Say it with us: "Possum Kingdom!" Use a little twang, and try that again. Fun, isn't it? Just as much fun to dive as it is to say, Possum Kingdom is a reservoir where you can hunt for treasure and work on your skills, all while enjoying great visibility and humming happily through your reg.
Outstanding Features
Possum Kingdom Reservoir is located in the Palo Pinto mountains of North Central Texas, about 75 miles west of Fort Worth. Providing hydropower and preventing devastating floods, the Morris Sheppard Dam, which created the reservoir, was completed in 1941. The resulting lake is long and narrow, covering approximately 17,700 acres and extending for 65 miles. Most of the upper portion of the lake, at the end opposite from the dam, is shallow and suffers from poor visibility. The closer you get to the dam, the better the diving gets, until finally, visibility becomes as good as about 100 feet.
Sheer rock walls with caves and cutouts meander along the lake's sides, which were once a river valley, and as dinosaurs once roamed the land here, their fossilized remains can be seen beneath the surface. For a look at dinosaur remains topside, take a little side trip to the nearby Dinosaur Valley State Park.
Dinosaurs were the first in a long line of residents here; Spanish explorers visited in 1542, and later cattle ranchers came in, founding the town of Pickwick in the 1850's and unfortunately displacing Shawnee, Delaware, Wichita, Caddo, and Tonkawa Native Americans as well as the Comanche and Kiowa people who lived here and traveled through the area. The settlers' descendants were eventually displaced themselves when the water rose. Today, you can still see an iron bridge and remnants of the town of Pickwick underwater; some aspects protrude above the surface when water levels are low.
As you explore, you'll find multiple thermoclines - the temperature at the bottom can be as much as 20 degrees colder than that at the surface, which in the summer, can reach into the upper 80's.
There are sunken boats and cars, fiberglass domes, and a drive-through restaurant's burger sign to see under the surface as well, along with many other sunken attractions. These are located in a protected diving area where no boats are allowed, at the aptly named Scuba Point, where there's a dive center, a takeout restaurant, camping with cabins and spaces for tents, and other amenities just for divers.
Now, for the treasure. At an area called Hell's Gate, which is a massive pair of rock cliffs that rise up out of the water, there is a beautiful cove where people tie their boats together to create a floating party barge. Drinking and jumping from one boat to the next, these unfortunate revelers drop all sorts of treasure into the water, where it waits to be claimed by a new owner.
Depths at Possum Kingdom range from 20 to 65 feet, varying greatly depending on the state of Texas' water supply. Divers should use flags, and solo diving is not permitted. While you're busy investigating the sunken attractions or hunting for a new pair of sunglasses, watch for blue and channel catfish, all sorts of bass, and several species of sunfish, as well as small crabs. A unique lake with a name that promises fun for all, Possum Kingdom is a great place to dive once or hundreds of times.