UNLIMITED ADVENTURES AWAIT
State offers a wide range of outdoor activities
The state of Arkansas offers a wide range of outdoor activities, including golf, kayaking, zip lining, scuba diving and more.
Steve Spivey is the owner of the Scuba and Archery Center, at 121 Gilchrist in Hot Springs. Spivey has been diving since 1969 and has been an instructor since 1985. The shop opened in 1990.
“If people are like me, they saw scuba diving on TV, and it piqued their interest,” he said. “Or they have a friend who is a diver, or it is a spouse who is getting tired of just sitting in the boat and watching the bubbles, and they want to get in there, too.”
Spivey said Lake Ouachita is great for a fresh-water dive site.
“We are very blessed to have it in our backyard because of the clarity of the water,” Spivey said.
He said it is a great lake for boat diving, and he will gladly show people sites of interest.
The Scuba School in Morrilton, at 116 E. Railroad Ave., is owned by Glen and Lynn Masker. Glen has been a teacher for 25 years and has been diving for 45. He said that for the past six years, he hasn’t even had a salary. He just wants to share the underwater world with everybody else.
“We are born in water, spending nine months in the womb, and when we leave the womb, we are trying to get back into the water,” he said. “It is a healing quality, and people really want to do something that is fun and clean, especially families.”
The Scuba School offers training and certification classes, as well as tours and activities for guests to ensure that every diver is knowledgeable and comfortable in all aspects of diving. For more information, visit thescubaschool.com.
Ozark Mountain Ziplines in Eureka Springs offers a Costa Rican Style Zipline Canopy Tour with 10 zip-line cables and one swinging bridge. According to its website, ziplineeurekasprings.com, Ozark Mountain has “the highest and longest cables in Arkansas, ranging from 500 to 2,000 feet long.” The tour lasts approximately two hours for ages 3 and older.
Nestled between two lakes in Mountain Home is an unexpected surprise with the Big Creek Golf and Country Club, at 452 Country Club Drive.
“We stand up to most other golf courses around the state and the area, and it is going to be as good a course as you can find in our area,” said Todd Dunnaway, the head golf professional. “It is one of the top courses in the state.” According to its website, bigcreek
golf.com, Big Creek has won Golf Digest’s Best Places to Play coveted fivestar ranking multiple times and features “white sand bunkers, L-93 bentgrass greens and beautiful zoysia fairways.” For more information, call (870) 425-8815.
“We have been opened throughout this time, following the sanitizing process recommended by the governor and [the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention],” Dunnaway said. “Prior to everything, we were a travel destination and a popular destination, with the trout fishing on the White River.”
The White Buffalo Resort in Mountain Home has been owned by Matthew and Kyla Leiboult since 2018.
“Ninety-nine percent of the time, our guests are here for the trout fishing on the White River,” Matthew said. “We have guided fishing, and some people are here to enjoy fishing while they are out in nature.”
The resort offers canoes and kayaks for trips on the White River, as well as hiking. Leiboult said the resort is located right where the Buffalo River ends, so guests can spend the morning on the White River and the afternoon on the Buffalo. He said both offer completely different fish habitats.
For more information, visit white buffaloresort.com.
We stand up to most other golf courses around the state and the area, and it is going to be as good a course as you can find in our area.” TODD DUNNAWAY HEAD GOLF PROFESSIONAL, BIG CREEK GOLF AND COUNTRY CLUB