The Scuba Ranch — Attraction in Terrell

I wasn’t going to write a review for the dives I had this weekend at The Scuba Ranch because I’ve visited and reviewed CSSP before in the past but after reading the negative review that was left over the weekend I decided I would.

My last visit here was around April 15 of this year and since then (we dove August 4) the property has apparently sold and already gone through a number of visible improvements. The entrance has been cleaned up, the entrance building has been remodeled and expanded and the new owners have added a snack area/small shop with T-shirts/etc, kayaks, stand-up paddleboards, a “swimmers only area” at the front of the lake for non-divers and repainted/remodeled the bathrooms and airfill building. Check-in is no longer done with hand written forms and “cash only” – they now accept debit/credit cards and everything is done very rapidly through an electronic iPad type system. Very nice and much more convenient being you can now pay with a card and are not forced to have cash on you.

There has been at least $10k worth of tree and brush cleanup/removal done around the lake perimeter and it looks nice. The pavilions were all very clean and several even had freshly raked gravel and I understand more are being added soon (with water and electricity). Trash cans were all empty with fresh bags and everyone I saw (about 50-60 people) was having a great time.

There have been several fun items added to the airplane/boat/sunken platforms; a fun touch that changed up the dives a little bit. The viz is still the same 3’-15’ (depending on depth) and the thermocline below 30-35’ is still fierce. I spoke with the new owner briefly at the end of the day and he said he had just finished having a 3D survey and study done on the lake by Texas A&M and they told him what fish to add to improve the visibility/etc and he said he was starting that initiative also. I feel like if they could get the viz to 30’ or better constantly that would be huge for them. He also told me how they were soon cutting in some walking trails, adding more campsites/RV/camping areas on top of everything else/more plans like a beach area for the swimmer’s section.

We recently bought/now own all of our own gear but we did rent tanks, weights and wetsuits. I looked around their gear rental storage/the inside of the airfill station and everything was neat, orderly and looked to be like all of the other rental gear I have encountered in my past (I’ve rented gear in approx. 12 different countries). The reason this review only has 4 stars instead of 5 is because one of my air tanks was given to me with only 650psi (empty) and no o-ring. They quickly apologized and gave me a new tank and I was back out on my way. I saw no gear that by any means looked unsafe or extremely old or not up to standard.

Bottom line, the new owners have spent nearly $2M in just a few months with plans to spend much more soon. They have already made large visavle improvements throughout and I think given the chance this place is going to be exceptional much sooner...

They actually open at 7:30am Friday-Sunday. If you have a planned dive at 8 am, be sure to actually arrive at 7:25 am as there is a long line at the gate at 7:30. Once you get to the registration table you can sign in pretty fast. It is $20 for students and $8 for tank refills I which you would likely need two tanks a day. There is a stand alone structure bathroom which is pretty clean and maintained. There was always soap and toilet paper. There is one indoor shower and two outdoor showers. It's nice if your site is close to the bathrooms. The air fill is next to the bathrooms. Other than that you have a porta potty at your camp site. Adventure scuba is the closest to the airfill, then frisco, then international. Basically all the dive shops in the dfw area come here since it is the only place to scuba. The water has plenty of fish and turtles, structures include a metal shark, small boats, airplane, some geographical structures. It is generally ~25 feet but there are other areas that can get deeper, so I hear. The visibility is terrible and you can see anywhere from 3 feet to 20 feet. Make sure you keep your buddy close or you will lose them since it's hard to see. Water temps, it was 84F when I dove in the summer. I would still recommend a wet suit as it does get colder once get deeper than 22 feet. Also their website is very outdated. Not sure if I could trust anything on it. Their location is slightly off which the entrance is actually at the corner of the two streets. There are friendly dogs that come by around lunch...

They have some neat things to see, but visibility was pretty poor. We mostly had to surface, swim to buoy, then dive down to explore. The water is COLD below about 18 feet. I was in a 3 mm suit, and it was definitely not enough for any deeper than about 20 to 24 ft. This was in July. We camped in an RV. Sites are grass and have water and electric. No sewer, and no dump station, but we were told that they are in the process of adding a dump station. Overall, it's a pretty good place, but I have two main complaints: 1) They really cater to dive shops doing lessons. As a result, almost all the pavilions, docks, and underwater platforms are "private" and inaccessible. 2) The staff was not really friendly. We explained that it was our first time there and asked for tips, and all they told us was that we should see the shark sculpture. Not how to find it or anything else. Considering that it's not really cheap to spend a weekend diving there, I would have liked some more direction on the best way to dive/navigate. We noticed some lines connecting underwater platforms, but we weren't sure if they connected to things to explore or other "private" platforms. Overall, it's worth a visit, but I probably won't go back unless I'm really...