five questions about his experience at Valhalla.

Q1. How many dives did you make at Valhalla?
A1. We did 2 dives at Valhalla.

Q2. What dive certifications do you possess?
A2. At the time, I believe we were divemasters already. Currently, we are both Instructors, cave trained and certified, and trimix.

Q3. Other than the unusual dive environment, how interesting was the dive?
A3. The process of getting into the water was challenging due to the stairs and the floating dock. The silo itself was pretty interesting. Lots of debris at the bottom to poke around and the control room to one side was interesting to look at.

Q4. Can you compare the dive to any others you have made?
A4. The only other dive I can compare it to is the one we made at the Blue Hole in Belize. They’re both round and dark, but you can get to the bottom of Valhalla without going into decompression.

Q5. What surprised you most about the dives?
A5. Not much to be surprised about. We did some research before booking the dives and knew what to expect.

Q6. Were there any concerns the water could be unsafe to dive in?
A6. We arrived early in the morning since we stayed in Abilene the night before. We had about an hour with the property owner and got some history on the place. When he purchased the land he had the water tested and it came back clean. He didn’t own a dive shop at the time. In fact, he wasn’t even a diver. He got certified and then did his first dive in the silo with his instructor. Somewhere along the line, he bought a dive shop and opened the silo up to diving. As a business owner, if there was any type of radiation, etc, I don’t think the state would let him operate it as a dive site. Also, there are several more silos in the area that are water filled. Some of them have been fixed up to be people’s homes, which was the intention of Valhalla’s owner when he bought it in the 80s. As for the rats and snakes, they do get in there from time to time. I didn’t see any during our trip, but it is a dark place and not air tight. It stays a constant temperature throughout the year. However, because there’s no light in there, you won’t find anything else living in there, especially in the water. I wouldn’t drink the water in the silo, but it is safe to dive in.

Written by Chris Manning.
Special thanks to Henry Aschner, the Scubadillo Dive Club President for his enthusiasm, cooperation, and passion for the sport of scuba diving.

Approaching their 25th year, the Scubadillo Dive Club is one of the largest and most active dive clubs in Texas. Dedicated to Ocean Conservation, and promoting safety and education in SCUBA diving, the Scubadillos donate thousands of dollars annually to charity groups such as The Dallas Aquarium, Save the Manatee Club, and The Coral Reef Alliance. Their mission is to provide a place for divers of all experience levels to congregate, network, and socialize. The Scubadillo Dive Club fosters a community of local divers intent on furthering the sport of scuba diving. Monthly meetings focus on diver education, dive destinations, techniques, and the marine environment.

Monthly Meetings
Monthly meeting are held the first Thursday of every month at the Midway Point Restaurant, located at the southwest corner of I-635 and Midway Road in Dallas. Meetings start at 7:30 p.m., but early birds can catch the social hour at 6:30. This is a great way to meet new dive buddies and share your latest adventure! Each month features interesting guest speakers on a variety of diving and conservation-related topics.

The Dillos Diver
The “Dillo Diver” is their monthly newsletter, featuring information on upcoming events, travel and diving articles from members, and safety and training articles. Another monthly feature is “Who’s Diving and What’s on Sale”, which keeps members up-to-date on dive trips and sales from the local dive shops. I found this to be an excellent resource, especially for gear junkies like myself!

Diving Activities
The Scubadillos have regular dive trips to area lakes as well as an annual blue water journey to Cozumel. The summer lake dives are well planned, emphasize safety and education, and share a common thread of camaraderie. Each year they host theme dives, such as an underwater Easter Egg Hunt, a Hawaiian Luau, and a couple of River Clean-up adventures. To top off the year in October, they hold an underwater pumpkin-carving contest! These weekend dive trips provide the opportunity to get better acquainted with fellow Dillos, camp out at local parks, and win cool prizes.

Charitable Causes
The Scubadillo Dive Club is a non-profit organization, and supports the environment that affects the diving community. In addition to Earth Day activities and river and lake cleanups, each year the Scubadillos contribute to organizations such as The Dallas Aquarium, Coral Reef Alliance and Save the Manatee Foundation.

Education and Environmental Conservation
The Scubadillo Dive Club is dedicated to education and ocean conservation. They work with several local dive shops to provide opportunities for Dallas divers to continue their diving education. Their members also participate in river and lake cleanups around the state to help keep our waterways clean and protect the area wildlife.

Social Activities
And when they are not getting wet, the Dillos offer plenty of “land-based” activities for members to connect with one another. They have monthly happy hours at different club venues and restaurants around the Metroplex, as well as an annual fund-raising Crawfish Boil in April. The annual party-barge, complete with swimming and barbecue and their Christmas Ball ensure that members are entertained year around.

For more information on the Scubadillo Dive Club, please visit their web site at www.scubadillo.org.

Review by Chris Hinkle

This book has something for everybody. If you are new to scuba, you will embrace this book and curse your open water certification organization for not making it mandatory reading. If you are a seasoned professional or technical diver, your experience and wisdom of the sport will be reflected in its pages. And if you’re somewhere past your open water, headed into advanced (or possibly your first resort dive), you will inhale volumes of professional safety insight with each case study.

The book begins with a chapter entitled “Scuba 101,” which presents itself as an excellent primer to the sport of scuba diving. To a new student, this chapter alone is worth the price of admission. The reader is treated to a decent length read on terminology, training agencies, the various levels of A to Z scuba training, cave and wreck diving, explanations on nitrox and trimix, what decompression diving is, exposure protection considerations, BCDs, tanks, regulators, personal dive gear, dive tables, dive computers… truly a wonderful exposure to what scuba diving is, where its at, and where its headed.

Beyond this, the book is broken down into individual case studies… real diving emergencies (with names changed to protect the innocent) illustrating how individuals handled their respective situations. Each chapter is a different story. Each story is comprised of four main components.

1. A hook paragraph, offering a glimpse of the emergency in full progression, with an invariable cliff hanger ending. This is a very compelling writing style. The full gravity of the each situation spear heads that chapter. Since self preservation is an instinct, you keep reading. Smart.

2. The full length story. What I liked… they talk about the divers involved and their backgrounds, levels of training, and mindsets (attitudes) before their accidents. This makes it very real when you read it. I went in thinking, “this can’t happen to me.” I came out thinking, “yes, it can happen to me.”

3. A summation section entitled “Strategies for Survival,” in the form of bulleted points containing an expert constructive critique on what could be done differently in each situation.

4. Technical Focus Boxes (covered in more depth below)
I really can’t say enough good things about this book. The case studies were very digestible in size, the writing is done well, and the structure is smart. You can read only the main body of each case study and glean the most important safety morals dealing with that section. However, if you want more technical information, the author has provided it in the form of focus boxes… brief, but very informative, boxed sections of text, photos, and diagrams dealing with more technically-oriented subject matter relevant to their respective case study. This speeds up the reading considerably, allowing the diver to better tailor her learning needs.

What I disliked about the book: While the stories were many and covered a wide variety of situations, the book left me wanting more… A larger format, more stories, more illustrations, color photographs, fewer filler photographs/more relevant photographs.

What I liked about the book: I truly enjoyed the formatting… light reading that fits well with today’s hectic schedules. I appreciated the range of the book. From budding beginner to pioneering rebreather, I see this book as an indispensable safety manual for any dive library.
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