Marinas On Lake Travis With Boat Ramp Access? (Houston, Austin: buying, live)

[netmaxweb]

With the current drought and dwindling water levels on Lake Austin, and the closure of all public boat ramps, we are left searching for places to launch our boat.

I'm looking for marinas on Lake Travis that would allow me to launch my boat whenever I need, and I'm willing to pay a fee.

Any people knowledgeable on this subject?

[jobert]

of the 12 ramps, only one is open. I don't know where it is, but I bet it's a well-kept secret.

[love roses]

The only one open, I believe, is at Mansfield Dam. There was one marina (can't remember which one) that was using cranes and hauling boats down to the water. Since that is a slow going process and they can only do one or two boats at a time, they may have stopped. That was on the news several weeks ago. We're not even bothering with Travis this year. I think we're going to Lake Belton instead. Even if you do manage to get your boat in the water, it's so low that there are just too many obstacles in the lake to have much fun. You'd be spending all your time trying to watch for things to not run into. We're also pondering an out of state trip to Arkansas/ Lake Ouachita or even to one of the Lakes in Houston.

[LoveATX]

The ramp leading to the now closed Johnny Fins is the last one open according to there website

[10scoachrick]

Hang in there, folks. Lake Lanier(north of Atlanta) was 21' down about a year and a half ago...setting records. It's now within about 5' of full pool.(Lanier is a basin-fed lake...no river to dam up for all practical purposes). It CAN happen! (I know, a year before we moved here, cen-Tex had plenty of rain...we just haven't seen it ourselves).

The forecast for the next week or so looks promising...of course, the weather-guessers usually promise more than they can deliver.

[jobert]

I wouldn't buy "lakefront" property on Lake Travis. 10 years from now Lake Travis will be a nice deep valley greenbelt with the Colorado river running through it. It will still be beautiful, and will serve a temporary purpose of holding storm water, but I wouldn't expect to remain a "lake" as we know it.

summary: If one were to buy property with "access" on Lake Travis, they should assume they were buying an eventual "greenbelt" lot.
- not necessarily a bad thing though, as it would still hold a premium value like all greenbelts lots should.

[neddy]

I think I heard on the news last night that a private one in the Volente area was opening to the public for a 20buck fee. Highland marina maybe..Good luck to many islands popping up for me now.

[CptnRn]

I'm pretty confident that Lake Travis will remain a lake. They need to catch and hold all the water they can for the rice farmers and cities downstream.

I have seen it this low before, then full and overflowing, flooding a couple years later. Interesting things appear when it is this low. Some of the nicest sand beaches appear off the West point of Point Venture. Did you know there are freshwater clams in Lake Travis. I found one the size of my fist near the point at Arkansas Bend one year when the water was this low. Low water makes gar sightings more common too. I have seen some the size of tree tree trunks (12" dia. x 6' long) swimming around Yacht Harbor marina.

[jobert]

Originally Posted by CptnRn

I'm pretty confident that Lake Travis will remain a lake. They need to catch and hold all the water they can for the rice farmers and cities downstream.

and they will most likely release the water to those farmers (and the entire north Austin Metro) as soon as they get it.

[love roses]

My husband says that we need a few good hurricanes to get it to good levels again. I know it will too because I've also seen it get really low before and then flood once we get a good, long rainy season.